15. Quilting Cat Hairball Filler / Thread Painting

It’s time for a new free motion quilting video! Today I’d like to push the boundary between free motion quilting and thread painting.

What is the real difference here? Why is one considered one thing and the other distinctly different? Can they be combined together in one quilt?

I have to admit, I didn’t think much about thread painting before Duchess Reigns or before taking Cindy Needham’s Craftsy class: Design it, Quilt it. 

In class she shared these amazing samples of gorgeous wholecloth linen quilts and at times her stitching was so dense, it was nearly thread painting. The wall in my mind between free motion and thread art suddenly collapsed and I remember thinking “OOOO! I want to do THAT!”

I found Cindy’s class so very inspiring and quickly began running samples of stitching Cat Hairball Filler very dense and overlapping to the point of thread painting. It is possibly one of the easiest designs to stitch in free motion, but it comes with a warning: once you start building up layers of thread on your quilt, it’s hard to stop!

So let’s learn how to do this in the center breastplate of Duchess Reigns, where I wanted the thread so dark and dense, it became a white shield for my girl to wear:

As far as thread density / intensity goes, this is absolutely the most intense, darkest thread texture you can add to a quilt top. This weekend I had some time and worked through many feathers in the goddess so she’s starting to take better and better shape on the surface.

I promise you will learn amazing things and be inspired to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. If you’re right now looking at Duchess Reigns and thinking “I can never do that.” just remember that all this is just thread and fabric and batting and yes, you absolutely can do anything you want, so long as you’re willing to try!

Let’s go quilt,

Leah