Knot Thread Stitch: Exploring Creativity Through Embroidery and Mixed Media

Knot Thread Stitch presents a modern, experimental, and creative approach to thread and embroidery projects. You'll find fun and surprising project ideas, a unique artistic approach, and uncoventional mixed-media materials such as stamps, paint, sequins, paper, and shrinky dinks. These projects are designed to be quick, fun, abstract, and creative, and many offer clever ideas for personal customization. With easy-to-follow steps and project variations, this book also includes project contributions and embroidery patterns from a long and stellar list of renowned artists and bloggers, including Lisa Congdon, Camilla Engman, Heather Smith Jones, and Amy Karol, just to name a few.

Lisa Solomon was born in Tucson, Arizona, but has lived most of her life in California. She received her BA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley in 1995 and her MFA from Mills College in 2003. She regularly teaches art at various colleges in the Bay Area including San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, Mills College, CCA, and Cal State East Bay.

Profoundly interested in the idea of hybridization (sparked from her hapa heritage), Solomon’s mixed media works revolve thematically around domesticity, craft, and masculine and feminine triggers. She is drawn to found objects altering them conceptually so that their meanings and original uses or intents are re-purposed. She often fuses “wrong” things together – recontextualizing their original purposes, and incorporating materials that question the line between art and craft.

Ms. Solomon’s work has been featured in many books, and her drawings and installations have been featured in numerous national and international venues. She currently resides in Oakland with her husband, daughter, two dogs, two cats and many, many spools of thread. Visit her online at http://www.lisasolomon.com.

Introduction

Let’s start

Fabric

Thread

Tools

Transfer Methods 101

Make Stuff

Project 1: Tea Towels

Part 1: Wipe and Dry Towels with a Sycamore Pod Pattern

Part 2: Hand-Embroidered Golden Sycamore Pods on a Printed Tea Towel

Artist Version: Eat, Drink, and Clean with lettering by Kate Bingaman Burt

Project 2: Pillowcases

Part 1: Sleeping on Clouds

Artist Version: Arrow Pillowcase by Martha McQuade

Project 3: Handkerchiefs

Part 1: Fight that Cold!

Artist Version: Embroidered Scales and He Loves Me Hankies by Blair C. Stocker

Artist Version: Updated Monograms by Blair C. Stocker

Project 4: Contemporary Sashiko

Part 1: Fireworks Skirt

Artist Version: Simple Coasters by Sally J. Shim

Project 5: Inspired Silhouettes

Part 1: Willy Nilly Stitched Cat and House

Artist Version: Floral Silhouette Pillow by Lisa Congdon

Project 6: Monogram Patches

Part 1: Shaggy Red Cross and Initial

Project 7: Drawing with Thread

Part 1: Poppy Pods

Project 8: Children as Muses

Part 1: Multi-eyed Monster Tote Bag

Artist Version: Portrait of Papa by Amy Karol and Delia Jean Matern

Project 9: Hand-Carved Stamp Designs

Part 1: Iron Apron

Artist Version: Leaf-stamp Card by Patricia Zapata

Project 10: 3D Mending

Part 1: Pom-Pom Scarf

Project 11: Portraits

Part 1: “Me and Gram” Photo-Based Portrait

Artist Version: Illustrative Portraits by Betsy Thompson

Project 12: Pet Portraits

Part 1: Wilfredo

Artist Version: Morran Pillow by Camilla Engman

Project 13: Fabric-covered Buttons

Part 1: Button Buttons

Artist Version: Fruit and Veggie Cross-stitch by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Project 14: Shrink and Stitch It!

Part 1: Hexagon Necklace

Artist Version: Lion and Birdie Zipper Pulls and Key Chains with illustrations by Susie Ghahremani

Project 15: Modern Commemorative Samplers

Part 1: On This Date

Artist Version: “66 Years” by Heather Smith Jones

Project 16: T-shirts

Part 1: Austin American Tee

Artist Version: Birds in the Sky and Let’s Go Fly a Kite T-shirts by Christine Castro Hughes

Project 17: Felt Finger Puppets

Part 1: Handy the Robot and Sakura Kokeshi

Artist Version: Digit and Aiko by Wendy Crabb

Find Inspiration

Templates

Stitch Guide

Contributing Artists & Resources

About the Author

Acknowledgments