Sunset Sail

designed by BonnaH Co Fiber Arts

Celebrate summer with this beach-inspired hoop art that explores techniques in embroidery, felting, and appliqué. Stitch up this modern and textural project with a nod to the classic nautical style shown, using your preferred embroidery stitches or the recommended stitches in this FREE pattern, courtesy of BonnaH Co Fiber Arts.

HELPFUL TIPS & CONSIDERATIONS

Sulky Stick ‘n Stitch

Print the pattern page with the Sunset Sail design onto a sheet of Sulky Stick ‘n Stitch. Then, cut the Stick ‘n Stitch slightly bigger than the hoop. Once you stick it to the fabric, the hoop will help keep it in place while stitching.

Embroidering on Felty

Choose a thin needle. Clover Gold Eye Embroidery Needles in size 7 or 8 work well. Thinner needles provide less resistance and glide through the thicker fabric easier. A thimble might also be helpful to prevent sore fingers.

Other Fabric Options

If you’d prefer to stitch on cotton or linen, line your fabric or use a stabilizer such as Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer Extra, especially if stitching on light colored fabric. This will prevent stitches from showing through from the backside when using darker threads.

Sequence of Stitching

Stitch background elements first, then middle ground, and finally foreground.

Sunset Sail

Choose a thin, slightly transparent fabric for the sail appliqués. The more transparent, the stronger the effect of being backlit by the sun. We used a lightweight cotton in our sample. Cotton voile or organza might be great options, too. Look through your fabric scraps! Sulky Perfect Appliqué Fusible Web is used to adhere the sail fabrics in place. The fusible web works well with Sulky Felty as the background. Felty is polyester, so can be fused, washed, dried and feels soft and pliable, too.

Other Approaches for Creating Clouds

Embroidery

If you’d prefer not to use chalk pastels, you can add color accents with stitches. We recommend Filaine Thread stitched in your chosen colors using long and short stitches. Use the Filaine brush to fluff out the thread after stitching. If you stitch on cotton or linen, you could choose to stitch the entire clouds in Filaine and brush them out. This will give you the fluffy cloud effect.

Appliqué

If you enjoy fabric collage and appliqué, we’ve included templates to trace your clouds. Fuse Perfect Appliqué onto Felty in your chosen colors and cut out the clouds. Fuse them onto the base fabric after the Stick ‘n Stitch has been washed away and the fabric has been allowed to dry. Use the Filaine brush to fluff the cloud appliqués to make them more dimensional.

Experiment!

All of the colors in this project sample are meant to guide and inspire you. Feel free to play with different color combinations of threads and fabrics. If you enjoy working smaller, resize the design to 4”. (The current stitched dimensions are 5” in diameter, stitched and framed in a 6” hoop.)

SUPPLIES & MATERIALS FOR SUNSET SAIL MIXED MEDIA ART

Sunset Sail Mixed Media Art Pattern (it’s free! Thanks to BonnaH Co. Fiber Arts)
embroidery needle(s), such as Clover Gold Eye Embroidery Needles in sizes 7 or 8
embroidery hoop, such as the 6” German Wooden Embroidery Hoop
scissors (both paper and fabric/embroidery)
Sulky Felty in Blue (and other colors as needed if choosing to appliqué clouds)
Sulky Stick ‘n Stitch
Sulky 12 Wt. Cotton Blendables Threads in colors: 4044 (Butterscotch), 4070 (Ice), 4084 (Eggplant)
Sulky 12 Wt. Cotton Petites in colors: 1198 (Dusty Navy), 1005 (Black)
Sulky Filaine Petites 12 Wt. Acrylic Thread in colors: 1000 (Pure White), 3613 (Dove Gray)
Filaine Brush
small scrap of white fabric, such as cotton voile
Sulky Perfect Appliqué
pencil for transferring sails and/or clouds to Perfect Appliqué
iron
soft pastels, such as these
#10 round paint brush (or similar size) or cotton swabs for brushing on the pastel dust
spray fixative or hairspray to set the pastel dust (optional)