Thread Drawings + Journal

My cousin Stephanie, is a great artist.

You can see all her artistic talent HERE.

She specializes in oil paintings,

like this one she painted for my dad last Christmas, (my dad is the little boy on his father's lap)

But she also has a gift for "drawing" free hand with her sewing machine.

She calls them thread drawings and here are a few of my favorites:

This is my favorite of all her thread drawings:

herself and her husband.

So pretty much Stephanie is amazing, and I've loved her thread drawings.

So I tried my own, to make for the cover of a journal for a friend.

Get ready for disappointment after you'd seen all of Steph's work.

I used a $.25 composition notebook and covered the front and back covers with my lame beginner thread drawings.  I used my son's toy airplane as the model.

So here was my first attempt if you'd like more details of the process

<----  CLICK READ MORE

1. Cut fabric and starch until stiff

Following the directions on the can, I starched each piece 5 or 6 times.  It felt stiff about like paper.

2. Pencil on sketch

I found it really hard to erase after, so this fabric wasn't a good candidate for the pencil.  I ended up just sewing free hand as I looked at the toy in the end anyway.

3. Sew on Drawing

 Stephanie shared this video with me, to give you an idea better than describing it.

Video Here

From elSage 

I used my free motion presser foot, turned down my stitch length to 1, and went to town.

4. Glue on fabric to outsides of notebook

You could use Mod Podge, but I just used a thin layer of Elmers glue.

After the outside was smooth, I opened the journal and folded the excess fabric in and glued down around the edges.

I cut scrapbook paper and glued on the inside to cover the fabric edges.

5. Let Dry

Here are my finished sides.

I'm excited to try more thread drawings in the future!