Zigzag Pizzazz and Beautiful Corded Shoes

It’s been a few weeks since I posted. Not because I haven’t been busy. I have. Then to make matters more challenging when I tried to post two nights ago I found my site was “temporarily out of order.” Seems I needed to renew my domain name but for some reason never received notice. So now I’m good to go again for another two years.

I’m working on a machine embroidery book for quilters featuring the zigzag stitch. Most quilters and sewists think of zigzag as a utilitarian stitch, whose main purpose is to overcast edges for appliqué or keep seams from unraveling. But my goal is to show how you can do so much more using zigzag in creative, playful, and sophisticated ways. Here are examples of the latest project I’ve designed featuring “Chicken Tracks” and “Satin Stitch Beads.” I was inspired by the flower Spring Beauty for its stripes. Each of the three blocks has a slightly different technique and different threads, some metallic, some rayon, both for their sheen.

Spring Beauty 1

Spring Beauty 2

Spring Beauty 3

I also submitted a presentation proposal to the Oregon SAQA conference only to learn the organizers accepted the first six submissions rather than wait until the deadline of June 1st to make their selections. My proposal featured hand made cords during which I was going to demonstrate how to make two cords by hand. I have a number of pieces of fiber art to show how I incorporated the cords, as well as design boards featuring numerous cords made by hand and machine. My friend and STiTCH colleague Jeri Oswalt had given me permission to show her shoes during the demos, so attendees could see how cords can be used in clothing. Since I won’t be able to show Jeri’s shoes at the conference, I thought I would show them here. Notice how she “couched” the cords around the edge of the shoes not to mention the matching tassel hanging from the heel.

Jeri Oswalt’s shoes

Shoe detail