Thread painted flowers

    My goal is to post here every week, and also share it in my newsletter. But I have been finding myself in the habit of just doing the newsletter and neglecting my blog, trying to fix that! (Although there will always be some things that only subscribers get, so sign up in the sidebar if you haven't!)
    This week's theme for the 100 Days of Quilted Greeting Cards series is thread work, one of my favorite things!  Thursday's card was this version of Black Eyed Susans, made in memory of my Aunt Sue a few years ago. It looks fairly complicated, but it's not once you break it down, so I will do that here! 

There are lots of varieties, and these don't look exactly like any of them, but that's the beauty of art, right? 😂

    Let's start with the background. It looks busy, but it's just a busy fabric, with a square of another fabric on top. It's not pieced, just raw edge appliqued on. I used the same fabric for the binding. 
    I also have it stacked with batting or fusible fleece, and interfacing for a backing at this point. I may have even added a tear away stabilizer on the bottom, as the dense stitching can cause some warping. If you haven't watched my free card workshop for basic construction, find it here!

Note: I think it's more common for people to do thread sketching through just the fabric, and not the batting. I more commonly stitch through the batting too, but there's no right way. Try both! Every layer adds stability, so I would definitely use a hoop if I had fewer layers. A hoop is the best stabilizer of all, so I do sometimes use one for dense stitching. 

    If you think you can't draw a flower shape, well, neither can I 😂 This is very sketchy, and as I always say, kindergarteny. I tried to vary the petals a bit, although that would probably have happened anyway😂, but otherwise, this is not a realistic flower drawing, just 6-7 petals in approximately a circle. I probably sketched it with a chalk pencil on my background, then outlined it with thread, using the outermost color. 

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    Then I start coloring them in with thread. Think of your sewing machine like a pencil, only you move the paper instead of the pencil. I use the free motion foot, of course, and I like a topstitching needle, but really,  just try what you have. Most of my thread is 40 wt, which is average/most common. I'd love to collect more thinner threads, 60-80 wt,  because although it takes more stitching to cover an area, you also have more control. But again, just try whatever you have! 
    For the first color, stitch densely at the tip, then more loosely toward the next color. You want each color to overlap a bit for shading. The second color is more dense in the center, and looser at both ends. The third color is the most dense toward the center of the flower, but if you do beads like I did, or a button, you really don't need much in the very center. 

     Then I added beads and binding. (Binding video in the card workshop linked a couple of paragraphs up.) You can apply the same technique to other shapes too, of course! And if you try it, I'd love to see! Reply to my newsletter, or email me at [email protected].
     Happy sewing! Beret