Sewing on air, really!

I've been waiting all week to share this project! I spent a little time tweaking the design, and a LOT of time trying to get photos... It's notoriously hard to photograph light, but light PLUS air is a little ridiculous :-) I have tried this process before, but I wanted to try again. This time I added a new twist...light!
I started by cutting a hole in a canvas, I then pinned two layers of water soluble stabilizer with my design drawn on it over the hole. Then lots of loopy stitching to make kind of a background. I had to make sure that the stitching was all connected to the canvas, and all overlapped, so it wouldn't fall apart when the stabilizer was washed away. After I was having trouble taking pictures, I thought of putting the battery operated string of lights behind it. Which kind of helped and kind of made it even harder, ha! So much fun! The photos are the best I could do, hopefully you'll get the idea!

First picture, lights on, and out from wall a bit so the light shows around the edges also.

Lights on, but pushed up against the wall:

Lights off:

In the window:

Very messy back! I added paper to block the light from showing through the rest of the canvas, and lots of tape to attach the lights. After this photo, I bent the wire so the very last light was behind the moon!

Most (but not quite all) of the stitching was done from the back due to the wood frame, so the bobbin thread shows the most, usually I used the same on the top and bottom. But I used a bit of metallic thread, which I didn't want to put in the bobbin (might be fine?), but I had to remove the extension table and do a little maneuvering to stitch from the front! (The frame gets in the way) I used a small bottle of water to remove the stabilizer starting with the center, so I didn't have to get the canvas wet. You don't have to get every speck out, it is like starch if you leave a bit in, I just did it until the water went through when I squirted some on. I had to do a bit of gentle finger rubbing with paper towels under it too.
When it was all done, I added some sponge painting to the front of the canvas. I love to try unusual ways to use a sewing machine, and particularly the free motion foot! Feel free to ask questions if I missed something!

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Beret

Collage for pinterest :-)