So over the past couple of weeks we’ve looked at all the prep to build up to this point, actually stitching on your stitch sketches!  Just a reminder, for those who may be looking for the pattern I used as the basis for this main project, I got it from Urban Threads.  I suggest taking a good look around the site, there’s a ton of possibilities, and the hand embroidery patterns that you need for this are all of $1.

Last week I had got all the bits cut out and fused them together, so the first thing I needed to do this week is to fuse it to the base that it will be stitched to.  I have done this both onto mini quilts, and also onto fabric backed in fusible woven interfacing and low loft fusible fleece to be made into pouches.  For the mini quilts I have done both a solid base and a basic patchwork base, work out which will be best for your project, then fuse the piece to the top before making it into a mini quilt sandwich (I find it easier to fuse before basting as there’s a more solid base to fuse to).

In this case I wanted to make the final piece into a pouch:

As it stands, even with the different colours it looks pretty flat and boring.  My initial approach is always to do a basic outline on all the pieces, and I usually use Aurifil 50wt in black for this as it stands out without being too dominating.  If working with very dark fabrics though, I might look at a light colour of thread to provide the necessary contrast.

Depending on the outline I will either use an open toed embroidery foot with free motion stitching (feed dogs dropped) or an open toed applique foot and a regular centre straight stitch.  Free motion works great with wiggly outlines like the one below, but I prefer the regular stitching when I have straight-ish edges to follow, as my free-motioning in a straight line can be a bit, well, un-straight.

As you can see above, as well as the basic outline, I also added some ‘thread’ to the spool on the left.  I happened to think that this piece didn’t need any other adornment, as the shapes and colours of the fabric were quite emphatic enough, but I have added more details to pieces that started as pictures rather than text.

For the camera below, I gave the illusion of dimension by creating a ridged effect on the top of the lens with black thread along with adding details to the various knobs and buttons and adding text around the lens.  I also used pale grey thread to outline the pieces of the flash mounting at the top and to mark the ‘top’ on the blue part – it is actually just one piece of fabric.

In the truck below, as well as using the black to outline parts that I wanted to create dimension on, I used thread the same colour as the fabric on the ‘metal’, ‘windows’ and ‘wood’, although I outlined the wood in black just outside the fabric so that it stood out a little.  There was a darker green used on the tree so it was more obvious.  The ‘snow’ was created using some silver Brillo thread from Aurifil.

Having finished the stitching, you can then finish the project, in this case making a pouch for a swap partner:

I’m looking forward to seeing what you all make now!