Saturday, November 30, 2013

Rotary cut thread lace leaves

Yesterday, I attended a Pfaff workshop at our local Pfaff dealer. I found the Pfaff rep to be very knowledgeable and enjoyable to learn from. We were in a small room with 7 in attendance but her relaxed and quiet manner resulted in a lovely paced class. We also had plenty of time to finish our project with space in the middle to go for lunch at my favorite cafe.
I did work on one of the mid range Pfaff machines that is presently on special; however, I did not get to try any free motion as there wasn't a free motion foot available. Anyway, the rep told me it would not be suitable for my needs and she recommended 2 other models which both have an auto tension feature. It being a small shop, those machines would have to be ordered. So, I'm not sure what to do yet.

We made a fun little case for the I Pad and got to experiment with some embroidery stitches which I don't have on my basic machine.
Today, my sore throat seems worse again, so I've stayed at home. This morning, I cut up vegetables and set them to simmer for a veggie stew. I'll add dumplings to it shortly.
This afternoon, I finished all the stitching I plan to do on the background and foreground trees. I had to stop myself before I added too much detail. It was supposed to be sort of minimalist!

I've taken a few pictures of my process to make the needle lace leaves. This is something I've shown before that I learned a few years ago at a Laurie Swim workshop, but this time once I'm all done, I will try to add it under my tutorial heading at the top of my blog for future reference.
The first step is to cut up a bunch of tiny bits of different shades of red fabric with a wavy rotary cutter. I generally cut diagonally in one direction and then the other, making some in different sizes.
Above you can see that they are layered between 2 pieces of Saran Wrap Plus and hooped.

I next did a free motion meandering all over, making sure all the little bits of fabric are connected by the thread.
That's as far as I got for today. I will iron it between 2 sheets of newspaper which melts and removes the Saran, and then it will be ready to cut up and stitch onto my piece.
Now, I'm going to take a break with a cup of tea and my book before it's time to mix up the dumplings.

5 comments:

Jennifer Scantlebury Vienneau said...

Great progress on your piece, Holly! Too bad you can’t try out the exact machine you might want - that does make it tough. My Pfaff Grandquilter is great to free motion on! Really smooth and easy to manoeuvre. And my older Pfaff Tiptronic is good, but the features have been changed up a lot since I bought it so the newer models would no doubt be better. The Tiptronic was one of the first models to have built in quilting stitches (which really did not work well - it was always tough to get the proper tension and the stitching always gathered). As well, at that time there were no tables that fitted around the machine bed as there are now, so you had to rig something up yourself to keep the weight of the fabric from pulling your control out of your hands.

Jeito Mineiro de Ser said...

As arvores estão ficando bonitas. A costura nos troncos está ótima.
Pesquisei no Google o que é "Saran Wrap Plus" ... é aquele plastico fininho que se usa para proteger alimentos, ok? Você vai derreter, com o ferro de passar roupa, entre jornais? Eu entendi certo? Muito interessante! Quero aprender com você! Obrigada!
Com paciência você descobrirá a maquina de costura adequada.
Saúde e um abraço!

The trees are getting pretty. The seam on the trunks is great.
Googled what is "Saran Wrap Plus" ... is that thin plastic that is used to protect food, ok? You will melt, with iron, between newspapers? I get it right? Very interesting! I want to learn from you! Thank you!
With patience you will discover the proper sewing machine.
Health and a hug!
Egléa

Marla's Crafts said...

Very nice i pad case. I did one last June probably by the same teacher when I bought my new sewing machine. I was surprised by the class because I didn't know about it until I got there.
I love the other project you are doing. It looks so interesting.

Juanita said...

Enjoyed seeing your process for attaching tiny leaves. I just finished cutting a zillion cherry blossoms and attaching them by adding a layer of misty fuse under and layers of coloured cheesecloth over. This process would have worked well.

Watercolour and Textile Artist, Eileen Gidman said...

How interesting the process looks.