Collie - picture tutorial

My thread painted dogs all start with a sketch. I usually bae it on 3 sketches provide by the client. Then it is redrawn on canvas.

I use a simple glue stick to hold each piece temporarily in place. Later I mat use tacky glue for a more secure hold if the fabric will not be completely coved in thread.

Here is the dog with the fabric finished and the thread painting started. Below you can see all the colors of thread I used to fill the dog in. I use a freemotion foot on my machine and a stitch length of zero. Sometime I put the feed dogs down and sometimes I don't. (If you don't make absolutely sure the stitch length is at zero.)

This dog's nose is made of blue velvet.

Finally I add a black boarder, a colored boarder and quilt batting and binding, I quilt the background and sew through some areas of the face to keep that laying nicely. All my portraits have a four inch hanging sleeve on the back. If requested I finish the dog off on 1/2 inch to 1 inch stretched canvas and finish with picture wire a third of the way from the top.