Wednesday, February 22, 2012

February's Tart Kit: Thread Lace


In this month's kit, we are making lace with rayon thread and a meltable background. The kit contains both Kunin felt and Lutradur for you to experiment with.

The paint and brush are to be used to place a motif onto the felt using a stencil. Cut your own from the freezer paper or use a commercial stencil.




Once the paint dries, use the rayon thread (which will not melt when heated) to cover the painted areas completely. You may use a straight stitch or zig zag, whichever works best for you. Connect the motifs with interlacing thread to hold it all together. The more open the thread, the more open the resulting lace.


Using a heat tool, melt away the background felt. Be sure to protect your lungs by wearing a mask and be careful not to singe the thread by holding the tool too close or too long in one place.


The Lutradur does not need to be painted since it is translucent enough to trace a pattern. Fill in your motif with thread. Trim away the large areas of Lutradur and melt away the unstitched areas.





Use the melted pieces as appliques or backgrounds or focal points in your next art quilt.