Do you love adding texture to your projects?
Let's use a twin needle! I have always admired heirloom sewing, however, it never meshed with my personal style so my experience with pintucks and such were limited.
Because I speak with many bag makers, I am always looking for interesting textures to try. So I experimented with a twin needle (4.0mm) with Bosal’s In-R-Form. It creates a nice raised “tunnel” effect that can be used to create texture.
I started with a foam square and a solid fabric. I love the Cotton Couture line from Michael Miller Fabrics! It sews up beautifully with a lovely silky hand and so many yummy colors!. Most importantly – solids show off your stitches. So, if you are taking the time for a stitched technique – use a solid, or a tone on tone.
If you have questions about using Bosal In-R-Form - here is a link to a handy Fusible Foam guide - Successful Fusing with In-R-Form Foam Products!
To create the texture, you will need 2 spools of thread on the top, to feed the twin needle. For ease, place a bobbin with matching thread in the bobbin. Select a straight stitch (I used a 3.0mm length) and you are ready to stitch!
Here is a video of how I did the texture:
Some twin needle texture tips:
- Make sure to set your Needle Up/Down to UP – you will not be able to pivot with the needle down using a twin needle. So just set this to UP ahead of time.
- If you don’t have 2 spools of same thread, use bobbin
- Refer to your sewing machine manual for twin needle threading.
Here is a closeup of the texture I created – you could also add beads at all of the intersections (Alas I have no purple beads!)!
I decided to use my samples to create a pouch from my Explorer bag pattern. I moved the zipper to the shorter side of the rectangle, and I also reduced the side gusset width to 2”. I added a wrist strap in lieu of the cross body strap.
Here is the final pouch – all set to go! The pattern comes with the “Explore” zipper charm!
Do you see yourself using this technique?
I am off now to play with more texture!
Have fun! Kris
