The Hot Summer Blog Giveaway Continues

with a downloadable copy of my DVD Design, Paint & Stitch from Interweave and a free spot in my online Color Theory class!

My DVD is about making painted whole cloth art quilts, it covers: 

The design stage, how I use photo-editing software to manipulate and size the original design.  
The painting stage, the tools needed for painting; an in-depth review of the types and properties of paints, strategies for painting, using freezer-paper masks and painting backgrounds. 
Machine quilting a wholecloth quilt; from planning and marking to batting, basting, and free-motion quilting. 
Then several non-traditional binding options for art quilts are covered.

For a chance to win, please leave a comment, between now and the end of the giveaway: midnight Friday, August 19th, telling me what technique or class you would be most interested in learning from me. I'll announce the winner, chosen by random generator on Saturday August 20th, remember to stop back to see if you're a winner.

If you would like to take Painting Fabric for Wholecloth Quilts with me, there are still a few spots in my class at Create in Lisle, IL, next week, Wednesday, August 24th.

Now, so that no one feels like they are going away empty handed, I'm posting a tutorial on one of the binding techniques included in my dvd.


Making a couched binding.

Besides doing a faced binding, another way I like to finish artquilts is to couch twisted cords around the outside edge.  It's a simple, clean, but a little fancy, edge treatment.

After blocking and trimming the quilt, I lay out several yarns to audition them, choosing yarns that have similar colors to the painting.

The first thing I do to prevent any cut quilted threads from unraveling is do a straight stitch very close to the trimmed edge around the whole quilt. 

To add more of a gilded look befitting the renaissance theme of this quilt, I used a metallic gold thread and zig zag stitched around the edge of the quilt twice with a fairly tight stitch but not quite a satin stitch. Sometimes a dense satin stitch around the edge of a quilt can stretch it and make it ripple. I was not too concerned with making a solid gold edge around the quilt, just add some extra sparkle next to the couched cording. 

I attach the cords by holding them under the quilt and sew a few straight stitches to secure the yarns to the back side of the quilt. Using an open toe foot and monofilament in the top, and a coordinating thread in the bobbin, I hold the clockwise twisted yarns up against the outside edge of the quilt and zig zag over the twisted yarns and the edge of the quilt.

This is a slow process, because the yarns tend to get very twisted and tangled if you are not careful. I usually put a couple of the yarns in separate little baggies to try and keep them from rolling away and really making a mess. I start twisting the yarn clockwise down the first side of the quilt, working a few inches at a time, when I reach the corner, I twist the cords counter clockwise for the length of that side of the quilt. Then I twist them clockwise again on the next. Switching directions of the twist on each side, helps manage all the yarns and keep them from tangling up too much.

When I reach the beginning, I pull the yarns to the back and do some straight stitching over all the yarns to lock them in place and trim away the ends.

Ta da, a simple clean finish.

Next, head over to Kelli, Lyric and Melly's to see what they have in store for you!

Wed August 17 Kelli Nina Perkins 

Thurs August 18 Lyric Kinard 

Fri August 19 Melanie Testa 

PS If you haven't yet, you should also stop by

 Carla Sonhiem

 Diana Trout  

 Gloria Hansen 

 Tracie Lyn Huskamp 

 Jane LaFazio 

 Jill Berry 

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