The Embellished Landscape with Susan Brittingham
Class Description:
We start by constructing a landscape using atmospheric perspective to create a sense of depth and realism. Embellish the landscape with thread work, machine needle lace, sheers and textured fabrics. Finally, learn to make a decorative shaped border to frame your landscape and how to effectively break the borders to suggest another layer of depth and dimension.
Designs for one or more landscapes will be provided, so you do not need to know how to draw to take this class. You will have freedom to exercise as much creativity as you like.

Supplies

• A fat quarter of sky fabric (approximately 18" x 22")
• A large variety of fabrics which are suggestive of a natural landscape; sky, water, hills and fields, sunsets. Try to include a good range of values (light to dark) in your selection. Fabrics that work well include batiks, hand dyes, and low contrast prints. Fabrics that DO NOT work well include regularly spaced small designs (calicoes) and high contrast prints.
• Border Fabric should be as large as the finished size of the quilt: at least 17" x 20" or a fat quarter
• *Tulle: one or two small (1/8 to 1/4 yd) pieces of tulle, netting or sheer fabric in various colors. Color suggestions:“sunset” colors if you might wish to make a sunset, a medium green, water colors such as aqua or blue, black (shadows) and white (clouds).
• Threads: a variety of rayon, cotton, polyester and metallic embroidery threads, especially greens and yellow-greens for moss and leaves. Variegated threads are also recommended. It is highly recommended that you use embroidery threads for your embellishments, NOT plain sewing threads such as cotton covered polyester. If you are purchasing decorative threads for the first time, start with a small selection of 4-5 spools in “landscape” colors, including at least one variegated green.
• Invisible thread (preferably polyester invisible thread, not nylon).
• *Super Solvy™ OR other medium to heavy weight (Ultra Solvy) clear dissolvable stabilizer (1 package or 1 yard) Fabric-Solvy also works well. It is important that the stabilizer will dissolve COMPLETELY.
• *Tear away stabilizer such as Tear Easy or Stitch and Ditch
• *One half yard (or more) of a fusible web product such as Misty Fuse, Wonder Under, Heat and Bond Light, Steam a Seam Light. Fusible Web is an adhesive which joins two fabrics together when ironed. It is not interfacing.
• Yarns suitable for couching in brown (tree trunks), spring green(trees) and other accent colors. I will have these available in class.
• 1/4 yd lightweight fusible interfacing (optional)
• A small (8" x 12") piece of cheesecloth
• 5" - 8" hoop for machine embroidery, spring tension type recommended. Your hoop must fit under your presser foot, so it must be thin. A thick hand embroidery hoop or a programmed embroidery hoop is not suitable.
• small, sharp, pointed embroidery-type scissors (4"-5" size)
• Paper scissors and fabric scissors
• Pencil and /or felt tip pen
• A few sheets of (artist’s) tracing paper, approximately 11" x 14"
• fine line blue marking pen, or a permanent ink pen (like Pigma™ or fine line Sharpie™)
• several extra empty bobbins
• machine embroidery needles, size 70/10 to size 90/14 or other needles suitable for use with rayon and metallic threads. If you have difficulty sewing with metallic threads, a size 14/90 topstitch needle will usually help
• An iron and ironing surface
• Basic Sewing Supplies: pins, scissors, seam ripper, etc.
• Sewing machine, clean and in good working order, with darning or quilting foot for free motion embroidery. We will use straight and zigzag free-motion stitching in this class. (A featherweight machine is not suitable).