I used a picture I had taken at the London Zoo and used more interesting colours than what was in the photo. Playing around with colours is so much fun.

Here is the (maybe) final result.

Most sewing machines have a range of stitches that can be used to make a grid of threads that will form the basis of the trim.

On the left of the picture you can see the first stitch I used.  Any stitch that goes from one side to the other will work. You can use a zig zag stitch if  that is all you have.  I then used lines of straight stitches on the each side and  2 rows through the centre of the first row of stitches.

Once the grid was established, I used contrasting thread colours and sewed different decorative stitches over the grid. When I was finished I washed out the water soluble stabilizer and dried the pieces between 2 layers of a cotton towel.

I sometimes also make fabric with the sewing machine.  I did this for Sherry so that the colour of the fabric will exactly match tthe embroidered stump.

This piece is a rectangle but you can make specific shapes that will allow you to make clothes with no seam allowance when you ladder stitch the seams together.

After drawing the shape you want (green line) on water soluble stabilizer, use straight stitches  sewn close together  from one side to the other.

Then turn the piece around and sew straight stitches perpendicular to the first set. When you have finished, wash out the stabilizer and dry your fabric.

After the initial painting I used the Absorbent Ground to add white dots over the already painted surface.  I then added dots of watercolour to create the necklace.

The lower section of the torso is painted directly onto the untreated fabric.

The torso finally got done.

I ended up adding darts after it was attached and stuffed. You can see the purple marks of the air erasable pen still showing.   I marked the darts and then ladder stitch them together. there is another dart in the back.

The inspiration for this Thread Tangle was a close-up photo  I took of one of my Irises. However, that is not what most people see. What do you see?

This is the original photo.

Embroidery in Progress

The pieces are then sewn together by hand as are the darts.

2 pattern pieces sewn together; some darts still to be sewn

The next challenge is to make a body to fit the vessel.

My friend Edwina Sutherland asked me to fill in for her at our doll club, All Dolled Up. She was to have given a demonstration of felted animals but discovered that she was double booked. After a short demonstration and some practice at home  I used her patterns and method and showed our members and guest how to make a felted dog. They were all wonderful and all were able to produce dogs that looked like dogs- if not always the dog they were trying to make. You can see some of the results on the All Dolled Up blog .

Felting is a lot of fun and with a little practice the results can be quite satisfying.

One of the dogs above was done before the meeting for practice and the other was done during the meeting as a demonstration. I still need some more practice before I get the dogs to look a little closer to what I want them to look like.

Most of the Thread Tangles I have done so far are of faces. “Wink” was the first of my Thread Tangle faces.

I soon realized that with a little bit of planning while I was programming  the embroidery  I could have different versions.

I could also embroider them in different colour combinations.

This is Samson, my cat. He is gray with touches of yellow but it was much more fun to use purple and accentuate the yellow. I think I got his eyes.