Thread painting

[Janet K.]

I am doing the thread painting class and am having a problem with puckering.

I used rayon thread (40 wt with) 60 wt cotton in the bobbin. The cotton fabric was pre washed.

Followed the directions and when taken out of the hoop and washed to remove the stabilizer, really puckered :cry: .

What am I doing wrong? Janet

[Nancy P.]

Janet,

Did you hoop the design? In the PDF documents with each class there is a segment on hooping the design which also gets into the size of the hoop as well. I don't talk about this in each video as it would have taken a bit of time. Also, did you put 2 pieces of water soluble stabilizer behind the fabric?. The rayon thread should not have been a problem nor should the cotton fabric. Solitary Tree is a very small project and as long as it has been hooped and stabilized properly, you should not have any problem. This should take care of the problem but if it doesn't, let me know. You can email me at mailto:[email protected].

Nancy Prince

[E.M. T.]

I, too, had a trouble with a bit of puckering after doing backround and removing the 2 layers of stabilizer..
but some pressing and blocking took care of it. See my project in Show and Tell.

[Nancy P.]

To All,

Make sure when you are stitching the underlay stitches that they are very close together. And you are right - pressing and blocking will normally take care of any distortion around the thread painted area. Distortion cannot be completely eliminated, but by choosing a 6" hoop, stabilizing correctly and using the underlay stitch, the design should be as distortion free as possible. Distortion cannot be eliminated but it can be controlled.

Nancy

[Janet K.]

I did hoop and use the stabilizer. I will try the pressing to see what happens. I think I might be rushing the stitches and maybe that is causing the problem. I also am using a 70 microtex needle and need to buy the proper size. Thanks for the tips, I will try the tree again ( and the pressing). Thanks Janet

[Nancy P.]

Janet,

I do find in my workshops that some of the students try and put in too much thread which will cause distortion. The idea is to fill in the design with no apparent holes. There can always be some distortion along the side of something like a trunk because of the number of stitches. Once the stabilizer is washed away, you will see more distortion because the stabilizer has been washed away. However in Solitary Tree the amount of distortion should press away and if there is still some, use your fingers to manipulate the fabric when you quilt it. You could also use a piece of light weight tear away behind the fabric and this should help with the distortion because the stabilizer is not removed once washed. Let me know how this works.

Nancy

[Janet K.]

I did press my tree and most of the puckering came out. I will use the tear away the next time. (in addition to the wash away? )
Does the grain of the fabric matter, I noticed the trunk of my tree was not on the stable grain.
Do you always use a six inch hoop? Your work is amazing and I am loving thread painting.
Would loosening the bobbin tension help with the puckering? I did tighten my bobbin because the bobbin thread was visible on the top otherwise.
Thanks for all your good help!!!!! Janet

[Nancy P.]

Janet,

On something as small as Solitary Tree you would not need the bottom water soluble stabilizer in addition to the tear away. Also, as you get more comfortable with thread painting, you will move the hoop in a smoother motion and some of the distortion will disappear. Most first time "thread painters" move the hoop too fast and create long loopy stitches. This results in more stitches in a given space and thus more distortion. The lengthwise grain has the most stability so for example, if you are going to be thread painting a tree trunk, try having the stitches on the trunk follow the grain of the fabric. In thread painting the design (or fabric) will shrink in the direction of the stitches and stretch in the opposite direction. I didn't get into this in the videos because it is more information that most want to know or adsorb at first.

If you happen to have a Bernina that has a hook on the bobbin, thread the hook. This will create more drag on the thread coming out of the bobbin case which is what you want - that way hopefully the bobbin thread won't pop to the top. Assuming that you didn't tighten your bobbin too much, then that should not be a problem. What you might try next time is loosening the top tension (go towards 0 not to 0) and threading the hook on the bobbin case before adjusting the bobbin tension. And yes, I never use anything but a 6" hoop. The larger the surface inside the hoop the more distortion you will have.

I have a new book coming out, Thread Painting with Style, that you might want to take a look at. It should be out in the next 30 days. In the meantime my first book Simple Thread Painting is still out. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Nancy

[Janet K.]

This helps a lot! I also have an 830 and have it threaded as if for embroidery. I love this class and will for sure try to get one of you books, maybe wait for the new one!!!! Janet

[Nancy P.]

Janet,

I would wait for the new one too. I just got the final draft today which means it should be out within the next 30 days. I so appreciate your feed back on the online classes.