Thread-Painted Landscape Quilts

2. Place vellum paper over the 11" x 17" photo and trace the prominent and desired details with a pencil. Take the vellum design (11" x 17") to a copy shop and have an 8-1/2" x 11" paper copy produced. From the paper copy have a black and white transparency made.

3. Enlarge the black and white transparency to a black line drawing to the desired size (today's project was enlarged 300-percent). Check local copy shops, blue print shops or use an overhead projector to create a black line drawing.

4. Place a clear plastic overlay (sheet) over the black line drawing and transfer the primary lines of the drawing onto the plastic overlay.

5. Divide this project into four workable sections. Each section can be placed underneath the clear plastic overlay (step #4) to determine if the designs are lining up according to the pattern.

6. Next, trace each section of the design on water-soluble stabilizer with a permanent pen.

7. Place fabric and two layers of water-soluble stabilizer underneath the drawn stabilizer design (step #6).

8. Place the four layers (fabric, two water-soluble stabilizer sheets and the water-soluble stabilizer with design drawn onto from step #6 into a small hoop to thread paint (sew).

9. Thread paint (sew) the design. See below for thread painting instructions.

Method #2 - Toile Sandwich method

Steps:

1. Trace small spider plant motif (or any motifs) from the original landscape pattern on water-soluble stabilizer.

2. Sandwich toile fabric between two pieces of water-soluble stabilizer.

3. Place toile and stabilizer in a small hoop to thread paint the design.

Thread Painting

1. Drop the feed dogs on the sewing machine. Insert 60-weight thread in the bobbin and use variegated thread for the top thread.

2. Place the spider plant design (from method #2) into a small embroidery hoop and 'paint' using a straight stitch on the sewing machine. Adjust tension to a 2-1/2 or as needed.

3. Cut away as much of the stabilizer as possible without cutting the design. Then wash away the water-soluble stabilizer.

4. Remove the excess stabilizer with a hot stencil maker or cut with embroidery scissors. Caution: the heat from the stencil maker will dissolve the thread if tool is held in one place too long or if held too close to the thread.

5. Dab water-soluble glue onto the motifs for a temporary hold then stitch in place with matching or invisible thread. This stabilizes the motif until the final quilting is completed.

Instructions provided courtesy of guest Nancy Prince.