Free Motion Stitching Prep

My last post was a little long.  But I wanted to continue a little bit more about how I free motion stitch.  Before I actually start stitching on a piece, I often try out design ideas in my sketchbook.

Sometimes I just practice drawing the design in the sketchbook to get the idea of how to do direction changes. Or I practice on a small piece of sandwiched fabric I have near my machine before starting in on the real thing.  Sometimes I just start right on the piece.

I haven't stitched the above design on anything yet.  I must have changed my mind.  But I have recently decided to keep one small sketchbook to use just for drawing stitching designs.  I can do my practice runs in it or if I have extra time, I can doodle new designs and variations to have on hand.

I mentioned before that Melody Johnson had posted on her blog about signing your name with free motion stitching on the machine.  I do not do this, as the way I sign my name on paper isn't continuous and I just don't think it looks right stitched.  Plus, if I did my entire name, it is long.

I decided that I would hand stitch my initials (which is how I sign my paper works) and the year with thread after all the quilting is finished.  It looks something like this.

Dyeing some thread while hand dyeing fabrics makes it easier to match the fabric for this purpose.