Threadpainting (free-motion embroidery) Workshops with Karla Spinks

The members of CinC, with a few guests. We were at Julie's Sewing Center in Appleton, WI.

Back Row : ?? , Karla Spinks (Teacher), Lois, JoAnne, Pat
Middle Row : Brenda, Betty, Lynda
Front Row : Michele, Theresa
In October, CinC sponsored a 2-day workshop on Threadpainting with Karla Spinks.


This is a thread-painted portrait of Scott Joplin made by Karla Spinks. His face is entirely made with free-motion embroidery, no computer required. His face is entirely covered with thread.


This is Karla Spinks, our instructor for the weekend workshops. She is showing the woodpecker she is working on. Karla has worked with textile artist, Hollis Chatelain.


Karla's woodpecker with inspiration photos and the background fabric she intends to use for the finished piece.


A detail shot of Karla's woodpecker.


The workshop began with Karla having us thread-paint already painted on fabric. In this sense, it's like coloring or painting with your sewing machine needle. In this step, we were warming up, getting used to free-motion embroidery, adding texture and mixing colors. None of us were absolute beginners to free-motion stitching, so we quickly moved on to the next step.


This is Michele's blue bird, cut out of the hoop and ready to appliqued to a background. This was not done with a computer, or an embroidery module on a fancy sewing machine. If you can lower your feed dogs and set your machine for free-motion, you can do this, too!
I used a photograph as a reference, and penciled in the basic outlines of the bird. Then I just filled in the colors. There are four layers that we're stitching on. From the ground up : stabilizer, buckram (as in book binding), sheer fabric, then the thread layer. The 3 layers are stabilized in the embroidery hoop, which makes it easy to move around under the needle.

More picture of thread painting. Lois brought in this gorgeous quilt based on McKenna Ryan Rhythm of the Sea pattern :