Doodle Creatively at Your Sewing Machine

Doodle Creatively at Your Sewing Machine

Doodling—we’ve all done it with pen and paper. Those same concepts—drawing squiggles, circles, rectangles, and silly shapes—can be done with fabric, trim, and/or stitching. Why should you doodle at your sewing machine with fabric? It’s a great way to use fabric odds and ends while being creative.

Watch the Doodle Stitching TV show online now. You’ll also find details, tips, and techniques in the new Doodle Stitching book, available at Nancy’s Notions.

Collage Doodle

A Collage Doodle is where we’d would like to start in Doodle Stitching Part Two. Gather buttons, small pieces of fabric, leftover ribbon, and do a little stitching to create a greeting card or a small piece of wall art. The process is spontaneous with artsy results.

         If giving as a greeting card, apply card stock behind the collage prior to stitching around the outer edges.

Fuse ‘n Doodle

Next, doodle with fabric and your iron! Cut rectangles and squares that are backed with fusible web, arrange on a background fabric, then press! After adding ribbon and button accents, you’ll have an art piece that was made with odds and ends of fabric, yet looks like it could be hung in a modern art studio. See how easy it is on Doodle Stitching Part Two.

Daydream Stitching

When you’re doodling on paper, most likely you’re not paying much attention to what’s happening around you, as Nancy said she was known to do in history class. When you’re brain is not thinking of the task at hand, it’s the BEST time to experiment with simple, doodle-type free-motion stitching. For those of you intimidated by the process, put your brain in neutral and daydream while stitching. Watch online as those doodles transform with sewing machine and thread.

Squiggle Monograms

When we think of monograms, our mind’s eye sees large, preciously stitched letters. Hmm, not so if you’re doodling. The same type of impact can be made with squiggle stitching, creating the shape of the letter, or stitching the negative space around the letter to make the un-stitched fabric “pop” with distinction. It’s a 20-minute stitching exercise that will satisfy the doodler inside of you; watch now.

The Book: Doodle Stitching

• We’ll guide you through fun techniques for painting with thread and scraps of fabric. Don’t worry about perfection—these techniques are made to give you beautiful results, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned sewist.
• This signature style of stress-free techniques and easy projects inspires and empowers. Plus, you’ll learn how to translate pencil-sketched doodles onto fabric with your sewing machine.

Doodle Stitching Book

• Full color photographs and illustrations
• Step-by-step instructions
• Double-wire binding so that pages lay flat when open—no more struggling to keep your page from turning or bending; plus it’s easier to keep your book right next to you as you work
• Soft cover, 40 page book by Nancy Zieman, Sewing With Nancy

Watch Doodle Stitching (Part One and Part Two) on Sewing With Nancy online.

Which technique from this program would work best for your doodles?  Leave a comment below to be eligible to win a copy of the Doodle Stitching Book, from Nancy’s Notions.

The randomly selected winner of Simple to Chic T-shirt Remakes DVD from Nancy’s Notions, from the June 12 post, is Peggy Bibb.

Happy Sewing,