Welcome to SewVeryEasy, my name is Laura. Today it's all about couching. There are many different techniques to couching. You can couch with the feed dogs up and you can couch with the feed dogs down. It's straight stitching versus free motion and they're both a lot of fun. Couching can go under a couple of different names depending on the technique. You can do braiding and you can do cording. They all refer to stitching some type of a ribbon or a fiber on top of your fabric. You can put it on clothing or it can be done on a quilt. If you're going to do it on a quilt, normally you do it through all of your layers. So you have your backing, your batting, and your top all ready to go. If you're going to use it on just plain fabric for clothing, you will need to put some type of an interfacing or a stabilizer on the back of the fabric. That's just to ensure that none of this fabric puckers as you're stitching. Straight-stitch couching gives you a lot of different options. There's a lot of different feet you can use when you do the straight-stitch couching. With the braiding foot you can couch braid and cord. There's a hole in the front of the foot. Whatever fiber you're using goes through this little hole, runs along the back, and that needle will go up and down and stitch that fiber on. The back has an open channel so that all that stitching and fiber can run along the back. There's so many different fibers you can use. If you're using a cording, it's going to be very easy to slip that right through that hole to run along the back. Other fibers like ribbon and wool and braiding will not necessarily fit very easily through this hole. I have a great tip on how to get the fibers in this hole: They're dental floss threaders. These are little loops that you put the dental floss in. They work great for threading very fat needles or sewing machine feet I'm going to use this just like a very big needle. Put the end in the hole, then you have that big loop sticking out. You're going be able to stick that fiber right in that loop and then as you pull it in it's going to just follow coming right out, and then this can be put aside. There is another way of getting those fibers into the hole. You will need a piece of thread folded in half so you will have a loop at one end and the two cut ends in the other. Place those cut ends through the hole. Now you have this loop. You can put the fiber in that loop and pull the thread. That fiber is going to follow the thread all the way out. If you don't have a dental floss threader or a wire threader, the thread threader works just fine. The important thing to remember is: Whatever you put in the hole needs to run free. It needs to be able to run smoothly in that hole. There are other feet you can use. There are some invisible-zipper feet that you can use, but instead of the fibers going through the hole, they will follow the channels along the back. In this particular foot I would be able to run two fibers, so as I'm stitching the fibers are going to run along and underneath, and they're going to be held in place by those channels. An appliqué is another foot that works well because it has that channel and that opening along the bottom. If your needle can be moved, an edge foot can also be used. You're going to be able to use this little opening as a guide. The fibers are held to one side of the foot and I'm able to move this freely. You can also create your own from another foot. This is not something I'd want to do for a very large project. I'd just want to do a little piece or give it a try. This is sort of fun to do. I've taken a straw and have taped it onto the top of the foot. Make sure that the straw cannot get caught on the fabric in the front and that it's not going to get caught in that needle going up and down. Then as you stitch, the fibers are going to be able to go through that straw. There are so many different thick and thin fibers that you can couch with and you don't always have to do a straight stitch. You can do zigzag stitches and you can do decorative stitches. The zigzag stitches are going to hold it down on both sides, so that stitching is going to be more of an accent and part of the design. If you straight stitch and use a matching-colored thread, you're not going to see the stitching. If you do use a decorative stitch, your stitch must not go in reverse. There are some stitches that will go forward, sideways, and then back one stitch. Those are the ones you cannot use. Straight-stitch couching can be a lot of fun on quilting. You can use this technique to quilt in the ditch. You can also use it to add some definition and texture. Free-motion quilting has a lot of the same rules. The fibers must run smoothly and you cannot go reverse, but it gives you a whole lot of different design opportunities. You will need a special foot to do that free-motion quilting. With free motion quilting the fibers are not running through the front. They will be going along the side. That way you're able to see where you're stitching. There will be a hole or a channel in the side of the foot, and that is where those fibers are going to go through. Once they go through that channel, they're going to go down in that hole towards the back. A lot of them will come with a little metal threader very similar to the dental floss threader. It's a piece of wire with a big loop on the end. Put your fiber in that really big end and then as you pull, that fiber is going to come into that channel. From there you're going to use the same threader so that the thread can go down. So now that fiber is running to the side and out the back. That fiber must be able to run very free through that channel and opening. Let's start with that braiding foot. The fibers need to run smoothly. They've gone through the hole and out along the back. We need to get the two threads and the fiber all following the back. So we need to pull that bobbin thread up to the top surface. Put your needle down, put your needle up, and then just pull that top thread and it's going to come up. That loop is the bobbin thread. Hold onto the fibers and just move the work. The threads are all going to come to the back. If you have a wide space, you can do a zigzag or a decorative stitch. If you only have a small opening you will only be able to do a straight stitch. I'm going to do a little bit of a straight stitch and then change it to a zigzag. Those fibers are going to follow right along inside that hole. I can still use the zigzag or a decorative stitch along those fibers. When you're done, raise your foot, raise your needle. You can cut those fibers and then just pull them out. So you have straight stitching and a zigzag. Let's do a straight stitch and the zigzag. You can see how that cord is automatically going to follow the direction that you go in. You can do curved lines regardless if it's straight stitch. Even though you're using your feed dogs, you're going to be able to still change the direction. You're just not free-motioning. The invisible zipper foot has two channels. The fibers are going to follow those channels. I will only be able to do a zigzag and I'm going to have to catch both of those fibers, but the fibers will follow those tracks. The stitching has anchored down both of those fibers. You don't always have to do a straight line; you can always move it, but the feed dogs are still working. With some applique feet you're going to be able to put that fiber right in the same hole where the stitching is going to go. You'll just need to stitch slowly so this does not get tangled, or you can run it along the bottom of the foot. I can still do the zigzag or the straight stitch, With the edge foot I'm having the fibers follow this little opening, where normally you're going to follow this side. I've been able to move my needle over so I'm working on the side of this foot, not the center. That little edge is going to help keep the fibers in the position that I want. And you can still do a zigzag with that. Let's try the homemade one. I have the straw taped onto the foot. Make sure that this is not going to be able to catch on anything and that the needle is not going to go into the straw. Those fibers are going to follow that straw. I can also do a zigzag. When you remove the tape from the homemade one with the straw, you can clean your foot with sewing machine oil and that will take off any of that tape residue. For the free-motion quilting I've started with my bobbin, my top thread, and my fiber running underneath. I have my quilt sandwich ready to go. My feed dogs are dropped down. I'm going to start with just a couple of stitches right in the same spot to anchor this down. Now I can start. Slow and steady, moving my ends out of the way. I'm following a pattern that I have previously drawn but there's nothing saying you can't do free-motion and just go in any direction you want. Those fibers follow that channel as I'm quilting. Steady speed will help with the tension of that fiber. So I've quilted and couched all at the same time. The texture is really quite amazing. Each fiber is going to give you a different texture. This would be a great way to make a baby quilt. No piecing; just quilting. If those fibers are thin enough you're going to be able to pull the ends into the inside of the quilt along with those threads. If not, stop and start with some tight little stitches and that's going to anchor them. If your fibers are going to fray a little bit you can use a product like Fray Check or Fray Stop. It is a sealant and it's going to seal those fibers so they don't unravel. This is a fun project to do, regardless If you leave your feet dogs up and you do some nice straight rows or some curvy rows, or do some free-motion. It can turn plain fabric Into wow! fabric. Thank you for joining me today on SewVeryEasy. Feel free to subscribe and, as always, come on back. Let's see what we're sewing next time
in the sewing room. Bye for now!
