How do I do stained glass?
 

I love the stained glass affect I'm seeing on some quilts here on the forum. How do you achieve that affect?

It is best to find a book on the technique or at least a pattern with good instructions. There are some personal preferences on making the technique. Go to Amazon or google for some instruction. It would take too many words to cover it here and you would have a good reference.

http://www.equiltpatterns.com/index.php?cPath=14_18
here are some you could try

check out Brenda Hennings site!
http://www.bearpawproductions.com/

there are other techniques but hers are the most common!

I took a class for stain glass blocks. You cut your shapes, I used a Christmas theme and cut a candle, temp glued it to the background and outline it with black 1/4" bias tape. I used the fusible bias tape and used a twin needle to sew it down. The twin needle made it possible to only have to sew around the bias one time to get both edges secured. You can cut the background away after sewing.

Thanks Bellaboo. You have explained it better in one paragraph then the pages of instructions in the expensive book I bought! Twin needle, now why wasn't that tip in this book? I can sew the fixed bias tape around any shape on a background and have instant stained glass pattern. EASY.

I used the black bias tape to outline the flowers on my stained glass wall hangings. I also used paint stix to vary the color of the flowers and leaves. turned out really great.

ali

I did a nativity scene for my daughter on my embroidery machine but instead of the black I used gold cording in between the designs; turned out nice.

The other way of doing the stained glass look is to do reverse applique. On top of the colored fabrics, you lay black fabric that has the pattern drawn on it and then cut out the shapes to reveal the colors underneath.

I've made a couple using the sticky black bias tape to edge the design and it was easy and turned out great. I made a horse design and nativity one.