#3 HOW TO SHADE YOUR POINTSETTIA

SHADING is the most important part of thread painting. Think of your sewing machine as a paint brush. In the pointsettia I start with the wine thread and using a narrow fairly close zig zag I thread paint the BOTTOM sections of the flower, starting at the stem. On the top
petals you only do a very small section and make sure you finish each row (nearer the Point) about l/3 the way up, unevenly -

- DON'T ALLOW A LINE ACROSS THE PETAL. See
example in the photo in other post. Then you take the DARKER RED and do the petals which lay on theBOTTOM OF THE FLOWER. THESE petals are underneath the top petals. See the example with the printed flower on the purchased fabric. Carry the thread painting up from the petal, to the point. Stitch a dark line up the center of the petal and using the example included in this post, thread paint your petal. I have included drawings of
different shaped flowers for your information. You will note that ALL the stitches start at
the stem.
You will note the rosebud which I colored - that is the basic way you shade all your flowers. Darker underneath, lighter on top.

I then do two or three of the UNDERNEATH petals in green - dark green vein - dark green around the petal (underneath ) the top petal - then fill the center in the lighter green, using the same pattern as in the example above.

You are finished with your Pointsettia -- that wasn't so hard, was it?

I have taught quite a few tutorials on thread painting over the past year and one important
post shows many different thread painted subjects - it is the post on SEPTEMBER 6 and you might want to print it off for future use. Just go to the archives for Sept. I will be teaching an ongoing thread painting class
starting in the New year in learningfa and we will be doing many different examples of threadpainting and how to include it in our landscapes , table toppers, etc.

I will give you a couple of days to do your pointsettias (I would recomme nd you do a few different sizes, and put them in a zip log bag for incorporation into your Christmas projects. I hope you have fun with this.

The next 'tutorial' will be a Christmas candle , holly and a branch of pinecones and pine needles.

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Note the header picture on my blog -- I thread painted a little pine cone and designed
a pretty table topper using the log cabin blocks around the edge- I use it every year- I have given many of these types of table toppers, coasters, larger pieces as hot pads etc. It is
unending. Once you know how to do the holly you might want to incorporate some with your pointsettia, or make a group of hot pads with different designs on each one.

Please comment if you have found this little class interesting and useful. Shirley