Thread Painting and Machine Quilting - Live Chat with Angela Walters

Hello everyone, it's me, Angela Walters, welcome to this week's

live

chat

. I'm so excited to be here again on Thursday at 3 p.m. CT, talking about

quilting

and if you were on last week's

live

chat

, sorry about the power outage, you never know what's going on. This will happen when you go live. Hopefully we won't have any problems today so fingers crossed today although it will be a bit of a different treat so this live chat is about

thread

painting

and what I did this week is actually. I took a video of my

thread

painting

a little sample and edited it and I'll play it for you and narrate it so it's not a live video but it'll give you a little more of an example. than what thread painting actually entails, there's a lot of thread switching and a lot of stuff, so editing it makes it a lot nicer to look at, so I'm going to show you that again, fingers and toes crossed, we do not have any. technical difficulties and then I'll show you some more examples of thread painting and then I'll answer your questions live, so if you're watching this live and have any questions, make sure to write them in the chat.

Jessica is here writing it. below for me so I can make sure that when you're done you know what you need to know to feel comfortable with thread painting. Now thread painting is one of those techniques that is fun, artistic, and sounds really fancy, but really, you're just doodling with thread, that's all, and I'm going to break it down and give you a formula to follow, so if you have questions and You don't know how to start, this will help you get started, but just like any formula, you can modify it and change it and do whatever you want.

No rules. Just know that when you're new sometimes you want to follow a rule, so I'll give you some guidelines to get you thinking about how to choose yarn. colors and how to do the process, but once you're comfortable with it, definitely change it up, be brave, use all the different colors of thread, have a good time, so what I'm

quilting

today is this little panel. I'm going to quilt one of these little feather panels here. I had designed it for a thread painting class and I have a few of these left so if you want to try quilting the same thing as me you can check out the link in the description box below again, this was just leftovers from a class I did in a very limited quantity, but if you want to try it, it gives you a guide to follow, so let's go to the video and get started right, so here it is. the panel that we're going to work with or that I'm going to work with and I'm going to quilt on the feather part now that I'm starting, since we're going to put a lot of The thread is going to be very, very, very heavy.

I'm going to go ahead and stabilize around the outside of my shapes first because what's going to happen is that as you start adding more quilting, I'm going to really like absorb it all and it might cause the edges to distort like stabilizing your quilt. before quilting this is going to be very similar but once I've stabilized those sections I'm ready to start thread painting I'm going to take my first color which is light turquoise this is the main color I'm starting with , it's kind of like I pick all my other colors and I'm going to start quilting the details, so here I am. around and around and around oh I froze what does it look like there we go? he's a little dizzy hopefully he catches up okay anyway i'm going to go over those details i'm really building the thread and not i'm too worried about it being perfect we're going to add so much thread it's not even going to matter so as I go over the details, I also add a little more, so if you're using I like it. a panel or you're doing something that's very detailed, you can just go around them or you can create your own shapes, so by adding some other little details in there, it's going to give me more areas to fill in on the next one.

Now I was thinking, I wonder if people are wondering how many times they should turn this over. I've done it about five or six times, it just depends, I just want to develop that outside now as I go. I try not to go right on top of where I am, but I know that the more I add, the more it will create that little kind of ditch that I'm going to fall into, so I'm going to keep adding those details now while my computer desperately tries to catch up to me when I finished with that first color, so I have my blue.

I'm going to finish all of this inside and out. and I'm going to add my next color, so as you watch this happen, the next color that I'm going to choose is going to be lighter than the first color, more similar to the color of the fabric and you'll see that. here in a second and what that's going to do is help me mix the two colors together if you're quilting and you're like, I don't know, this is too much, you don't have to do that much. The first time you can always add more in different layers.

I just knew that I really wanted the blue to be the main element here and really show up and the funny thing about this sounds a little silly but it's almost pointless, right? you're sitting there you're quilting you're adding your colors it's a lot of fun so here's the first step the first set of blue and now it's time to add the next color so we can see there the light turquoise slip is the one I'm using and then I went with a light gray which is mercury so I have my main color and then I chose a lighter color which is more similar to the fabric but still coordinates with my first color so what I'm going to do do is I'm quilting right along the lines of my blue, so it's like adding the next level, but I'm overlapping the two, overlapping them a little bit, which allows it to give it that blended look and helps fill out. in any spaces that I may have missed the first time and this is again where I can add more detail, so I might add some pebbles to fill in.

You could add other shapes. This is really a great place to practice or experiment because the yarn will blend in so much that it won't stand out as much as the other colors, so this will help me fill it in again, just adding more and more layers so that as you watch this progress you can think Well, when would I do it? I actually want to do this on a quilt, well this isn't for all quilts, it's a lot of thread, it's going to be very stiff, it's pretty much like

machine

embroidery, so this is going to be for those special wall hangings. be for those quilts that you want to add a really striking look, but I'll show you some examples here in a second on how maybe you can give it a little bit more subtle example with red paint and not so crazy about the above now I'm doing this on my long arm because it's easier to film and it's a little faster.

I could do it a little faster, but you can also do this on a sewing

machine

. The key for both is Make sure you use a new needle because as we start layering that thread on top, on top, it's going to get a lot thicker for quilting and as I start adding, I'm going to have to go a little slower, so I'll notice that as we go through this, my quilting will slow down a little bit because it will be difficult to punch through all that thread. Now try not to think about this too much. I know in any group there are some perfectionists and I guess some of you are thinking I need to know what it looks like before I start, you really won't know it's just going to unfold and I know it sounds scary so it's great to practice. maybe on a smaller quilt or a small piece, but try to enjoy the process once you have that first set of guidelines, that first thread pulled, all we're doing here is just adding the next level, adding the next level and just like building off of that if you weren't sure some threads were going to work if you're not sure if it's too dark or too light there's just always a mistake on the light side, it's much easier to create a color of thread by adding more than it is, obviously you can't make a lighter thread so if in doubt choose a lighter thread color, this is a pretty light gray but since I'm going back so far in my quilting it still shows up a a little bit and it gives it that nice subtle look.

Now I didn't have to wear gray. I could have used a light green, maybe even a light cream color, just a shade lighter, maybe a little more neutral, just to help give it that nice, subtle look. It's that mixed look and here you can see that I already have it done on the outside, now it's time to think about the next color, so here I'm going to bring in another color that is similar to the first but different, so here I'm going to go in. the center, so I chose my blue, I chose my gray and very soon here we will see a light purple.

The reason I chose light purple for the next step is that it's coordinating with the blue, I thought. It looked good, the blue and the purple, it's a little bit lighter again. I'm still keeping it nice and light, but it will give me a pop of a different color, it just depends on what you choose. If you're choosing colors for your thread painting, you could go for a monochromatic look where they're all blue or you could go really crazy and use a bunch of different colors, so here you can see those are the first two colors. now that I've added those two in there now here's the purple that I'm incorporating again coordinates, it's not too dark but it's a little bit lighter, but it will give me a touch of a different color if we're going to paint with thread, we could also play with all the yarn colors we might as well try all the things again, if you're not sure which one to choose you can always choose a lighter version of any color so this What I'm using here is the Tabby Orchid Slider.

Now one of the things I want to point out is that when you play with your threads or try them all out, you might say I don't know which ones I should use. what weights it doesn't matter use a thread that you already feel comfortable using so they are all slippers they are all 40 weight they are polyester so they have that nice little sheen but if I didn't want so much of that, I could have used different threads and I have an example here in a moment where I'll show you a few different ways I did it, so this is really a moment to play around.

You can mix and match your threads. You can use different weights. You can use different colors, in fact this is a very good example or good practice to see how your threads will look once they are quilted. You know, if you have a thinner or thicker thread, it allows you to play. With this a little bit now, one thing I will point out, let's say it goes well and you don't like the purple, you can fix it after the factory, we're not going to take out any padding, there's just too much padding here to take out. but you can overlay another color on top of it, so don't feel like I don't like it, I've ruined this whole thing and I can't, I can't continue because that's definitely not the case.

I'll show you an example of what it looks like in a second, but while I'm working again just having fun, different fills, different little things, challenge yourself to have fun, think of it like you're doodling your thread because that's basically what it looks like. we make. We are doing well now that I finished this part, we are ready for the last part and that is where I am going to add a darker thread, so this one I did with mist, you can see it here, it is a darker purplish blue. combine the two colors this is my accent this is not going to be as heavy as the blue or the gray I'm just going to add a little bit of detail almost like I'm shading it so if I think about the petals of this feather, I could circle it on the outside a couple of times just to give it that little shadow effect.

I could circle some of the details I've quilted. I'm not really going to put this as heavy as the others because it just acts as a touch of contrast there and I find it scary to do because once you get to this point you have this beautiful quilted sample and you think: I don't want to ruin it, but it really gives it that really elegant look by adding a touch of a darker color now that you're more comfortable with this technique and I encourage you to try something different, like I really wanted to do. a metallic gold or a shiny gold type of color, but I didn't have one at home with me so I was making this at home anyway, very light on the details, we're just adding that color just to draw attention. to particular areas and that's exactly what that thread is going to do, it's going to draw attention to where I put it, so if by the time I'm in this section and I don't like this shape, I've quilted it, I'm not going to put my darker thread around, I'm going to use it to highlight the parts of the quilting that I love and want to show and that means that that will help hide a little bit of those areas that maybe I'm not a fan of but you should know that once it's done and you take a step back, all you're going to see is this colorful, overly quilted piece, you're not going to see the individual pieces as much, so please try not to be too perfectionist in this step and then when you're done, you can see there's that touch of color, that beautiful contrast, but if you think it's too much contrast, if you think I don't know, I feel like it's going to take something away from you, take out the first color you use. here I'm using the blue and I'm going just above that darker purplish blue and it's going to mute it a little bit, it's going to help blend it in a little bit, so yeahYou find that one color is too dark, just go back and put another color on top.

I could have even gone for that lighter gray and I actually, as you know, did that type of skin, so while I can't get rid of the color completely, you can. I definitely highlight it or hide it a little bit and as you go, here we'll see the finished piece in a second, but when I'm done and I have my unquilted areas, I'm nice. Instead of leaving them to add a touch of interest to the quilt, I could go back and fill the whole thing and I'll show you examples of both, so sometimes that unquilted area will really catch your attention so you can write.

You can play with that a little bit as you design your piece, but if I had quilted this and wanted to add even more then I could take my other thread colors and fill them in, so I don't have a video of this, but just use your imagination with those little ones petals in the center that are quilted in purple, if I wanted to fill them with more thread paint I would do the same with that as a starting color, I would choose my purple and then choose a lighter thread and then a coordinating color that is similar and then one more dark to add a touch of your interest in that area, so that as you put it on you can even keep going down that rabbit hole of thread colors and just have a I had a great time, so now that we've seen a very quick little rendition of how it works, I want to show you what that quilted sandwich really looked like, so here's the finished example, it's about 12 and a half inches.

It gives you some kind of idea of ​​scale, the entire panel is about 25 inches, but you can see this beautiful thread color. I love the way they come together and as you play with it you can evolve into whatever you want. It gets very, very heavy, very dense, but man, it's really going to draw attention to an area and it's very, very pretty, plus it's a great way to practice some different designs. Now let's imagine that even though you say, I don't know, that's a lot. what kind of thread painting to do maybe you want to work on a quilt and you don't want it to be a wall hanging tapestry.

There are different ways you can use a thread painting technique to highlight areas or show things, so let's look at a couple of these, first of all, on the other side of this panel. I desperately wanted to finish it but I couldn't do it here. I used the same thread, I didn't use two different colors of thread, I just layered one on top of the other it traveled more in certain areas to give it a little bit darker color so you can see more obviously, the more times you go over the quilt the darker it will get , so if I pretend I'm I'm working on a quilt and I love this star.

I can add a little bit more travel towards the center to make it a little bit darker right there, it just helps draw the eye to that area again, there are no different colors, just traveling. up a couple of times to give you more details and you can see here. I've done it with swirls and pebbles work best because they naturally roll over each other, but you can do it with any design where I've made swirls. On both sides, adding a bit of travel, we actually saw a bit of this when we did the fabulous feather challenge, using travel and layering techniques, it doesn't have to be over the top and here I just liked my feathers in purple, this it's the orchid color, but adding more trips just to really make them show up a little bit more, so if I'm really proud of my feathers and I want to make sure everyone can see them, I could do this, no.

I'm only half serious, this would be something I would make if I was working on a very, very busy fabric quilt and I loved what I made and I want to show up a little, so I'm adding a couple more. run lines to do that and here this is the same technique we just saw where I started with my darkest color and then added my lighter parts so instead of having a printed panel to come out of, I'm creating my shape whether I'm quilting a feather, quilting my candy ribbon and then adding that detail and blending it well again, but what if you don't want to go that crazy?

You can start using the colors of your threads to create that painted effect, but there are no layers. Also, there's no traveling involved, we're just using various colors of threads to give it an ombre look. This is great for those of you who have an extensive thread collection like me. I have all the threads and it's great because they can give it an ombre effect, it's more subtle, it's not as dramatic, but it can still add that really cool look, so here I have my swirl chain, I quilted it in a green mint of course, the reason it works is because it has the same value. as a background, so even though I'm using different colors, they're all this kind of middle color, just like the background that will help you, so I quilted my little shape and then I went on and added my next color, so this one is more orange and I I used to add some echoes, add some designs and then I came in with my yellow and then my green and I could have gone on but at that point I ran out of time so you can play with those thread colors and give it that ombre effect.

I think it would be really fun to do it on a quilt if you had a lot of negative space and it's really a way to highlight different things that you want to show, of course. If I wanted it to be more drastic, I could have layered the colors on top of each other, but that's not really the effect I was going for, so again, you don't have to layer, you don't have to travel, you can use multiple threads. colors or let's take it another way maybe you want to quilt this thing to death you want to play with all the threads well you can definitely do that too so this is actually a small wall hanging it's that big it's a picture I printed out what my husband took it when he was in Utah and I loved the different colors and textures and thought this is perfect.

I can use this as a guide for all my threads, so now that we know a formula, let's write. To talk about what I did, I started with my orange in this section, that was my main color and then I built it up from that. I have my touch of a different color and it may be hard to see, but I have some gold. I have some gold. Yellow, a little bit of peachy coral and I came back with a blending thread color and quilted everything, so in this example I don't have any unquilted areas to draw attention to because I just wanted that overall effect to show. above, this was probably the most fun I've had with machine quilting.

It was a lot of fun and again in this section it's a different color, so I have my other color. I went in and created my sections and then I went back and filled them in with colors that blend a little bit more with my contrasting color and then this is where I pulled out all of my specialty threads, so if you have specialty threads, this is the fun place you can do that. I have metallic, I have shine. I've got all the stuff here, but if you're going to work with special threads, I suggest you save them until the end because you don't really want to cover that and you're going to have to do it nice and slow. having to be slow like this here is a golden metallic thread, isn't it so pretty?

So brilliant and I'll tell you part of the problem is if you're doing something like this, let me see if I can get down here. where you can see without messing everything up, it's easy to get distracted while quilting because the threads are so bright and pretty, so this is a great opportunity to play around with some of those threads that you might not use in your regular quilt. It's more abstract but still a lot of fun, and this is one we've probably seen before. If you've ever seen any of my live chats, I've done a similar one thread painting, this is one of those national park panels and that's it.

That's how I started diving into this, a bit of thread painting, it's been around forever. I love it. I've just never had the time or inclination to try it and then I finally get a panel like this and I'm like, oh yeah, this is it. It's going to be fun since I already have my design, my fabric there gives me the guide of where to place things like it's already a little bit shaded for me, I just have to add some different colors and so, just getting my different threads started with the color of the yarn blending in, but you can tell when I got to this side that I was a little more adventurous, this was a little bit at first, a little scary, but then I added that back in. pop, this is actually like a darker type of gray-green, it's just going to add some of those details.

Now in this example I'm leaving parts unquilted because that's what gives it that beautiful texture that I wanted that kind of unquilted pop. area so it really depends on what you think looks good if you want it all quilted if you want to leave some texture so it really shines now I probably should have started with this, but there's something you should know: this is nothing, you need some kind of art training for this it's just where you quilt it so you think it looks good. I don't have a degree in art. I don't have any artistic training or anything like that, but I know what.

I like it, so as I'm pulling some thread or laying it out, I can say oh, I like that, or if I don't, I can go back to the medium thread color that I first chose and go over it. Now I'll say, let's see if I get it right where I want it to be. When I got to this point I added there were some cool colors, I added a little bit of orange right there, it's a little hard to say but I didn't love it and again you can't point out your mistakes to other people but I can because that it's my job.

I'm here to help you, but I started with this orange color and I didn't like it, you really can't. See it because I picked up this gold and put it right on top so it sticks out a little bit but it helped hide it and I thought it looked nice so you can really hide a lot of your mistakes and since you're painting with thread or playing around it doesn't have to be like literal details. If you notice that I stick with abstract looking things, I'm probably not going to thread paint a parrot or anything, I mean, I never will.

Say never, but who knows, but as I'm moving forward, if you're working on more landscape type panels, think about texture, think about pops of different colors, I think it doesn't have to be realistic, so I came up with my little, you know, buffalo and I got to my grass areas, I'm just doing some wavy lines, but I go through from time to time and add a touch of texture, add some different colors, I really have a good time, I think it's something to remember. It's basically like finger painting, right, we're just throwing some things around having a good time and when you're done, it's going to look really cool and over the top, so now let me get back to my camera, I hope.

That gave me an idea of ​​it, it's very difficult to say that's how the thread is painted. I want to encourage you to know that you can start playing with the colors of your thread, start building one on top of the other and I think you'll find that it's actually a lot of fun and you might fall down a hole where you spend a lot of time on a particular quilt. , but it's a lot of fun and I guess there were some questions because I saw Jessica there putting all the papers together for me. I always know that means I've done a great job or a horrible job.

I guess we'll find out. How do I stabilize the fabric? So I'm on my long arm, so I have My quilt was loaded normally into your sewing machine. You're going to go ahead and stabilize your quilt sandwich like you normally would. You could use a fuse. You could use pens. I'll tell you, like you're going to do a lot of density. quilting, so take your time going through those elements like I showed you, like sew in the ditch and hold them down so then you can add your thread if I were working on that whole panel, like let's say I want to do the I would probably sew all those seams and then I would go back and start stuffing it because it's really going to absorb that fabric and can make it harder to keep it all straight and flat, I don't know if the question still came up but I'll go ahead and say what happens when you're done and it's not perfectly flat, so it is a very good possibility since we are placing several threads and it is getting very thick if it is going to be a wall. hanging or something that you want to leave nice and flat, you can block it and blocking it is just where you put it on the ground or a flat surface, spray it lightly with water, make it square and flat and then let it dry that way.

I have had quilts that I have quilted in pieces that were so bad that I had to put them like a towel and heavy boxes on top to help keep them in places so you can definitely flatten them if you need what thread am I using on the bobbin I'm so sorry I wanted to mention that because I know that comes up a lot since I'm changing threads so much, I'm using the same color for everyone, this isn't necessarily something that will look very pretty on the back. to be very filiform, the thread will be very heavy, and in that particular example I used a light tan color before the wounds and therefore it splits the difference between dark and light, so I kept it the same, as I usually do because the The front is very fun.

I don't worry about the back and if I'm hanging on a wall no one will see the back anyway. I was thinking about that when I was quilting and thought if it really bothers you. You can put a faux backing on your quilt, put another backing on top, tie it and then hang it andNo one will see anything from that thread. Am I using the same weight? So in this example I'm using those four sliders. colors just because they match beautifully and if you go to the link in the description box I have the li that I haven't listed so you can see they are on the product page but they are all the same weight. but you don't have to, I want to encourage you to find those threads that you haven't used in a long time that you bought because they were brilliant and try them out so you can definitely have fun with them, but just know that the thicker the thread, the more You see, like a pencil tip, the thicker the tip, the more it will show, so if I had this color but it was 80 weight, I know it's not going to look as dark as this, so keep that in mind. account, although you will quickly find out what is happening when you start quilting and if you like the way it looks nice using so much thread, do I have a problem? with broken thread, yeah I do and I noticed it a lot as I was trying to go faster because I was trying to finish this, you know, yeah, so as you build up all that thread, the needle has to go through all that thread and come out. . go back up and sometimes the thread will break, which will happen if you move too fast or if the needle starts to dull, so go ahead and change the needle at the beginning and you may have to change.

While you're at it, I quilted all of these things here without changing my needle a second time, but if it breaks a lot and you can't figure out why, that would be the reason another thing I'll point out is if you. You have a long arm, loosen the quilt a little. I had mine so tight that it vibrated a little, but it also made it harder to pad, so I loosened it a little. How do you avoid thread nests? or hooks on the back is very, very difficult, so what I do is when I'm done I'm going to clean them afterwards and again the back is not going to be beautiful, don't necessarily do this and go into a quilt show.

And expect to win, because as you build that thread, it's very difficult to maintain perfect tension, so the panel that I quilted is 25 inches, so each of those blocks is about 12 and a half inches, which I think which is a great size. to practice thread painting on my long arm it took me about an hour and 45 minutes of quilting time, I actually timed it, that's not thread changes, it doesn't load, it doesn't cover what to actually quilt, it's just real time of quilting, so it will be a good project. be the way to go, it will allow you to get some experience with what the threads look like on top of each other and how you feel about certain things and then after you feel comfortable you can go big and do bigger things.

With that, how can you? I do this on my regular sewing machine just like I did on the long arm, just like you would do with machine quilting, you're going to put your free-motion foot on, you're going to put on your new needle and you're just going to do the same thing. , the only difference is that you will be moving your hands again instead of the fabric, it will become thicker and heavier so a smaller piece will be easier for this technique if you have a large king size quilt this is probably not whatever technique you want to use on it, but if you have a baby quilt that you're making for a loved one and you want to add a cute little quilted flower or whatever you can make, I definitely have a tutorial for the chain swirl yes, I do, it's in a couple of places.

I'll try to remember to put a link in the description box. It's a separate tutorial called the amazing swirl, but it's also part of the swirl challenge and we saw that too. on the ground and foliage, so it's been in a few places, the swirl chain is one of those that's like a party trick, once you master it, it's very easy, but people are impressed, do you? And what is the photo that my husband took? That orange piece I showed was from Antelope Canyon in Utah, so if you ever see Bryce Canyon or those places where it has those beautiful orange colors, that's the photo you took and I had it printed on fabric, so if you still have something like that better, something vivid and beautiful and the colors were already there, I just had to take inspiration from the fabric, but you don't have to have that particular panel if you want something like that, look for any kind of shine. bold panel we're just here to play, look for anything that has some detail that you can pull out and then eventually like, so you can hang it up and enjoy it, so if you continue with this technique and have any questions, be sure to leave them in the comments because I come here from time to time to answer them and make sure you have fun or share photos on social media and tag me because I think you are I'm going to love this technique.

It's a lot of fun when you can play with the colors of the threads. Next week I'll be back for another live talk where I'll talk about quilting wind and the elements of nature. from wind clouds water spoiler alert, they all pretty much have the same design, but I'm going to show you some different examples and different things on how to use it and I hope you'll join me in keeping everyone safe, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you very much for watching this video, this live chat if you liked it or any of the videos I published I hope you give it a thumbs up or subscribe to find out about all future videos until then happy happy thread painting machine quilting goodbye everyone you