Thread Play

Inspired by the success of the tissue paper bookmarks, I decided to try another technique from Fabric Art Collage (although I've seen it elsewhere too) to create a sort of freeform thread lace by machine. The idea is to free-motion stitch all over a piece of water-soluble stabilizer, being sure to cross the thread over itself a lot to prevent the thread from later unraveling. Then you soak the piece in warm water to remove the stabilizer, and let it dry. Of course, within one second of sewing I learned an important lesson -- use a hoop to stabilize the stabilizer. My stitching totally scrunched up the stabilizer:
The stabilizer started out as a nice big square.

Lesson number 2 -- don't sew over the thread lines too much, or you'll end up with a very dense lace:
Still, a neat thing.