Dryads were ancient spirits of the trees — it was thought that if a tree died, it must have had a very neglectful dryad. I have always had a deep love of trees and get teased (lovingly) by friends for my insatiable fascination and excitement over trees. They are one of my keenest sources of inspiration, so when I began to sketch for my first line of fabric, naturally branches and leaves were the first things to emerge.
How did you go about selecting the colors within the collection?
I chose colors I am most drawn to when quilting; I wanted to make fabric that I’d reach for during a fabric pull.
Do you have a favorite print in the collection?
That’s a difficult one… I love the branches print– especially in the blue colorway, but the cross section print that I made from a block print of a couple different tree cross-sections is certainly a favorite… I love the texture. I’m also a sucker for a text print, and this text being one of my favorite poems makes it all the more lovely.
What do you love most about Aurifil Threads?
I love the vibrant color options and the incredible quality. It always performs smoothly and beautifully.
50wt is my go-to. I like it because it is perfect for piecing and quilting, but it also works great for machine embroidery– I almost always satin stitch around my appliqué pieces, and the 50 wt is lovely for it.
How do you go about selecting which color to use for the finishing stitches on your appliqués? Do you prefer something to contrast or something to coordinate with the primary background color?
It completely depends on the project. If the appliqué piece already contrasts the background starkly, I typically will choose a thread that blends well with the appliqué piece. However, if there is not much contrast between the appliqué piece and the background (and I almost always want there to be, because I like the pieces to stand out), I will create the contrast with a thread that is darker or brighter than the majority of the piece. For example, in the scissors quilt, I chose the vibrant orangy/red (#1104) thread to help define the scissors since there was so much going on with the background and in the appliqué piece.
Do you have any tips or tricks for machine appliqué with Aurifil’s 50wt thread that you’d like to share?
Every machine is different, but my golden range for a perfect satin stitch with the 50wt thread is 2.5-3mm width (however for very detailed work I will sometimes decrease it to 2.3mm) and 0.5-0.8mm length — the setting I use most frequently is 2.7 width and .7 length.
