Sewing With Nancy

Do you like to doodle? Many of us enjoy sketching or even scribbling absentmindedly, dreaming we're budding artists. The same action can be translated to needle and thread, randomly stitching on small pieces of fabric by learning creative techniques. During this third and final episode of "Doodle Stitching," let's begin with a clip 'n stitch doodle. Small snippets of fabric fused to a background layer are doodling tools. This is not a lengthy process, rather a random act of creativity. "Doodle Stitching," that's what's next on Sewing with Nancy.

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Sewing with Nancy, TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman,

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For the love of sewing. Madeira, specializing in embroidery, quilting, and special effect threads, because creativity is never black and white. Koala Studios, fine sewing furniture custom-built in America. Clover, making a difference in sewing, quilting, crafting, and needle arts for over 90 years. Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. Our first clip 'n stitch project of this program started again with doodling. And it's a small project finished. It slips right over a Plexiglas frame that is used for panoramic photos, designed by Donna Fenske on the Sewing with Nancy team. And it is really attractive, made with boutique fabrics, but the sketching is where we start. With all little doodlings, just small little sketches. See, it started with a branch, some leaves, obviously a little nest, but it translated quite well into fabric. If you'd like to make a panoramic scene as you just saw, or even larger or smaller, the Plexiglas frame, you add the measurements of 1" to each width and length measurement. Here we have drawn the elements or drawn the design larger on a 4 1/2" x 11 1/2", and I'm working on a light table. And I'm gonna flip this over, and you may wonder why. Well, we're gonna work with paperback fusible web. The webbing will give-- you'll trace the design in the mirror image because it reverses itself when it's applied to fabric. So to do the tracing, what you need to do is, trace the elements separately, not all in one. We'll trace the branch separately, the leaves component separately, the egg and the nest section, and then fill it in with the clip 'n stitch areas. So let's just do the eggs, for example. We trace around the oval. And then leave a space and trace some eggs, if you'd like. Or we can really also just trace them separately to make it easier. Now, you could do your own design. If you'd like to work with our design, we have it in the project book that accompanies the program. Then you cut out all these elements, leaving a little bit of space on the paperback fusible web. And here, you can see we've traced it onto the paperback fusible web, and then you cut it out-- cut out, leaving space, as I mentioned. I think many of you have worked with this idea of appliqus before. And here is, for example, the nest area, the base. It's been pressed to the wrong side of the fabric. And then after it's fused, cut along the lines and then peel off. Sometimes peeling it off takes the longest. Peel off the oval section and put it on a background of fabric. This is cut 4 1/2" x 11". And then some craft-- stiff interfacing was cut that same dimension. And we'll just kind of place this on the design. I think I'll do it this way this time. We'll put the--I'll just-- I'm working upside down, so we'll just do it like this. You can change it every time. And then, if you'd like, you can fuse the elements to the background fabric. Cover it with a press cloth. There may be a little of that web that, you know, sticks out from the sides. Then--you don't get it on your iron. And press that down. Now, obviously, we need to add some-- the leaves and so forth, but you get the idea. You can do that at home. Then we're gonna do the clipping and stitching. Kind of random acts of creativity that I talked about earlier. And I'll grab a scissors. First, we'll work with the shading that's in the branches. Now, my design is gonna be a mirror image, 'cause I chose to flip that around. But that's what doodling is all about. You can make it any way you'd like. We fused to scraps of fabric some paperback web, and to do some shading within here, I'll just cut some random shapes, just to give--of the tan-- just to put it in the area of the tree. Now, this will take more time than I'm going to allow. Just some highlights on the branches. And randomly put it on there, making sure-- that one wasn't that way-- that the fusible web is on the underside. We'll add a little hint of green here, just to show you how we kind of created that. You add leaves on the end. And I'm sorry that I have this upside down, but I decided to be creative with this one. Then for the nest. The nest is where we really do some fast cutting and interesting cutting. You have the paperback fusible web that's been applied to some scraps of fabric. You remove the paper and then just cut some strips. Kind of like cutting brownies in a pan but much smaller pieces. And then place these around-- and I have some other cut-- making sure that the fusible web is on the underside. Do some little interesting placement. I like a little purple in here. I think that's a really great combination. And I'm doing this quickly. You're gonna take some time. But you're doodling with fabric, with strips of fabric. And you can see how that robin made the nest with just a little touch of creativity. Okay. Now, after you've gotten that completed-- which I don't, but I just want to show you what's going to happen-- you gently--you could work on your ironing board, if you like, or take it back to your pressing surface. And then, again, cover it with a press cloth. And fuse it into place. Then go to your sewing machine, set your machine for a straight stitch. And what I'm stitching right now is over the layers, just straight stitching down the middle of those little snips of fabric. Back and forth, back and forth. Just tacking it down. When you're working in the branch area, you could certainly go a longer stride of stitching-- longer stitch length, longer length, but it's sporadic; it's not exacting. It will take you some time to do the stitching, but that's really the creative part. It's like your pen on paper. A great way to clip 'n stitch. One of the benefits of doodle stitching is becoming comfortable with free-motion quilting. Creating a popsicle garden is an ideal way to learn the tricks of the trade while stitching a whimsical work of art. Circles and rectangular shapes are all that's needed, along with a little stitching time. With our finished doodle, we again made the slip-on art to go over the Plexiglas photo holder. And it's a 8" x 10" or 10" x 8" finished piece. And we cut the background fabric about an inch wider and longer than the frame itself. Now what I want you to look at is just the simple design. Just popsicle shapes, stems that are sticks, and yet it really looks kind of fun, I think. The fabric that we chose is silk dupioni, just shiny, inexpensive silk that has paperback fusible web on the back. But how did I come up with the design? Well, again, just some simple doodling in my little sketchbook that I've been using throughout this series. Just making some popsicles-- different sizes, different heights, stem widths varied. And you can see the little stitching in the middle signifies what I'm going to do at the sewing machine. One of the purposes, as I've mentioned many times through this series, is to give you some confidence to work with your machine in ways, perhaps, that you haven't tried before. If you're a master at free-motion quilting, you'll get this right away. If you've never tried it, this is a perfect time to start. Now, to make the popsicles on the paperback fusible web, I just found some circle shapes at my sewing machine area. Spools of thread make great popsicle ends. You can trace those right on the shape. I have some light tracings, but traced around the spools at the end. You could use coffee cups. Whatever little shapes you'd like to create. And then cut out the paper along those lines. I used that craft interfacing again that was fusible and fused my 9" x 11" piece of paper-- piece of fabric to the craft interfacing. And you can see, I've started to place the popsicles. Now, here's a stem, and I'm gonna put this down a minute. Remove the paperback fusible web-- whoop, it came right off. That was easy. And just put the popsicles' toppings in place. After you get them positioned--and I'd do more on this design, but this is enough to give you the idea. And let me flip this over. That's got the fusible web now on the bottom. We'll just place the design and press. We always need to do a little pressing. And because we've worked with paperback fusible web, I want to assure that our iron stays clean, so we'll do the press. And... I guess one more press would have been better there, but we have it pressed into place. Now, to set the machine for free-motion stitching, at the screen, I'm going to lower the feed dogs. There's a little button that lowers the feed dogs. You may have it on a screen, or you may have a lever near your bobbin area. But you're going to move the fabric, not the feed dogs. A straight stitch, an embroidery foot, and I'm ready to go. Now, before doing the stitching, I must mention that I have rayon thread, decorative thread, that I chose. And I moved the thread out of the way, but it's kind of important to talk about. Different colors. Make sure you have an embroidery needle, a lightweight bobbin thread in the bobbin. And then practice the movement. Practice your dance steps. You're going to move this back and forth, back and forth, like you were sewing a seam. But this time, you are pushing the fabric forward. You're sewing at a relatively fast speed but moving the fabric slowly. And you're going to have uneven stitches. That's the whole idea. Just fill in the blanks. So back and forth, back and forth. Again, like a seam. Then you can practice doing the circles. I'm not gonna change threads, but you'll get the general idea of what's going to happen. I'm going to sew in a circle, and practice first. Use your fingers, just try moving that, make the circle bigger and bigger and bigger. And that's how you're gonna do the stitching. So I'm gonna start about in the middle. And move the fabric relatively slowly. Notice, just my knuckles are kind of doing the work. And as the circle gets larger... You just move the circle-- the fabric larger. And if it's uneven, this is not a quilt contest. You're not gonna be judged on your stitching, because this is random, it's quick, and it really, you can see, it's rather enjoyable. Now I'm gonna do one more loop-de-loop. And when I bring this finished little design up, you can see that, oh, it's not perfect, but that's the way we want it for doodling. And if you practice with different colors of thread and different shadings, it makes a really interesting, creative work of art. A scarf in the back of my closet was the fabric I chose for the latest of our creative projects. I like the look of doubling the layers of sheer fabric to create even more subtle shades. Each section is roughly st itched with sketchy stitches. I liken the stitching to coloring in a book. You can't make a mistake when you purposely doodle outside the lines. This is the largest of our doodling projects. You can make it large like this, small. I'll show you another option in a little bit, but this floating frame, I think, is quite interesting, where the fabric piece is just mounted onto glass with double-sided basting tape. Now, to take a close-up look of stitching outside the lines, if we look at the design, you see that I've roughly followed the design but not really, not totally. And I've changed a lot of thread colors, just meandered, sketched, doodled, stitched-- whatever you'd like to call it-- with a variety of threads. This is quite a bold piece and bright colors. But you certainly could make it more subdued by choosing different fabrics-- sheer fabric, chiffon, and as I did, chose a scarf that I wasn't wearing. We'll take a first stop at the sketchbook like we have in all other of our projects, and as you look at it, it's blank. And I did that for drama's sake, but because-- it's blank because we're using the chiffon scarf, the print on the fabric, as the design. Here's one layer. But when you double it, I was really pleased what happened. Like when I wore it around my neck, I never had one layer; I had many so that it was subtle, and I had more shading. And this is where I got my areas to sketch or stitch. Now, you can't just stitch on the sheer fabric. You will have a mess. It's too lightweight. So instead of doing the stitching on a stabilizer, I chose felt so that the loft of the stitches could imbed into the felt. And you notice the felt is kind of in the color range of the fabric so that it would enhance the colors that show through the chiffon fabric. I have it just roughly pinned on, and I would choose many different colors of thread

that I could pick up from the various colors

the oranges, reds, deep burgundies, purples, whatever you enjoy. Now, you may not like this color combination or have that type of fabric, but I've chosen some more sheer fabric just to show you that, if you have one layer, it isn't as interesting as if you double it. And you get the show-through from behind the scenes of the other fabric. And you would do the stitching roughly in these big, expansive areas. So we have the setting at the machine in the same setup. We've dropped the feed dogs. And if you look at my screen, I can hit that button, and it drops the feed dogs. Again, you may want to lower it if you have a mechanical button to move, but just make sure those feed dogs are dropped. And as we look at the foot area of the sewing machine, I'm running my finger over the feed dog area; I can't feel them. I know it's a little difficult for you to see, but they're dropped; they're lowered. And so you will be in control of the fabric. So we'll start by just putting the fabric underneath this area. And you may want to do a little practicing. Let's say I'm going to do this red section in this area. I would follow along and then kind of fill in, but if I go outside the lines, it's just fine with me. Many people who work with free-motion stitching get uptight about this because of experiences or seeing quilts at shows with quilting in perfection. And that's not what we're doing today. We're just getting accustomed to the motion, moving the fabric, rather than the machine moving the fabric for you. Now, granted, I am not changing thread colors, but I am going to now cut the threads and do one small section, one sliver of this scarf area. And I just kind of practice going back and forth, back and forth. And then try, this time, moving the fabric side to side. You can kind of see where you're going that way. And I have found, if you sew at a moderate to fast speed but gently move the fabric, you'll have better results. And I'll just, then, move this again. And you just fill in-- whoop, there I go. A little bit more speed. It's kind of interesting. And you can have a lot of fun, especially if you change colors, which I'm not doing right now, but randomly stitch outside the lines. You do not have to create a big piece. You could create a note card, a postcard. We've done a small piece, stitched it to some tagboard or paper that could go through the mail and then zigzagged-- make the edges zigzagged with a rotary cutter and pinking shears and send a postcard to a friend or a note card. Now, in the book that accompanies the program, we show various ways of finishing edges and finishing projects. And I just would like to show you this hidden binding technique that we have here. If I flip this to the wrong side, you'll see that the felt is finished with a binding, and it's stuck to the glass with double-sided basting tape. Just a quick lesson on an invisible binding. I have-- not some silk stitched, but-- or a scarf stitched but just some fabric. This represents this stippled area. And on each side, I cut a piece of binding 2 1/2" wide, folded it in half, and stitched it to the length of the sides. Stitched, and then you press and turn to the wrong side. And on this sample, you can see on this side, it's been pressed and turned and hand-stitched. And you press it so that, mm, the binding comes a little bit forward to the back. Then to finish the top and bottom area, cut the binding, this time, a little bit longer. On the right side of the fabric, you're going to stitch the binding strip a inch wider on each end, then tuck and fold under and hand-stitch. And if we go to the bottom, you'll see how that's finished. So this is just another way of finishing some of your doodle stitching works of art. Since 2005, we followed the progress of the Sewing Machine Project. From donating machines to hurricane-stricken areas to teaching sewing at community centers, this tireless group of volunteers has made a difference. Their new venture is to help people maintain their clothing as well as their dignity. Please welcome back, Margaret Jankowski, the founder of the Sewing Machine Project. Margaret, it's been a great journey. Well, thank you, thank you so much for having me here. And thank you for following us and for supporting us so much. Now, you started-- you had this vision back in 2005 to give away sewing machines, and it's evolved. Absolutely, yeah. It has so much. And really, it was just a little kernel of an idea, and it's kind of taken on a life of its own. So you donated machines to hurricane-stricken areas, then you started teaching sewing at community centers. We did. We began-- It's kind of funny. So many groups start locally and move out, and we started halfway across the world in Sri Lanka and then to New Orleans and then back to Madison, where we-- where we're based. And we formed a whole curriculum around local sewing classes. Your new venture, as I mentioned to our audience, is working with mending projects. And you can do this in Madison, and you can do it--any other community in the country. And tell people how you've managed. Well, absolutely. We were inspired by Michael Swaine's work out in San Francisco. Right, I've read about him and many people have. Yeah, he's just a fabulous guy. And so we were really inspired with this idea of just offering free mending and maintaining what people have and not having to go out and purchase new clothes and also teaching people how to mend their own clothes. And so we started some-- a mending program here in Madison, Wisconsin, at a local community center. Mm-hmm. So every other Wednesday night, we offer free mending. We have two volunteers that take on pretty much whatever anybody brings to us. But you did mention you have some criteria. It's not-- you wouldn't put-- replace a zipper in a winter parka. Well, absolutely, we have a two-hour window, and we don't take things home. So we do what we can do within that time. And if somebody brings something that's just way beyond us or way beyond the time frame that we have, we say, you know, "Maybe not this time." Sure. You have two people there. This is really quite fascinating, because often, one person sews, and the other person listens. Absolutely. People want to talk. They just-- the community building of this is something that came almost as a surprise to me. I thought we were there just to physically fix people's clothes, but people want to talk about not only their sewing experience but their life. People sit down, pull up a chair, and have a conversation during this time. With the sewing machine humming and fabric being fixed all at once. And others could take on your role model of a program and do it locally. Oh, absolutely. And if they needed information, they could certainly contact me through our website. Um, it's really not too hard. You need a site; you need consistent times. We have, you know, a time frame when people can depend that we'll be there. But you also coordinated with other activities at the site. Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah. Like, in our local community center, we coordinated with their food pantry hours. And at the local library, we coordinated it with groups that have other resources available to, especially, the homeless clientele. And you said, "Don't expect success immediately." Yeah, you have to be patient with this. "Success" meaning, not necessarily fixing things, but people bringing their mending to you. Absolutely, it takes a while for people to get the idea of what's going on and the fact that it's free. Sure. - So it takes a while. They think there's strings attached, but there's just thread attached.

both laughing

that I could pick up from the various colors

Yeah, you're right. You're right. I have to share with you your mission statement, because I think it's just very touching. Margaret has written-- and her staff-- "We passionately believe "in the possibility of a sewing machine. "We believe that everyone has the power to make the world a better place." And with sewing machine, thread, and fabric, you've done it, Margaret. So thank you for sharing this next venture that you're working in and how it's touched others and encouraged me and others to pay it forward. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me on the show. You're welcome. Well, I hope you've enjoyed this Nancy's Corner segment. You can go to NancyZieman.com and watch many seasons of Sewing with Nancy programs as well as interviews, such as I had with Margaret, online. You can also join us on our social media channels, Facebook, and blogs. Well, this concludes our three-part series on doodle stitching. I hope you've been inspired to work with a little fabric and thread and needle and try out some new techniques on your machine. Have fun and be an artist. Thanks for joining me. Bye for now.

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In her book Doodle Stitching, Nancy Zieman teaches you how to translate pen-and-paper doodles onto fabric with your sewing machine to create fiber art. Be inspired to unleash your creativity while making artistic projects using simple stitches and odds and ends of fabric. It's $14.99 plus shipping and handling. To order this book, call 800-336-8373, or visit our website at sewingwithnancy.com/3011. Order item number BK3011, Doodle Stitching. Credit card orders only. To pay by check or money order, call the number on the screen for details. Visit Nancy's website at NancyZieman.com to see additional episodes, Nancy's blog, and more. Sewing with Nancy, TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman,

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Baby Lock, Madeira threads, Koala Studios, Clover, Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. Closed captioning funding provided by Riley Blake Designs. Sewing with Nancy is a co-production of Nancy Zieman Productions and Wisconsin Public Television.