Patchwork Making

Patchwork is the art of placing various pieces of fabric together to form something else; originally it was through necessity because fabric was so very expensive and anything got cut up and pieced together again – often in the form of crazy patchwork, particularly in the Victorian era.

Patchwork was a frugal way of making items last longer by giving them a second, and maybe even fifth life – for example clothing would be handed down through the children with the final destination being a patchwork object – often a quilt. Various shapes are used to make patchwork but the most common is a square and English patchwork would have used hexagon shapes which would be sewn by hand.

The tradition of patchwork is not reserved for any one nation and it is a craft/tradition that has travelled – the Europeans exporting it to the Americas and it is their passion that has now returned to the Europeanand Uk shores with simpler, faster techniques in patchwork meeting the modern ‘need it now’ demand. Fabrics, as well as tools, are now made specifically for patchwork which has given the patchworker a wonderful new choice of colour and design.

Mixed Media Art Embellishing

Embellishing is a very simple way of adding an additional dimension texture and interest to a project.

Back in the Victorian era embellishing was most frequently seen on crazy quilts, where they stitched over the raw edges of small pieces of fabric, that were haphazardly put together, with ribbon and used embroidery stitches and embroidery thread to create fancy patterns.

Today anything goes; you can use fabric- cotton and synthetic - plastic, tyvek, lutrador, wash-away fabrics, threads, glues, buttons, sequins, glitter, foiling, wool threads, ribbon, ric-rac, add ruffles and folds, transfer photos onto fabric, paint your fabric, use cardmaking equipment such as rubber stamps, needlefelting for texture, Angelina fibres for adding gossamer like texture, and even burning back the synthetic fabrics.

You can sew by hand or by machine and your computer can help by printing from a scanned image onto specially formulated fabric.

Embellishing Stitching

This is a current trend to use various threads and other materials to add texture to the finished item; embellishment onto items has really grown recently because of the introduction of so many wonderful threads from the manufacturers, but also because manufacturers have realised that people like to individualize items – particularly clothing.

Stitching is one of the easiest and quickest ways of embellishing an item either by hand or by using the sewing machine. Embroidery techniques can also be employed to embellish an item particularly when the threads are quite thick and they can then be couched onto the surface rather than stitched right through the item (which with thicker threads or embellishing would be impossible).

Embroidery stitches were used by the Victorians in their crazy patchwork when they joined lots of different types of fabric together and then added beads, lace , ribbon – pretty much anything they could get hold of; and even today you can pretty much embellish with anything.

Win a Husqvarna Viking ER10 Embellisher

ER10™ - It’s “meshmerizing”!

The HUSQVARNA VIKING® ER10™ embellishing machine is designed to create beautiful embellishments on just about anything.

There is no threading, no tension, and no bobbin, just five special needles that felt layers of fabric together by meshing the fibers, fabrics, yarns, and more with the up and down movement of the needles. This machine can also be used to create fraying and worn effects, on jeans and other denim fabrics.

Move the fabric under the needles to felt your original design with textures and fibers. Personalize your garments, gifts, and crafts. It’s easy to place roving, fabric, scraps, fibers, threads, yarn, trim or any fiber or textile under the needles to achieve stunning one-of-a-kind effects.

Use the HUSQVARNA VIKING® ER10™ embellishing machine for all kinds of projects; garments, quilts, cushions, throws, wall hangings, kids stuff, scrapbooks and more. Set your creativity free!

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