Saturday, June 8, 2013

Thread Lace

                                                           Thread Lace
Regular or decorative sewing threads can be used to create a piece of lace that can be inserted into your piece or appliqued on top of it. It can be open and lacy, or close and dense. The trick is to make sure all your threads are connected to each other at multiple points so it doesn't fall apart and that is best achieved by stitching in straight lines, multiple times, and then finishing by making a narrow zigzag stitch over the stitching to bring it all together. We used a water-soluble stabilizer as a base for our stitching, and also used a hoop to keep our work taut but not tight, and then when the stitching was complete, we ran the piece under warm water to remove the stabilizer.

Thread Lace - Sue
Sue fashioned her thread lace into a vase, by placing the rose colored lace over a green base, threaded pink grosgrain ribbon through the lace and then attached the finished vase to a white background. She added green leaves with lovely decorative stitching on them and couched green pipe cleaners for stems.

Sue

Thread Lace - Joyce
Again, I have several lessons into one piece. Don't you get tired of finishing and finishing all those pieces??? I started thread painting with an open leaf design on a light color fabric. Next, I stitched a grid on the bottom and drew a weird bird on it. The bird is stitched with a circular stitch described in the book for the heart...first the yellow wing, then the blue bird. The flower and stem are thread painted, using variegated thread for the flower. Beads and a few long stitches finish the flower. I found a similar color 30wt. cotton thread to make thread lace using Sulky Solvy. The lace did not come out as good as it looks. When I washed the Solvy out, many pieces were not attached as they should have been. When I put everything on the blue background, I caught up the loose spots and stitched them together onto the background fabric. (the quilt police will never know) With gel medium, I added a few choice words printed on ribbon.
 
                                                                                  Joyce