Bobbin Work

Happy July, everyone! The summer is simply flying by and this month I am excited to announce that we are focusing on sewing as our monthly technique. I hope that we inspire you to try stitching in a new way!

I began sewing at 12, quilting at 18 and started art quilting and mixed media about 6 years ago, so sewing has always been part of my art so, the transition to stitching on my layouts was the next step. A few years ago I was making some purses with crazy quilt panels and started using bobbin work for the decorative stitching after reading a book by Barbara Randel - Crazy Quilting with Attitude. I started thinking about using it for paper to add dimension and heavier stitching than traditional stitching. I have had several requests for a tutorial on how I do bobbin work so here it is!

On this layout, I have used bobbin stitching on the navy mat under the main photo and normal stitching on the background and outline stitching. I am going to assume that you know how to do straight stitching on your machine. The background paper is simply stitched in rows of decorative stitches - using different threads for contrast.


These paper are from this months sponsor, GCD Studios - Thank you so much, GCD!!


What is bobbin work? There are many beautiful decorative threads that would be too large to go through the eye of the needle on your machine so by winding them onto the bobbin and bypassing the bobbin tension you can stitch from the backside of the paper, so the back side of the stitch will be on top, when you are finished.

Here are some step-by-step photos to show you how to get started.

If you have a drop in bobbin these are the steps:

For a side loading bobbin, follow these steps:

Now that your bobbin in loaded, just a couple of tips before stitching:

The best stitches are a basic straight stitch, zig-zag and some decorative stitches (if you have them on your machine) are a feather stitch, daisy stitch. Satin stitches or very heavy patterns don't work well because the threads build up too much and can lock up under the machine. I have created a sampler that I use - I wrote the stitch length and width by it and use it for a reference.

I wanted to show you some other layouts were I have used bobbin stitching or decorative sewing to give some alternative ideas for this technique.

Here the fuchsia stitching is bobbin work done in a feather stitch. I marked from the backside the border on the paper so I would know where to stitch. The paper was wet and crumpled first and then I free motion stitched the background for some additional texture.

I created rows of background stitching here as I did on the main sample, only I put a piece of burlap over the background first. My machine had some trouble grabbing the paper so I put a paper towel underneath to give the feed dogs something to grip.

The bobbin work on this sample is the border on the top of the page and also around the fabric patches, once again, I marked the corners on the back to guide my stitching.

I will be posting the slide show and winners from last months technique, Altering your Paper, later this week. We had so many wonderful entries and I thank you all for continuing to support us and your wonderful comments!!

I'll be checking to see if you have any questions about my stitching ideas and answer any questions, until then have a great week!

Lucy