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How to change the color of your metal charms and beads
If you're anything like me you never seem to have metal charms, beads, buttons or embellishments in the right color when you need them. I always seem to have more silver than gold or copper. Here's a quick and easy way to change the color of your metal embellishments....
Getting organized for the new year
I'm looking forward to a super creative year in 2016 and I hope you are also. One of the best ways I know to stay creative and inspired is to use a notebook to keep track of thoughts and ideas as they come to me, because otherwise they would just fall out of my head...
How to make bead dangles
Beading is one of my favorite methods of embellishing my art quilts and other sewing projects, and I like to use lots of bead dangles which are made using several strands of beads which are strung onto lengths of thread and allowed to hang and well ... dangle. I just...
Pretty Little Things
This year has been quite full and busy with this and that, and I haven't really had much time to make any textile art. But as this year nears its end, it's time to think about what the new year will look like. And for next year I think I'd like to make more textile...
Embellishing with Hand Stitches
Sewing using hand embroidery stitches is both a creative and a very relaxing way to embellish your sewing projects. As opposed to machine stitching which is often fast and furious, hand stitching has the effect of slowing us down and bringing us into the present...
How to make rusted fabric using Wonder Under
While I was in the process of making a new book cover, I started experimenting with making rusted fabric using wonder under fusible webbing which I'd painted. Because I've used painted wonder under before, I knew that it would probably turn out quite well. And in fact...
Turning dandelions into fabric art
Ever since I finished my Dandelion textile art piece last week - see it here - I've been in love with the shape of the dandelion that I made using bits of cotton scrim, so of course I had to continue and make some more. Instead of making another large fabric art piece...
Free Tutorial: Machine Needle-lace shapes using water soluble stabilizer
While it looks quite complex, working with thread and water soluble stabilizer is really quite easy and a lot of fun, and is one of my favorite methods of making thread art. This tutorial shows you how to make needle-lace leaves using thread and water soluble...
Creative sewing in shades of purple: Dandelion emerges
It's often surprising what emerges when you work intuitively without a plan or design in mind. The cloth and stitches just somehow unfold their own story. This time a dandelion field emerged. I've used a lot of scrim in this piece in various ways. It has wonderful...
Creative sewing in shades of purple: a little handstitching
Progressing a little further with my Shades of Purple art quilt, I dyed a piece of fabric to use for the background. I love the yellow to purple gradation. Used as a background fabric, I think it brightens up the quilted layer which will be sewn on separately as a...
Things a textile artist can do with a die-cutting machine
This week I was planning to show you some ways to use scrim to add texture and dimension to fabric surfaces, and I did actually gather some things together. But then my new toy - a Silhouette Cameo die-cutting machine - arrived unexpectedly early. And well, new toys...
Tutorial: Creative Ways to Use Angelina Fiber
One of the many perks of being a textile artist is that you get to play with all sorts of fun and creative products, and Angelina Fiber is definitely one of those fun products. If you're not familiar with Angelina Fiber, it's a soft fiber that is light reflective as...
Silk carrier rods and how to use them to make silk paper
Silk carrier rods are curious little things but I love them because they have such an unexpected shape and texture and they can be adapted for use into fabric, mixed media art and felting in lots of different ways. Silk carrier rods are the by-product of reeling silk...
Tutorial: Creating texture on fabric using crinkled ribbon
I work a lot with textured fabric surfaces mostly because I think they look a lot more interesting than flat surfaces. Sometimes I create surface texture using machine stitching. And I also use a lot of fabric paper texture. I also sometimes like to use unusual...
Embellished fabric box finally finished
I finally found a few minutes to finish off my embellished fabric box and it turned out rather beautiful I think. I was originally going to use the ribbon fabric as the lining but it looked so good I decided to use it on the outside, and instead lined the box with a...
Fabric Box Update
The fabric box that I started last week is just about finished. I've completed the beading and hand embroidery for the top of the box and although I've used the same design for the three sections, the embellishing is slightly different on each section which makes it...
Working out of the box – fabric box that is
I had hoped to be further along with the project I started last week, but I think it's so annoying when life gets in the way of playtime! I like making fabric boxes and use them to hold all sorts of things, and I want to use this one to hold some of my sketching...
Tutorial: Decorative Stitch “Art Lace” using water soluble stabilizer
I love to use the decorative machine stitches on my sewing machine and I use them in all sorts of different ways to achieve creative fabric embellishing effects. One of my favorite sewing techniques is combining water soluble stabilizer and the decorative stitches on...
Get Creative with Water Soluble Stabilizer
Don't you just love getting creative with fun products and techniques? Water soluble stabilizer is one of my very favorite products and I love to use it in lots of different ways to create interesting thread and fiber effects such as Soft edges on quilts Lace windows...
How to make simple and perfectly shaped fabric beads
Fabric beads ... mmmmmm .... Usually I like em kinda chunky like this ... ... but every now and then I need a bead that's perfect and plain like these. There are a number of ways to get a perfectly round fabric bead, but this tip is too good to keep to myself. My...
Printing on Textured Fabric using Inkaid
Working with texture has always been one of my favorite things and I've always found it challenging and rewarding to find ways to merge both visual and tactile texture into my artwork. One of the biggest challenges though has been to find ways to successfully print...
