Zentgraf - Embellishments for adventurous sewing: master applique, decorative stitching, and machine embroidery through easy step-by-step instruction and fun projects

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Digital Edition: 978-1-61058-630-6

Hardcover Edition: 978-1-58923-731-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

Copy Editor: Peggy Wright

Proofreader: Karen Ruth

Book Design: Diana Boger

Cover Design: Creatvie Publishing international

Page Layout: Leslie Haimes

Illustrations: Diana Boger

Photographs: Nancy S. J. Langdon and Kevin May

Master Appliqu, Decorative Stitching, and Machine Embroidery through Easy Step-by-step Instruction and Fun projects

Carol Zentgraf

I have always loved creating art! As a child, I always had a pencil and sketchbook in hand or used a paintbrush to embellish any surface I was allowed to paint. Now my art medium of choice is fabric. I love to sew, and fabric is the perfect surface for a wide variety of embellishments. Why simply make a pillow with a pretty print fabric when you can do so much more? You can embellish the fabrics design with stitching, beads, or buttons or create a trapunto effect. And thats just the beginning. You can personalize your dcor or spice up your wardrobe in SO many ways with creative embellishments.

Through the pages of this book, youll discover how to incorporate the built-in decorative stitches on your machine and digitized embroidery designs into your projects and add details with bobbin work, heirloom stitches, and free-motion stitching. Well explore different types of appliqu, from those made traditionally with satin-stitched edges to fun dimensional appliqus made with dyed and boiled wool felt or appliqus made from a photo using printable, water-soluble stabilizer. Or use trims; the possibilities are almost endless. Have fun creating edge or surface embellishments with fabric tubes and water-soluble stabilizer, enhance the fabrics motifs or create your own designs with couched cording, or give definition to edges and seams with piping or cording. Add flat or dimensional designs to garments and accessories using ribbon, fringe, and decorative trims. Go wild and accent a neckline or the fabrics design with buttons or beads, or use grommets, eyelets, or zippers in decorative and unconventional ways. Or you can use fabric manipulationone of my favorite techniques. With it, you can make fabulous fabric even better by changing or enhancing its texture. Use trapunto to showcase motifs or add surface interest with gathers, pleats, tucks, or slits. Last but not least, I cant resist the lure of paints, dyes, and even bleach when it comes to embellishing fabric. Call upon your inner artist and be adventurous (and maybe a little messy) by adding color or taking it out or even by etching fibers to create a design. If paints and dyes dont appeal to you, you can wear your artists cap and combine fabrics, photo transfers, trims, and more to make a fabric collage.

The techniques mentioned are just some of the ones featured in this book, and step photography and clear instructions accompany all of them. This book also includes 15 projects to get you started, and youll be sure to think of many others during your adventurous sewing. Have fun and remember that best of all, embellishing is fun, and there really isnt a right or wrong way to add creative touches. While I may not still be that girl who sat cross-legged on the floor to paint, mixing colors on her knee, I still get the same thrill out of seeing a surface transformed by embellishment, and I think you will too!

If you are an adventurous sewer, chances are good that you love fabrics and trims as well as all of the wonderful threads, beads, buttons, and other artistic accents that await you! Each piece of fabric offers so much potential for embellishment, and you can try so many exciting techniques.

FABRICS

Do you have a fabric stash? If youve been sewing for a while, you probably dothat beautiful silk fabric that caught your eye, an amazing hand-dyed or hand-woven fabric, wool with a luscious texture, or a cotton or decorator fabric with a fabulous print that was too good to pass up.

Or maybe you fell in love with the charm of some vintage fabrics or embroidered linens. Well, its time to discover the creative potential of some of those fabrics when you embellish them, and youll be surprised that even some of your shopping mistakes can take on a whole new look with the right embellishment technique. If youre a beginner and dont have a stash yet, dont worry; you will build one soon enough. The main thing to remember, whether youre pulling from your stash or ready to head out on a fabric shopping spree, is to use fabrics that are suitable for the embellishment technique youre planning. While a wide range of fabrics are suitable for many embellishment techniques, the following fabrics are leading players in this book:

Natural-fiber fabrics such as wool, cotton, linen, and silk are good choices for many embellishment techniques. Lighter weights of these fabrics are especially ideal for fabric-manipulation techniques like pleats, ruffles, ruching, or tucks where sharp creases or shape retention is important. Look for them in a wide variety of colors, prints, weights, and interesting textures.

Hand-woven and hand-dyed fabrics add interesting colors, designs, and textures to your projects. Look for them at quilt and fabric expos or from online sources.

Wool felt, real or faux suede, and other nonwoven fabrics will not ravel and dont require an edge finish. Use them for cut-out areas, appliqus, binding, borders, and dimensional embellishments. They are also ideal for cut strips, loops, and projects that showcase the seam allowances on the outside of the project.