Module 1 Chapter 4 - Zigzag samples (page 8)

Module 1 Chapter 4 - Zigzag sample 1

For this sample I used purple and orange transfer painted satin, backed with white felt. I used a stitch length of 2.4 and different widths, ranging from 0.5 to 5.5 in purple thread (Madeira 1122). I let some stitches overlap, but not too many, as I wanted the orange fabric to show through. This took 1 and 1/2 hours to complete and the overall effect is quite pleasing, although I think that using one or two more thread colours would be even more attractive.

Zigzag sample No. 2  on black felt - changing stitch length

For this sample I used black felt as the main fabric and also for the backing. The colours that I used were as follows:

candy pink (Madeira 1117) in stitch lengths 0.5 and 4.5

orange (Madeira 1278) in stitch lengths 1.5 and 3.0

lime green (Madeira 1248) in stitch lengths 2.0 and 5.0

and metallic turquoise (Madeira No. 65) in stitch length 1.0

The stitch length was set at 2.5

(1 3/4 hours)

I think that the final effect is quite striking and was pleased with the overall colour combination that I chose. Overlapping lines of stitching with a different colour thread produces interesting effects and lighter colour threads in a narrow satin stitch can be used to 'lift' the piece.

Experimental zigzag sample No. 3

(1 1/2 hours)

The background for this sample was red, blue and green transfer painted satin, which was backed with felt. This time I changed both the width and length of the stitches.

The colours I used were as follows:

orange (Madeira 1278) stitch length 0.5 and widths 2.7, 3.1 and 4.0

blue (Madeira 1134) stitch length 2.0 and width 1.8

green (Madeira 1051) stitch length 3.0 and width 3.3

yellow (Madeira 1024) length 0.9 and width 0.9

red - I changed the length of the stitches and also the  width from 0.5 to 5.5 while stitching, which produced interesting 'blobs' along the lines. Again, overlapping different coloured stitch colours produced attractive effects and textures. The colour scheme is quite vibrant, although it is not my favourite combination.

Chapter 4 Automatic Patterns - Sample 4

( 1 hour)

For this sample I used light green and yellow/orange transfer painted satin. I chose automatic pattern No. 74 on my machine (a Bernina QE 440), which had a stitch length of 1.4 and width of 5.5 and produced a pretty, scalloped effect, which let the colours in the background show through. The threads I used this time were:

orange (Madeira 1278), lime green (1248) and yellow (1223). I started with orange, then green and finally filled in the spaces between them with the yellow. I left different spaced widths between the rows and also let some stitches overlap.

I was pleased with the final effect, as the colours of the satin showed through the stitching and I like the colour combination of the threads, which are quite summery and remind me of lemon and lime sorbet!

Chapter 4 - Automatic Patterns - sample 5

(1 1/2 hours)

For sample 5, I chose red, green and blue transfer painted satin and backed it with white felt. I used automatic pattern No. 85 on my machine. I discovered that I couldn't change either the width or length of the stitches, as these were preset at 3.60 (length) and 5.5 (width). The colours that I used were: blue (Madeira 1134), green (1051), metallic red and Astro 5 (a variegated metallic thread).

I sewed quite heavily over the fabric this time and let more lines overlap. This was mainly effective, but I think that I 'over' sewed some areas of the sample, particularly the red lines near the middle. If I were to try this again, I would just overlap the edges of the pattern in this area, to let the background show through slightly more.

Automatic pattern - sample 6

(1 hour)

For sample 6, I used purple and orange transfer painted satin and this time decided to use a combination of different automatic patterns:

No. 33 in purple (Madeira 1122)

No. 53 in orange (1278)

No. 73 in red (1147)

I started with the purple thread (as I found that starting with a darker colour and adding lighter colours over the top was the most effective way to work for these samples), and then built up the orange and red layers afterwards. This is my favourite automatic pattern sample so far, as I found that using different stitch patterns provided more contrast and variety than only using one stitch pattern and that using the red thread' lifted' the other colours that I had chosen.

Module 1 Chapter 3 straight stitch samples

Sample 1a)

I used blue and purple transfer painted satin as the background for this sample, backed with white felt and set my stitch length to 2.4. I chose a light golden brown thread, a light lime green thread and a golden yellow, to complement the background. The stitching is quite neat and I like the spacing between the rows and columns, but the lime green and yellow look quite similar when viewed from a distance.

Close up of sample 1a)

Sample 1b)

I decided to try the exercise again, using the same background, but slightly different coloured threads. This time I used a darker purple, orange and the lime green from the previous sample. Although the overall effect is darker, I prefer this sample because the thread colours don't overpower the background and there is a little more contrast between them.

Close up of stitching sample 1b)

Diagonal grid on black felt - sample2

For this sample I used black felt as a stabiliser and set my stitch length to 2.4. I used red, lime green and orange threads to stitch the grid. I was able to keep the lines quite straight and was quite pleased with the overall effect. It looks a little bit like tartan! (1 hour to complete).

Sample on calico  (3a)

For this sample, I used calico, backed with white felt. I used a multitude of coloursand stitched 'wiggly' lines in a horizontal, vertical and diagonal direction. I also changed
 colours quite regularly (no more than 10 lines in one colour). It did look quite messy once complete and some of the lighter stitching doesn't really show up in the photos. I then used a darker pink to stitch three thicker wiggly lines from top to bottom, but still thought it looked disorganised! (see photo below).

Experimental sample on calico with darker stitching

I thought that I would try again, using coloured fabric as a background. This time I used white satin which had been coloured with green and yellow transfer paints. Again, I sewed lots of 'wiggly' lines in lots of different directions and changed colours regularly. Once this was completed, I sewed three thicker diagonal wavy lines across the fabric in a mid-blue tone (Madeira 1134). I found this sample much more pleasing to look at due to the coloured background, and much prefer the effect of the diagonal lines (they look like blue seaweed!)

Green and yellow transfer painted satin as background- sample 3b)

1 hour