Aurifil Island Batik July Challenge
Island Batik and Aurifil presented the Ambassadors with a challenge for July that led me on a 3 month journey I hadn’t expected. In the end I am happy with the finish.
The Challenge
- Use any fabric art/non-traditional quilting/sewing/thread painting technique using 3 Aurifil thread weights.
- Any size
- Any fabrics except surprise fabrics (you’re gonna love these in November).
Designs
First I looked at a few masterpieces from my favorite artists, Van Gogh and Munch. Then expanded my options and decided on The Wave.
The plan was for fusible applique and then Aurifil thread to highlight and add detail. I’m not sure how I got lost in that process and ended up where I am now. Mostly I think it was the colors of thread that inspired me to rethink The Wave. I could have pulled off The Wave in any color because lets face it, there are NO rules in art. You can be as creative as you like.
My DH is a gear head and has been collecting odd items to build a Rat Rod. Rat Rods are a form of art, I guess. So the day he came into the house with a small ships wheel proclaiming he had found his steering wheel and ….all that followed went in one ear and out the other. I just agreed, it all sounds great, blah blah! Joking, I just can’t remember the rest of the conversation. In the end he asked what I really thought. Have you ever had one of those moments when your mouth opens and something completely unexpected flows off your tongue? I had one of those moments and that saying has resonated in my mind since and used many times since then. “You are limited only by your ability and imagination”. Its so true with everything. How do you know your abilities if you don’t jump right in?
Here’s where I started
The first photo was practice for vines. The next two were to see if I could free-motion a recognizable design. Still not perfect but much improved over my first attempt a couple months ago.
Fabric pull
Once I decided which fabrics blended with my thread I needed a design. I was looking for an embroidery design and found one in public domain from 1890. Drew the pattern on the background and fused the flowers using Wonder Under, I’m all set.
The peach is Island Batik Peach Basics. A remnant from Solomon’s Temple Quilt.
The purple on the bottom is Island Batik Iris Cheerios.
The other 3 are from Island Batik Stash Builders
For the background I chose Island Batik Sprinkles Neutral. It’s small greenish dots against the white background is very pleasing to the eye. The photo does it no justice.
The main project
Design drawn on background and applique placement beginning. At this point the plan was to use 12wt Aurifil to stitch the appliques down and for the vines, 28wt Aurifil to add detail to the flowers and 40wt for quilting.
Not the most opportune time for my BabyLock to stop working. I had to change my plans a little, now I have to straight stitch around the appliques.
Yes, my BabyLock decided it didn’t want to work and started flashing an F02 error and the needle began to move on its own, so I had to rethink my process.
Using 12wt Aurifil I stitched around the appliques, easy peasy. Except I wasn’t happy with their appearance. Although I like a raw edge applique it didn’t look Victorian, or clean. In the photo below I am stitching with 28 wt Aurifil 2568 and 2775 combined through a single needle. The green vine is 12wt 2908, I loved this one.
Click thumbnails above for larger view. Next I combined 2 more threads-40wt 2530 which is like a watermelon and 28wt 2775 a very pretty royal blue. See the reddish color below.
Free motion back and forth, up and down, around…mainly I followed the shape of the appliqued patch until all fabric was threaded over. Such a shame because I thought the fabric pull was so pretty.
The pink flaked-12wt 2405 and 40wt 2530 also ran through single needle.
Even though I am using a stabilizer on the back I am getting a lot of background bunching. The design would have benefited from a heavier stabilizer.
Quilting
I had just enough Hobbs Tuscany to use a double layer under the piece. I wanted well defined quilting and to fill the many wrinkles. You can see the batting here.
Using 40wt Aurifil I fmq around the design. Then for the background filled with meandering.
1.75″ strip for binding that I plan on replacing as time allows. Unfortunately the beautiful fabrics were covered out of necessity.
List of Aurifil threads used, clockwise beginning at noon.
Aurifil 40wt quilting and binding
40wt -2530-flower fill
28wt 2568-flower fill
12wt-2908-vine and leaves
12wt- 2406-flower fill
12wt-2845-flower fill
28wt-2775-flower fill
12wt-2205-flower fill
What I learned
1. Free motion quilting and thread painting on a domestic isn’t as hard as I thought it was.
2. Use rubber gloves or something that will allow your hands to grip the fabric. This is where I went wrong on my first and second attempts. After I grabbed a pair of rubber gloves from my kitchen (you know the ones you wear for cutting up jalapenos) there was a huge difference in my movement.
3. Try a heavy weight interfacing or stabilizer for free motion thread painting next time. Hopefully that will eliminate some of the bunching up of fabric.
See what other IBA’s are working on and linky parties I participate in.
Monday
What I made Monday,-Moving it forward, –Show and tell Monday, –Design Wall Monday, –MCM, –Monday Making
Tuesday
Colour Inspiration and linky party
Wednesday
Wow, –Wednesday Wait Loss, –Midweek Makers, –Lets Bee Social
Friday
Finished or not Friday,-Off the wall Friday, –Whoop whoop
Thank you Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Thread, and AccuQuilt
This came out amazing! I love how you walked us through your process, showing how your original idea evolved as the piece began to take shape under the needle. Also really appreciated seeing the before and after quilting shots. It is amazing how much puckering around embroidery or thread painting can be resolved with background quilting. Great job!
🙂 Thank you. I was feeling really devastated with all the puckering and I had ruined it. But the small meandering did make this an amazing finish.
So lovely! The quilting was great too! Thanks for sharing your challenge quilt on Wednesday Wait Loss.
Thank you Jennifer
Well, what a journey, but you’d never guess it wasn’t all planned. I love how you went with the project instead of fighting it, and the end result is glorious. I also love how you blended the two different threads…. I’d forgotten that was an option….. I haven’t ever done that on my current machine even though it’s the most suited to coping with such things. Thanks for all the details, fantastic.
Blending the 2 threads was out of necessity and something I have never done. Without it though I didn’t have enough thread selection. It was an addictive project that I will be trying again soon.
I have done it a long time ago, after an awesome class I did on using decorative threads. But it had receded from my repertoire, and I am now in the mood to try it again sometime soon. Thanks.
What a FABULOUS project! Sometimes it’s the things that “go wrong” that open up new possibilities and end up being the best thing that ever happened. The double wool solved your puckering beautifully and I think that the resulting loft in the background complements the heavy threadwork really nicely, too.
Much better said than I ever could have. Thank you.
Beautiful and looks like a lot of fun to create!
It was great once I found my rhythm, I’m not sure what I was so scared of. Thank you for stopping by.
That’s a very interesting process and a nice piece to hang on your wall. It’s sort of … Edwardian? Jacobean? Somewhere in there. Your colors were such great choices. A great challenge that you met nicely!
Thank you so much
Wow, that is soooo cool! Love the design you used.
Thanks Chris
Beautiful applique, gorgeous thread painting and great quilting for this exquisite Victorian quilt!
Thank you so much
You were all over with your ideas! You really worked with what it was asking you to do – the machine and the way you wanted it to look more Victorian. Very cool!
I never thought of it this way, this piece certainly did dictate what it wanted me to do.
The end results are beautiful. I loved the way the stippling smoothed everything out.
Thank you Jennifer. I was happy with the results.
What a lovely piece of stitchery, Denise. Your tip for using the double layer of Hobbs wool was certainly a good one – what a difference it made! Your work is always so well done.
Thank you Karen. I do need to practice narrow bindings with double layers of batting. This weekend I plan to redo the binding on this with better luck I hope.
Beautiful. Your quilting really made the whole piece shine!
Thank you Nancy.
Oh My! Just beautiful. I appreciate the pointers as well. You have a beautiful project.
Thank you so much.
Great post. I would never have thought to overstitch like you did. Amazing how well the “bunching” was overcome with your batting choice and stippling. great lessons here. Lovely finished piece.
The batting made all the difference in the world. Thank you for stopping by.
The fabric is so pretty that when you started covering it up, I thought I wouldn’t like the finished product, but I really like it! It looks fabulous! I have been adding more thread to my projects, thread painting style, and hope to do actual thread painting in the future.
Thanks, I hadn’t intended to cover the fabric but I love the results. You should definitely try it, it was addictive.
That is soooo pretty! I hadn’t thought of needing stabilizer, thanks for the tip!
The thin stabilizer I used wasn’t quite heavy enough, in the end it turned out. If I make another project with this much thread painting I will use an interfacing that is a little heavier.