Alice,
Wow! Congratulations on your new teaching career!
: Hi, Michael! No, I don't tie dye the thread or the
: fabric. I do have a good friend who is custom dyeing
: some of the batik fabrics for me, (a process that
: involves painting a wax resist onto the fabric and
: overdyeing it several times)and I use a Sakura
: pen--the same kind David uses, by the way, works on
: fabric--for some really fine detail that I can't put
: in with a single thread. I also use them for the
: lettering on the panels, which I do by hand, not
: printed out on the computer. I did calligraphy long
: before I had a computer! But people still ask me what
: "font" I am using on the quilt. It's
: "Alice Freehand"....hahaha
: The shading is done in the opposite manner that you
: paint. I start with the outlines in black, or a dark
: shade of the appropriate color, then work up to the
: highlights. To blend the colors, you create the
: illusion by sewing in a jagged line between the color
: changes, putting some of the lighter stitching over
: the last darker area you do. Sometimes there are some
: 8-10 shades and tints of a single color to achieve the
: effect.
: Then there is the varigated thread that I use for Matt's
: hair. Sulky thread company calls it color #2126. I
: call it "Murdock's Red Hair". It changes
: gradually every 6 inches from a pale creamsicle orange
: to a deep russett, and then back. It took me several
: tries, but I have figured out how to use this thread
: to shade Matt's hair effectively without having to
: change complete spools. That's the most time consuming
: part of the process...changing the thread on the
: machine. Everytime you change your color, which can be
: VERY often, you have to completely rethread the
: machine. Thank goodness for the built-in needle
: threader on this machine! And for my full spectrum
: desk lamp, since I do the bulk of my sewing in the
: dead of night. Good tools certainly make life
: easier...
: I am now teaching thread painting in Memphis, and am
: scheduled to teach in the Pittsburgh area when I go
: there for spring quilt market. This is fun; more
: people should be doing it. Hope that might have
: answered a little bit for you.