Now You See It, Now You Don’t

Update: The “Titivations” DVD is now available. Please visit the Instructional DVD Section of the store for details.

I’ve been quite busy these last few weeks updating the Titivations DVD which should be available by the end of this week, and I’ve decided to include on this DVD the tutorials from the “Now You See It, Now You Don’t” workshop which I presented online a couple of years ago. I never quite got around to giving the “Now You See It, Now You Don’t” workshop it’s own dvd, but since I’m updating Titivations, this is the perfect opportunity to include the workshop on this dvd.

For those who may remember, the “Now You See It, Now You Don’t” workshop covered techniques and applications for using water soluble stabilizer, so to warm you all up and put you in a “titivating” mood, this is a good time to revisit my tutorial for making “see through” designs using machine needle-lace. Machine needle-lace is a very versatile technique particularly for making embellishments, but you can also use it for other types of embellishing and one of my favorites is “see-through” designs and this needle-lace heart design is a simple project to demonstrate the technique. Have fun!

This design can be used on a single piece of fabric which has been hooped in an embroidery hoop, or a quilt.

Download the design (right click and save to your desktop).

Machine needle-lace is made using free motion and sewing small, pea-size loops which overlap themselves.

On your fabric, stitch one or two rows of straight stitch to stabilize the design.

Using small sharp scissors, cut away the center of the design close to the stitching line.

Cut a piece of water soluble stabilizer and pin the stabilizer in place underneath the cutaway design.

Fill in the design with machine needle-lace, then stitch a row of satin stitch to finish off the edge.

For added embellishment, you could also sew a row of decorative stitching around the outer edge of the design.

You could use this design as a quilt block or a small project …

Or use the technique to make embellishments such as needle-lace leaves and beads …