This week’s work-in-progress is back down to a single project: TAST – the sheaf stitch. I forgot my black thread at home today, so I could not start with the title segment as usual. But I found so many ideas! Holy cow, I really shouldn’t be surprised anymore. Every time I think “ok, this stitch is fairly limited”, all the other TAST participants blow my mind. I must direct you to Elizabeth at Quieter Moments – she really went to town exploring this stitch and had some amazing ideas that will surely influence my own sampler.

Below is not a project – just a test. After my colored pencil class, I began wondering if I could bring my new-found skill to sewing. I played around with the idea to use hand-coloring on Mabel the Raccoon’s lantern, so I needed to test this out. After a couple internet videos to figure it all out, I got out my box of crayons. Then, to compare, I used Prismacolor colored pencils. I wasn’t sure it would work the same, but since Prismacolor has a wax base, I figured they might. So, like the scientist I am, I controlled the available variables.

I duplicated the same ideas with each, using the same fabric: a circle blending red and blue; applying light, medium, and heavy pressure in brown; softly blending what I might do for the lantern with yellow and orange; a quick flower sketch to see what a drawing would look like in pinks and orange; a rectangle divided between using a white crayon/pencil backing versus applying color directly to the fabric (the colored pencil square also has a middle block using a colorless blender as a base), all in blue; and then a section where I did not apply iron heat to see how different the effect is (with the same blue). I used papertowels and a hot iron and was let down that no color came off on the papertowels. I don’t know what went wrong, but I know I didn’t like any of the results and have decided that I am not a person to hand-color their fabrics. At least I tried!