How I Designed and Made My Stitches for "Sarsaparilla"

I have been asked if I used templates or waste canvas to do the stitches on my "Sarsaparilla" CQ. No, I did not, although if I had some templates, I would probably try them.

First, I carried a notepad with me and when I had free time, I sketched out seam treatments. For example, I would start with a basic stitch like a herringbone, add some detached chain stitches, some straight stitches, maybe a French knot or a seed bead and then I had my design.

Next, when stitching, I used a small ruler (6") and a chalk pencil, not a wax pencil! This is very important. The chalk will rub off. The wax may not. I like Clover Brand. You can get them in a package with 3 colors and a sharpener.

With the ruler and pencil, I would draw little even lines and I would use this as my guide to stitch and keep them even. My Friend Marci likes Tiger Tape to do her precise stitches. It works well too. Sometimes, I would draw a light line parallel to the seam so that I could stay on a straight line.

For designing special stitches like an animal, I would draw a little picture and try to figure out how to convert it into stitches. For example, with the little birds, it is mostly just a series of straight stitches and a French knot for the eye.

The little spider is also mostly a series of straight stitches. The body has straight stitches and beads.

I use a lot of cotton thread because I have rough hands and silk and rayon frustrate me because I get it snagged on my hands. I use a lot of perle cotton. I also am not afraid of using one strand of cotton floss to accent.

For my favorite threads, I love bright colors. I feel that if I am going to spend the time stitching, I want them to show.

I have a new favorite variegated hand-dyed thread but it can be expensive. The secret is finding a friend or two to share it with. The perle cotton hanks are large. I like sizes # 12 and # 8. It is made by Artfabrik, sold only online or at larger quilt shows like Houston and Chicago. She now has a really nice floss, too. The variegations are great so it shows up after stitching, which gives more texture to the stitching.

I also like Wildflowers by Caron. It is a perle cotton size #8. Below is Wildflowers thread and Artfabrik sizes #8, # 12, and cotton floss.

I discovered Presencia Finca Perle Cotton Thread a few years ago and really liked it. It comes in a lot of great colors and sizes. My favorite sizes are #12 and #16, which is fairly fine but this allows for the complexity of the stitches. It is also reasonably priced and I have found several quilt shops that carry it. I would not recommend their variegated perle cotton because the variegations are too far apart so when you use it, it doesn't change variegation quickly enough so it doesn't look variegated.

DMC has some newer cotton floss that I like really well called Color Variations.

Anchor has a few colors of variegated floss and perle cotton.

Below is DMC perle cotton size #5 and Color Variations cotton floss, Presencia Finca perle cotton size #16, and Anchor variegated floss.

You can see that you don't have to have silk thread to get really great thread so if you have rough hands like I do, there are options.

Last of the "Sarsaparilla" quilt stitches

Here are the last of the stitches from my "Sarsaparilla" crazy Quilt.

I used seed beads in many of the stitch combinations. Mostly size # 11 and #14.

Here are some more comet stitches and another variation of the wheat sheaves.

Many of the stitches are taken from antique CQ's that I have seen on Ebay over the years.

This is one of my pieces of hand-dyed Indian silk dupioni.

The images were antique advertising trade cards that I bought from Ebay and I scanned them and printed them to silk fabric.

Here is some of my hand-dyed silk/rayon velvet.

This is a cast on flower arrangement that I embroidered in the corners and sides of the border. I used Caron Wildflowers thread. I love variegated thread.

The judges for the Houston Quilt Show thought it needed quilting in the border, too.

I have been asked if I used templates to do the stitches. No.

What I did with this quilt is I carried a notepad with me and when I had free time, I sketched out seam treatments. For example, I would start with a basic stitch like a herringbone, add some detached chain stitches, some straight stitches, maybe a french knot or a seed bead and then I had my design.

When stitching, I used a small ruler (6") and a chalk pencil, not a wax pencil! This is very important. The chalk will rub off. The wax may not. With the ruler and pencil, I would draw little even lines and I would use this as my guide to stitch and keep them even. My Friend Marci likes Tiger Tape to do her precise stitches. It works well too.

Other times, I would draw a little picture and try to figure out how to convert it into stitches. For example, with the little birds, it is mostly just a series of straight stitches and a french knot for the eye.

The little spider is also mostly a series of straight stitches. The body could be made with beads or detached chain stitches.

More "Sarsaparilla" CQ Stitches

Here are some more of the seam stitches from my "Sarsaparilla" Crazy Quilt. On the left I have some tulips.

A lot of the stitches were taken from antique CQ's. The wheat sheaves on the upper right are a traditional motif seen on many old quilts. I have an old wool CQ that has this on it several times.

More wheat in the corner. A heart with an arrow through it on the right.

Of course, I have 3 cats so I had to put them in it. I have 2 male black cats and a 16 year old female calico. She rules the house.

More stitches from antique CQ's. Over the years, Ebay has been a wealth of ideas for stitches.

I will post some more stitches from this quilt. Please check back.

Sarsaparilla Stitches

I worked a little with my camera yesterday and took some photos of my "Sarsaparilla" Crazy Quilt.

I tried to make up stitch combinations that were nature inspired. Of course, here are some birds. On the left side is a cast on stitch flower. These were done using one strand of embroidery floss.

Here are some fish in sea weed and the stitch combination at the bottom was taken from a photo of an antique CQ that I saw on Ebay.

Of course, there must be a spider and web. I used a couple of very tiny crystal seed beads on the web to make it look like dew drops.

Got to have some butterflies. These were inspired by the old patchwork quilts from the 30's.

The purple ribbon at the top of this photo was the ribbon that I talked about in an earlier post that snagged all the time and I had to keep clipping the threads.

Hale-Bop comet was visiting during the time I was working on this so I put it in the quilt. I remember, the day that it was the closest to the earth, and at it's brightest, was on my birthday, and my Husband and I went out and watched it.

For a little whimsy, I played Tic-Tac-toe.

There is that ribbon again. It looks good there but I wouldn't use it again.

Flower pots with daisies.

Bird houses on fence posts.

Houses and trees.

I love these little fans stitches. I believe I got them from Carole Samples, Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches book.

Sarsaparilla Crazy Quilt - A Learning Experience

Yesterday, I took some photos of some of my past projects and thought I would post some of them. Keep coming back in the next few days and I will have other photos posted.


This is a whole cloth CQ that I finished back in 2004. I submitted it to the 2004 Houston Quilt Show and it was accepted. I was very excited! It was a learning experience in many ways. If I ever submit another CQ, I will use another color of border fabric than black as they hang the quilts on black fabric and the border kind of disappeared into it.








It is hand pieced and I tried to use different stitch combination on each seam so that there were no two alike. That was quite a challenge.








I used several things as inspiration for the stitches. Some were taken from antique quilts, pamphlets and books, some are from Dorothy Bond's book, some are from Carole Samples CQ Stitches book, and several I designed. Many of my designs were inspired from Nature. Fish, birds, flowers, bugs, etc.








I had a note pad that I kept with me and I would sketch out stitch combinations. I used a chalk pencil (not wax - very important!) and a small ruler to temporaroily draw the stitches on the seams as I worked them. The chalk will brush or wear off. A wax pencil may not come off.

The pictures were scans of antique trade cards that I printed onto silk. Some of the fabrics were hand dyed by my Friend Sue Miller and some by me.

I wish the photos were better. I would have scanned the quilt but MS Vista in it's great upgrade (Sarcastic), doesn't support my legal size, perfectly good, HP flatbed scanner.

This is what I learned from the experience of making this CQ.

I started my embroidery on one side and moved across the quilt. I noticed that over time, my stitching got a little better. I went back and re-did some of the areas from the beginning as they were not as good as the stitches at the end. If I were to do this again, I would spread the stitches out as I worked so that wouldn't show. If you want to improve your stitching, try a stitch challenge quilt like this!

As far as fabric choice goes, I would not use polyester again. I found that the constant handling of the quilt while stitching would snag and wear the polyester. Some areas I had to, kind of, shave the fabric. I now prefer cotton, silk, rayon and other natural fabrics.

I had trouble with some ribbons not wearing well either. The ribbons that had the long threads on the back side snagged sometimes and I would have to clip the threads. I found that if you want to have a CQ that will stand the test of time, use the best quality materials that you can or just think about how well the materials will wear over time and with handling.

I have trouble with rough hands so I got to the point that I used mostly pearl cotton thread and cotton floss. I used some silk and I snagged some of it and had to redo it in cotton.

Along with not using black border fabric, the judge's comments from the Houston Quilt Show said that I needed to put some quilting in the border. I have gotten that comment on a couple different pieces. Ah, those sane quilt judges! I think of those antique CQ's that have velvet border fabric. No quilting there!