Free Thread Painting & Drawing Techniques

Have you discovered the art of thread sketching? These free thread art techniques including thread painting and drawing methods will help show you the way!

Thread sketching and thread painting are both machine embroidery thread art techniques that allow you to personalize your fiber art with imagery. Thread drawing involves using the needle as a pencil, drawing with thread over the fabric to create what looks like a sketched image. Thread painting techniques is used to create dense machine stitching, using thread colors in close proximity to create lifelike images with shadows and highlights. Both will help you create incredible quilts, and this free guide will show you how.

In this free download, experienced fiber artists explore ways to turn machine quilting, thread, and fabric into visual delights. Learn how to sketch on quilts, use photos as inspiration, and much more. You’ll also find advice from the artists on needles, and the best thread for quilting. Download your free eBook today and get all five articles and learn how to draw, sketch, and paint with thread.

With so many unique ideas for creating quilted thread art, which will you start first?

With this free download, you’ll learn basic techniques for incorporating thread sketching and thread painting into your art. Plus, because each artist has a different approach, you’ll gain the confidence to take these techniques and make them your own.

Tutorial #1

Thread Sketching 101: Focus on Texture by Susan Brubaker Knapp

Painting with thread and drawing with thread are not unlike using wet media or pencil. Think of thread as you would paint: you can make dots, smooth strokes, or long, sinuous curves. You can apply the paint sparingly or very heavily. The combination of stitches creates touchable texture in this tutorial. Also included is a helpful section on needle and thread basics.

Tutorial #2

Nostalgia Series: Stitched Sketches and Ephemera in Art Quilts by Jane LaFazio

Inspired by Cas Holmes found object textile art, Jane LaFazio combined her love of sketching, free-motion machine stitching, and ephemera to create this nostalgia series. Discover how painted sketches can be reinterpreted into threadwork with this tutorial.

Tutorial #3

Sketchbook Quilts by JJ Foley

When she wanted to personalize the art in her quilting, JJ Foley devised two thread-sketching techniques: digital and direct draw. Choosing drawings from her sketchbook, JJ discovered that simplest sketch can give you a delightful result in a quilt. Learn more about her methods in this article.

Tutorial #4

Thread Sketching on Stabilizer by Karen Fricke

Karen Fricke discovered that printing an image onto heavy-duty tear-away stabilizer would make thread sketching a design easier and allow her to show more details through machine stitching. In this thread sketching tutorial, she shares her savvy thread art techniques with you.

Tutorial #5

Thread Painting: From Photo to Stitched Artwork by Carol Watkins

Quilting led Carol to machine embroidery, which in turn led her these dense and incredibly realistic quilts. In this tutorial, shell cover her photo-inspired techniques and will show you how to mix threads to create depth and shadow to tell a story.

Download your FREE thread art tutorial eBook today!

Download this eBook to find tips on the best thread for quilting and sketching, tutorials on all sorts of interesting techniques, and the inspiration for machine quilting thread in entirely new ways. And the best part? It’s all free!