My kids (6,9,12) were deeply engrossed in Mario Cart. I clicked on my sewing machine and thought how simple it would be to hook up my video camera for you to see. I didn't. There were two solid hours of laughing and screaming and play by play at the top of their lungs just feet away from where I was and I didn't want to put you through that. I will make a video this fall - promise!
I had a moment of jealousy, absolutely sure that Anna Maria Horner MUST have a housekeeper, a groundskeeper, a cook and a nanny or two. sigh. There's just no way. (ps- I think she rocks.)
As it turns out, coloring in a photo with thread took no time at all. I was done Pippin in less than 2 hours (uninterrupted!). It was super-simple and took only 6 colors of thread. Trust me, my landscapes done by sight take way, WAY longer. My point is - basic thread painting is not difficult. Birds are a terrific subject because their feathers are all laid out for you to stitch. It's super simple. Check it out. First, in no apparent order - bright yellow.
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| first the yellow - in shiny rayon (Wonderfil) |
I'm kicking myself for not turning on my video camera. Next... a brassy colored rayon.
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| brass colored rayon added next |
Then I added a matt grey cotton, and some white/offwhite too. Again... it took minutes. By the way, I'm sewing on stabilized stabilizer because I dislike working with hoops.
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| My Sweet Canary - Pippin all stitched in. |
I finished his little foot. I stitched in the perch with some variegated brick & brown colors. I highlighted it with white. I changed the perch to hide the fact that it's covered in poop. lol I did some decorative stitching to help fill up the back. I wanted to minimize the fact that there are bars behind him. I like it - it's kind of festive. This bird took under an hour. The decorative stitching took about the same amount of time.
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| Pippin 8x10 - all done! Click photo to see it larger. |
THIS is my favorite part. I love the details. : )
Thank you Mario Cart. Now off to cook, clean, wash, water, & feed everyone, and hopefully throw in a family bike ride too. : ) Linking to TN&TN.
21 comments:
what a beautiful little bird - and what a grand tutorial - you make it seem simple.....
cheers
molly
Spectacular, Monika! Lovely work!!
Wow! That's gorgeous! It never occurred to me that you could sew on a printed fabric. Did you print out a picture onto fabric? I really need to get a color printer. I swear I'm in the computer dark ages still. Thanks for sharing! Hey, what printer do you have LOL?
What a lovely job of thread painting the bird! I like the added programmed stitches in the background.
Beautiful work. And thank you to the makers of video games to occupy your boys for a bit of uninterrupted crafting time!
Yeah Becky!
– I printed on a freebie inket printer I got from Freecycle/kijiji. I feed paper-sized stabilizer through it. But you can press cotton fabric onto freezer paper, cut to 8.5x11 and feed it that way.
not washable...
Seriously though – I could have just traced the bird & colored it in. Printing feels like ‘cheating’ but it’s how I teach beginner threadpainting so as not to intimidated anyone that thinks they can’t draw.
(It's all lies... everyone can draw!) : )
: )
Monika
You may envy Anna Marie Horner. I envy you! ha ha.
I looked at your first pic and thought, "OMG! She stitched the actual bird?" It took a little minute that you'd stitched on a printout on fabric of the pic. Ahhh, poor birdy.
So, what's going to happen with the bars of the cage. Are you going to wash it and they disappear or what?
Oh gosh Monika ~ I'm so inspired ~ wish I lived a bit closer to you so I could take a class from you. You do such fabulous work!
Such a lovely thing to keep for years to come too........great stitching!
Thanks so much for this tutorial Monika , fabulous bird , will give this a try sometime soon.
Wonderful!! You Rock!
Stay inspired!
How pretty! And great directions!
That's just gorgeous. Beautiful work! And thanks for showing all the stages...
Seriously!!! I`m going to call tomorrow and check if there are openings in your class!
Stunning
This is just fabulous! I love your little Pippin. What a sweetie.
And if I lived near you, I would be taking almost all of your classes. You are awesome.. Woo hoo! :-)
I've often said that machine embroidery is a great way to get back to the days when I loved to get to my crayons !... seems 'colouring' with crayons is almost a thing of the past. I lived for Christmas when each of us (5) would get a jumbo colouring book ! I once designed an old fashioned colouring book image for the cover of a local fall fair booklet - for the kids art contest - now colouring books are too complicated and daunting for kids to colour. Sorry, guess I had some pent up issues ... lol ! ... and they are skinny little books, too ! :(
You now have a marvelous memory of Pippin ... beautiful !
Monika, it's stunning and I really like how you broke down the colors and sketching you did. Could you help me? Do you just use free motion quilting and do what ever shapes/lines make sense, or do you use the zigzag stitch. I need to get the courage up to finish up my doggie one.. I have one color on and got chicken all over again. Thanks for the reminder of how beautiful this is!
Wow! It's fabulous, Monika. Thanks for showing the process. I definitely want to give this a try sometime!
Beautiful. You make it looks so easy:)
Absolutely stunning, and you make it look so easy.....
I agree about the housekeeper, nanny, cook etc. part.
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