Fabric & Stitch

Discover a world of inspiration using fabric & stitch

Hand embroidery thread – how to blend custom thread colors

If you do a lot (or even a little) hand embroidery, over time you can accumulate quite a collection of embroidery floss and yarn. But doesn't it always seem that you simply never have the right color hand embroidery thread to finish off a sewing project? The color...

How to Make a Quick and Easy Traveler’s Notebook Cover

Several years ago I began using a traveler's notebook. When I first bought it, I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, but over time I've grown to love it! I particularly love the idea of being able to use several different styles of notebooks such as a writing notebook,...

Stick Totem: A Stitched Mixed Media Collage Tutorial + Free Printable

This year my goal is to make a small stitched mixed media collage each day with the intention of making monthly mixed media journals. To make these page quick and easy to create, I'm using pages from my new series of printable journals as backing pages. These pages...

Hand-Dyed Fabrics with Amazing Color and Visual Texture

It's always a thrill for me to see the work that my students produce during my online classes and workshops, and I particularly love to see the beautiful fabrics and fibers that they create during my hand-dyeing workshops. After 30 years of hand-dyeing I never get...

How to make a Handmade Journal with the Stitches Hidden in the Spine

It took a little trial and error to figure out how to make a cover and assemble last month's journal which was themed Taking Flight. I wanted a cover that looked like a book cover with no stitches showing on the outside, and pages that weren't all squashed together....

Fabric Dyeing and Playing with Color

Playing with color is one of my favorite things to do, particularly when hand-dyeing. Mixing and blending different colors to create brand new colors is magical, and even after 30 years of hand-dyeing I'm still always excited to see the results. During these last few...

How to Make Mini-Tassels using Silk Cocoons

One of the best things about being a textile artist is discovering unusual things that can be stitched and sewn, and incorporated into mixed media art in creative ways. Silk cocoons and silk carrier rods are definitely some of those unusual things. The cocoon is the...

The Dream Keeper

Since 2010, instead of making new year's resolutions which have generally fallen by the wayside within a few weeks or months, I've been choosing a single word and using it as a guide to navigate through the year. A single word is a powerful thing. It's a simple...

PhotoArt Pincushion Tutorial

With gift giving season just around the corner, these pincushions are a perfect handmade gift for your sewing friends ... or even for yourself. And they are so quick and easy to make you won't be able to stop at just one. You can easily personalize these pincushions...

Free Sewing Tutorial: How to make a Fabric Tray … with Gratitude

Fabric trays are quick and easy to make and are so useful in the sewing room for holding needles and threads and other small items. I like to be creative in my design, so my favorite method of making these fabric trays is to print my PhotoArt designs onto fabric and...

Sentiment Cards – the Perfect Handmade Gift for the Holidays

It's hard keeping secrets but now it's time to share - I'm so excited to have one of my stitched mixed media projects featured in the latest issue of Somerset Studio magazine! This issue is perfectly time for the upcoming holidays and features several beautiful...

Fragments of Nature as ephemeral art

After spending several weeks making "Fragments of Nature", this project is finally complete. It was an intentional decision to make these stitched pieces fragile and ephemeral in nature because the inspiration came after the recent hurricane here in Florida, which was...