Sewing on the coloured Shiva Oil Stick fabric.

 I have been reminded that I should post today, it being 10/10/20 (hi Liz!).

So here it is ...

I have done a little bit of random blackwork (except not black) on the fabric. I am still using the threads I have at home, it still being lockdown and no shops open and no going further than 5km from home. I could buy online but I tried that and didn't know enough about the threads to know how thick they would be, what sort of sheen, how they have been plied, etc. So I will wait until I can actually see them in reality, not virtually. 

And I do have enough to go on with. 

I also used some linen I bought recently (online) and other pieces that I have had for years. I don't even know what some of the fabrics I have experimented with lately are. Therefore, I didn't know what threads would work with the various fabrics. All play, all interesting. 

So ... I decided to just try a few of the patterns from various books and an online resource that I printed out a few years ago. I ended up doing my own variations, not because I wanted original designs but because I  was having trouble getting them right. 

Trying to do the patterns randomly, associated with the randomly placed colours (I had no plan, just wanted to see if it would work on linen), has meant that I am not too bothered about choosing the perfect pattern for the image. Also, it is hard to see the thread at times, it blends in rather well.

The yellow thread is very fine compared to the others and a bit hard to see - whilst sewing and afterwards. I spent quite a while on it and was wondering why I was bothering! But the light does shine on it and pick up some texture. The orange and yellow are Wonderfil threads that I have bought for the sewing machine. The thicker orange one (konfetti) is not much good in the machine, it is a bit thick , so I am glad to have found a new use for it. The yellow (Spaghetti) is good in the machine , not so much on coloured linen. 

The green thread is DMC that I bought online recently and haven't used yet. I got it from Lazy Daisy, which has gone totally online these days. 

I discovered that the colour didn't go through the fabric, so I can see perfectly well on the back. I did have to get my head around doing the pattern properly on the underside and not going over spaces that I had already done, something that is sometimes necessary when you are doing the designs. Usually, you don't see that side, it is on the back. But the back was the front - confusing much? 

Just doing random patterns, for random distances, was very freeing. Also, the coloured background made it almost impossible to see mistakes - there are one or two but I don't really care, they are very hard to notice.