Recovering with Needlework

 It's been a while since I have written anything. And that's because I have been sick. 

Two years ago, I had 3 major infections in 1 month, an abdominal tear which caused me to bleed internally (losing half of my blood), and then within 6 months of all of that I had open heart surgery.

The one thing that helped me survive and recover from all of that (and I am still recovering) was my needlework.

In a nursing facility recovering from the infections and abdominal tear, I finished a little needlepoint coin purse.  It had the design of seashells on it.  It gave me a small feeling of being at the beach.

I had some friends pick up some embroidery from my home.  I was so glad I had different projects organized in bags so it was easy for them to find.  I worked on a flamingo embroidery (that allowed me to try some new stitches.  It was a wonderful kit.).  I finished a ballerina embroidery for my hopefully to be completed Nutcracker Ballet Quilt.

I even tried some freeform embroidery.  I took a strip of fabric, would draw a shape on it and then decorated the design with thread. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but putting in and pulling out the needle was soothing to me.  It helped calm me since I was then 2 months in a care facility.

I worked on some needle felting which allowed me to make a gift for an aide who was particularly comforting to me.

Once I got home, my needlework helped me concentrate and kept my mind and hands busy while I continued to recover.   I finished the flamingo and also finished some UFOs.  It was nice feeling of accomplishment since building my strength was going so slow.

Because I was in a wheelchair, I couldn't sit close to my sewing machine so I found myself going back to hand piecing. That was fun rebuilding a skill that had gone dormant.

My doctors and I began to notice problems with my heart and so a valve replacement surgery was scheduled. I made sure as I packed for the surgery, I had needlework to do. I knew I couldn't stay in the hospital with nothing to do.  And it did help.  Having a needle in my hand helped occupy the time as I healed. ( The only problem came when I would drop my needle in the folds of the bedding.  Surprisingly I never did stick myself.)

I'm not sure what would have happened if I hadn't had my needlework to do.  It helped calm me, comfort me, and bring some normalcy to my life, all of which helped in the healing process.

2026. Cheryl Fillion 

Colored Pencil with Embroidery

 I wrote back earlier this month about using colored pencils on fabric. It is a very simple way to create a design on fabric. But you don’t have to use pencil alone.  Using a colored pencil is also a great way to enhance embroidery.

I am creating a sampler quilt with very bright colors. I decided that the alternate blocks would be embroidery.  But when I put the blocks together, the embroidery which was a simple outline embroidery (similar to Redwork) faded away.  There just was not enough of color to go with the bright pieced blocks.

I didn’t want to do the blocks over in appliqué or do another design so I got out my trusty pencils. Just like with coloring in a book, I colored within the embroidery lines.

After all the coloring is done, you then add the textile medium.  Painting the medium over the embroidery will make it stiff but with some use (like cuddling under the quilt) the embroidery will soften up. 

You might be able to do the coloring first and then add the embroidery but I am not sure what the textile medium will do to the embroidery transfer lines if you use the medium on it.  It is likely to make the transfer lines permanent just as it does the coloring.

 

Think about using your colored pencils the next time you want a little more color to your embroidery.

 

©2017, 2024  Cheryl Fillion

Colored Pencils on Fabric

 There is a lot of information out about using crayons on fabric. You color a picture on fabric with crayons.  Then you take that picture place it face down on paper and iron away the wax.  And you keep ironing until there is no more transfer of color to the paper (always use clean paper each time you iron).

But did you know you can also color on fabric with colored pencils and there is no ironing involved?  I do it often.  To me it is fun and relaxing and you can do all the things you did with crayon fabric pictures.  I will admit here that you do have to use a textile medium to make the color permanent on the fabric.  I’ll talk about that later in this blog.

You might be thinking what kind of colored pencils.  Any type you would find in the art area of a craft store or paper supply section of a discount store.  I have some I use that I got at a Dollar store.  Any brand will do.  The more expensive brands might have a darker pigment.  Watercolor pencils can also be used.  You use these the same way you use watercolor paints.

What fabric can you use? Cotton fabric works the best but a polyester cotton blend might work as well.  This is where you can play and see what fabrics are the best for what you want to do.  I do recommend using white or a light cream color.  If you use any other colored fabric, the color of the fabric will show through the pencil marks. 

Now what about this textile medium?  A textile medium is a liquid put on a painting that makes the painting permanent so if you wash it, the pigment will not come off or fade.  Often times it was put on oil or acrylic paintings so they would not fade if exposed to sunlight.  It is a little thicker than water and you brush it on the coloring and let it dry. This is more likely found in an art supply store or a craft store near the art supplies or glues.

The textile medium does make the fabric a little stiff but I found that once it is washed or the more you handle the picture (I did embroidery over one colored pencil picture), the fabric softens up.  If you don’t add the medium and the picture becomes wet or it needs to be washed, the picture will fade or disappear altogether.

Here is a sample I did for a class I taught.  The top heart is how it looks colored with just the pencil.  The bottom heart is how it looks after I submerged it in water but with no detergent.  My guess is with the detergent; all the color would be gone.

 

This picture is with the textile medium added.  Same colored pencil and the same fabric was used.  Again the top heart is just with the textile medium; the bottom after submerged in water.  There was just a slight change in color.

Some textile mediums say to heat set the picture after medium is put on.  That can be done with an iron. Ironing when using crayons removes the wax but also heat sets the pigment from the crayon. I was curious if that would have the same affect with colored pencil.  So I did another heart, ironed it and then submerged it in water.  Just ironing without the textile medium did not set the color. 

When I added the textile medium and also ironed I didn’t find that it changed the color at all after being in water.  So I wonder if the ironing is really necessary.  But then again as the old saying goes, “Better to be safe than sorry.”  Remember I haven’t used any detergent with these so maybe that might make a difference.

This is a technique you can use with children.  I would stabilize the fabric a bit with either iron on interfacing or stabilizer that you can remove (if you want) or iron freezer paper to the back of the fabric.  Freezer paper can be found in some groceries in the wax paper/aluminum foil aisle. Freezer paper has a shiny/waxy coating to one side so when wrapped around meat would protect the food from freezer burn while in the freezer.

For this purpose you want the shiny side of the paper down on the fabric, move a hot iron over the paper side and it will temporarily bond to the fabric.  It helps the fabric from moving around when you color on it.

Once you have colored your picture, added the medium and let it dry, you can use that picture in anything.  I have seen entire quilts done with this technique.  From a few feet away, the quilt looked appliquéd; it wasn’t until you got up close to see if was actually colored. 

If you have some colored pencils and fabric, give it a try.  Who knows what you will create.

 

©2017. 2024 Cheryl Fillion