Unsewing
October 10, 2007

If this were a happily-ever-after blog, I would only show you the good stuff. But that was never my intent. My intent was to write a creative-process blog. So this is a picture of the creative process gone wrong and frustration.
The frustration is not the traffic jam of cars, but the gnarly mess below the cars, something that’s called unsewing.
I had done many samples with different threads for this area, but then halfway into the real thing, I realized my final choice was wrong. It wasn’t the effect I had hoped for, and ripping out machine stitching is a terrible slow thing that I try my best to avoid.
In the end, trying all these threads was like poking my finger into the bottom of every chocolate in the box, frustrated that I couldn’t find the right one. But then I realized, it’s because I wasn’t hungry for chocolate, what I wanted was a lemon sour.
Usually complimentary colors of thread work well, but this time, I found it was more interesting to use a color pulled from somewhere else in the quilt for a subtle contrast of colors for the maze-like pattern I was trying to create.
Emboldened by this new idea, I happily charged ahead to finish off the final part, the background. Now I have a new problem. ggrrrr
While this effect is interesting, it’s not in the best interests of the overall piece. Now the background stinks. So today I have new choices:
1. Rip it out
2. Live with it
3. Burn it
4. Paint it
5. Start the whole thing over from scratch (probably would take less time than ripping out the stitches)
6. Or something I thought of in my sleep and now am anxious to get to the studio to try
Filed Under process
Comments
16 Comments so far


Ouch! How about a very fine tip marker over the threads?
May the best choice win!
No….change that. May the RIGHT choice win!
My idea mirrors Bev’s. Something to trace over the lines but not bleed. It’ll look like wallpaper designs then..maybe?
Or you could send it to me and I’ll unsew it. Basking in your glory? Oh yeah. Even in the unsewing catagory. *snerk*
oh no! I just went through this same thing. I knew I couldn’t live with it but I had covered about a square foot with irregular FM stitching.
My solution - I turned the quilt over and worked on the removal of the stitched from the backside.
Somehow, not seeing the ambivalence of the front let me attack the tedious chore more easily. I clipped every half inch or so on the backside and then used sticky tape and tweezers on the frontside. Mindless TV helps - just don’t stray from the “deconstruction” zone on the backside.
I was very happy when I got it right.
Could you stitch over the top of it in another colour to merge it into the background fabric more? Can’t you tell I hate ripping out too?!!
I always remember a quote from an embroiderer about if you make a mistake, just stitch over it. Something about not being mistakes but part of the whole effect….
I like the painting over the top of it idea too!!
Liz, I love the idea of stitching over with another color. I often think about experimenting with this idea, must make time for it!
I always like how a good night sleep can bring on a new perspective to a particular problem.
Pam, I’m confident you will do what’s right for you! In the longarm world, we call the unstitching process “frogging” a quilt. I absolutely dislike doing it, but a good tool (I use one that looks like a surgeon’s scalpel) makes the job easier.
Carla, that’s really weird. I never heard the term frogging, I wonder where it came from?
Can’t wait to see how you finish this wonderful piece!
In england they call it “unpicking” which I couldn’t understand. It seemed that picking out the stitches was what was going on
Hi Kim,That’s another weird term I haven’t heard. I kind of like it though. Now I’m torn between “frogging” and “unpicking.”
Frog stitch: “rippit rip-it” - get it?
Oh, I get it now!
I have done this as well. I was happy with the results in the end, but miserable during the unsewing process. You can see the quilt at: http://www.artquiltmaker.com/sub_pages/seeingRed.htm