black thread

Running Wild – Black Stallion at Sunset Reflection Quilt

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Black stallion running wild against red, orange, and gold sunset backdrop fabric magic quilt

Return of the Black Stallion

Remember the massive horse that charged across the theater of your imagination as a child?  Now he’s back, forever running free on a sunset beach.  Princess YellowBelly’s new black stallion quilt brings the incredible romance of the past together with quilting techniques.

Center your home with a framed picture of a black stallion quilted wall hanging.

You can purchase this item right now!

Powerfully Romantic

For anyone who ever loved the Black Stallion books or movies this is the chance to relive the experience every time you catch a glimpse of our nicely sized (17 ¾” X 22”) fabric art décor piece.

Princess YellowBelly and her friends used a variety of styles and quilting techniques to create this piece:

  1. Silhouette Landscape Quilting

The scene is constructed with fiery orange and yellow quilting material to recreate a sunset beach.

A narrow strand of black material makes a solid beach, setting up the baseline for the black highlights and powerful drama that this piece entails.

  1. Applique Quilting

Both the beach and the black stallion are separate pieces of black fabric that have been appliqued to the gorgeous sunset background of the quilt.

  1. Fractured Quilting

This black stallion quilt features an extra bit of amazing!  A reflection of the horse and sunset is perfectly captured in the water.

This is done using a technique called fractured quilted – where two or more images are cut apart and sewn back together to create the displacement optical illusion.

  1. Fabric Marking Pen Enhancements

The black stallion quilt is made realistic by the addition of fabric pen markings on the horse’s mane and tail.  These carefully replicated markings make the hair on the mane and tail appear to be truly flying free.

  1. Tailored Quilting

Running Wild is quilted in two different sections – and styles.

The top, or single image, is quilted in sun rays and by outlining the black stallion, popping him out of the rest of the quilt.  The bottom, or inverted fractured image, is quilted in uneven concentric circles to replicate rippling water and add to the magically realistic qualities of the black stallion quilt wall hanging.

One-of-a-Kind

Running wild black horse sunset wall hanging quilt

Black stallion running wild against red, orange, and gold sunset backdrop fabric magic quilt

Running wild black stallion on the beach at sunset, black, orange, gold, red fabric art interior wall art

Rippled reflection of black horse running during the sunset

Reflections in water sunset with black horse

Perfect reflection, intricate quilting black horse head reflected

All in all the sunset & black stallion quilt “Running Wild” is a fabric art experience not to be missed.

You can purchase it on our Etsy.com seller platform – Lilies Of Grace – or read more specific product details below.

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Bonus!

Princess YellowBelly and her friends (human and magical) love this piece so much that we’re turning it into a pattern and kit.  This will soon be available, keep a sharp eye.

Material & DimensionsCare & DisplayCustom Orders & Layaway

Princess YellowBelly’s black stallion Running Wild panel:

  • Measures exactly 17 ¾” inches wide X 22 inches high
  • Predominant colors are solid black, vibrant orange, fire red, pale yellow, and rich gold
  • Running Wild shows a black horse running along a beach at sunset. His image is “reflected” in the water
  • Is back with true black batik fabric (same as the image of the horse)
  • Running Wild is tagged or named
  • Weighs very little
  • Folds into a surprisingly small and flat package
  • Is a vividly realistic wall art panel

Sunset material is from a collection called “Tuscan Poppies Sunset” and is a batik-quality quilter’s fabric.

The black fabric is solid Kona fabric (sometimes known as true Amish black).

Running Wild is quilted with warm and natural quilter’s cotton batting.

Care & Cleaning

Running Wild is an easy-care piece.

  • Recommended care and upkeep with a lint brush
  • Machine wash (cool, delicate cycle with a gentle detergent) if needed
  • Can be tumble-dried, although air-dry is recommended
  • May be cool-ironed (cotton settings) to remove packing wrinkles. Safe to iron with water or spray-starch

Display Options

We use regular household thumbtacks to secure our fabric art panels for display.  They hold the panel tight and fabric is self-healing, once the tacks are removed the holes will close up again.

If you would prefer to use a hanging or curtain rod to display Running Wild, we offer hanging sleeve options.

Hanging sleeves are only attached upon your order and your selection of your preferred choice –

  • Top Hanging Sleeve for normal hanging
  • Top & Bottom Hanging Sleeve if you would like to weight the panel as well

Hanging sleeves are made of the same material as the backing fabric, and are about four inches wide each (although this can be adjusted to custom requirements).  They are attached under the binding seam line, and are secured with hand stitching to ensure that the seam won’t show through on the front of the panel.

If you would like to discuss customized options, please contact us directly!

Custom Orders

We are always happy to talk about a new piece with your ideas!  If you have an idea you would like to see developed, or if you would like to have us make you something specifically please contact us.

You can talk to us at our Etsy.com shop – or you can use the contact form below to submit your questions & ideas.

Layaway

Sometimes the prices on our artwork can seem a little out-of-reach, which we understand!  We try to charge very reasonable fees, but if you really want Autumn Rondelle, but don’t think you can afford it in one go, please contact us via the form at the bottom and request a custom layaway program.

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Thanks for getting all the way to bottom of this piece!  Please let us know what you think in the comments below, or contact us.

*Photographer’s Note: Due to the intense oranges and red of the background sunset fabric, Running Wild proved difficult to photograph accurately as the color confused the camera’s sensors. 

While every effort was made to clearly capture the colors of this fabric art wall hanging, some color clarity was lost in the photographic process.  The sunset-to-black ratio is much clearer and true-color than the photographs represent.

We can answer your questions more quickly if we know the general topic of your inquiry or comment - thanks for obliging 🙂

Highlighting with Black Thread

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golden brown eye of an owl, fierce with black highlights

Have you ever looked at a spool of solid black thread and either thought it was the most boring thing in the world, or that it could only have limited applications?  After all, how much can you really do with solid black thread?  It turns out there’s a lot of things that black thread is useful for, starting with knowing how to highlight with black thread.

I both love and hate sewing with black thread, and for exactly the same reason – it’s almost impossible to see when you’re sewing on black material.

Tips for Sewing with Black Thread

When you’re sewing with black thread, and especially if you’re sewing black on black:

  1. Make sure you have a really good light shining right where you’re sewing.

This is why I hate sewing black on black – it’s almost impossible to see.  The great thing about sewing black on black is that it’s impossible for others to see as well.

I can see the mistakes I’m making as I’m sewing, but as soon as my project is out from under the machine, they pretty much vanish.  And you can bet that others, who don’t know what to look for, will never find it.  Your reputation for excellence will survive intact. J

For me, at least, the sewing machine light is not bright enough for black on black work.  Of course, I suffer from bad eyesight, so the sewing machine light isn’t enough for many projects.

I definitely recommend finding a secondary light source for your sewing space and especially focused on your sewing machine foot.

You can find LED lights with bendable necks (or throats or whatever those long bendy things are) and magnetic pads that will adhere to your machine so you can put the light exactly where you need it.

I like these lights for short time use only as they tend to get in the way if you just leave them there all the time.  Hence the magnetic pad.

  1. Use highlighting techniques to bring visual enhancement to plain areas

Black thread can also be very dramatic when you want it to be seen.

This thread is fabulous for highlighting areas that are not visually exciting on their own, or for quilting designs onto large areas that need quilting but have no seams to follow.  For example, I used black thread to quilt “veins” onto my dragon wings.  The wings were much too large to leave alone, yet any traditional quilting design was going to take away from the overall design, so I quilted in the veins like they were always supposed to be there and it looks great!

  1. Pop up, add depth, define dimensions, and create mystery by highlighting with black thread

Because black is such a dramatic and definitive color, it’s really useful for making certain aspects of your quilt pop out visually.

For instance, I used black around the eyes of my stained glass owl – it makes the eyes appear much deeper and mysterious.

Black also adds depth to a flat surface.  If your project has trees or walls, windows, doors, or rocks, simply highlight with black thread on the same side of each figure.  This will appear as shadows to the human eye and your piece will instantly gain depth and visual interest.

Using Scraps for Your Experimentation

Never, ever try something new on your project.

Instead, practice saving your scrap materials.  Then you can experiment to your heart’s delight and your finished project will look like: “oh, of course, she was perfect!”

This is especially true when you’re edging something; an applique, attaching a trim, or defining an edge in a piece of landscape quilting.

Experiment a little with what width looks best for the effect you’re striving for.  I like to use a satin stitch (it’s the buttonhole stitch on my machine) and then I play with how wide I want it.

Barb doesn’t like a really tight satin stitch, so she only sews hers with about half the thickness that I do, and it looks great.  I like to make mine much more obvious, so no matter how wide I stitch, I always make it real tight. Play with it, on a piece of scrap material, and figure out what works best for you and your project.

Final Thoughts

My favorite black thread of all time is Aurifil #2692.  It comes on an orange spool of 1300 meters, and lasts quite a long time.

Just remember that black adds a lot of depth and definition to any project, and you can make it pop or disappear – whichever you like.  So experiment with it and enjoy yourself.

golden brown eye of an owl, fierce with black highlights

A combination of grosgrain ribbon, embroidery thread, and a highlighting stitch with black thread makes this owl’s eyes pop big time!  

 

Multi-colored applique feathers edged with black thread on an owl panel

Here a combination of embroidery thread and black stitching thread serve to define and separate the feathers on the owl’s wing, as well as giving depth to the overall piece.

 

Black camel silhouette against rich starry night sky

Sometimes highlighting with black thread is a very subtle endeavor.  The reins on the camels, for example, are made with black thread in a very fine satin stitch.  The result is nearly invisible, yet the camels without the reins looked ridiculous!

 

Thick black thread satin stitching on a Christmas table topper

Highlighting can also become very dramatic.  The black thread serves to define dimensions, offer pop-up value, and make the duller colors of this Christmas table topper glow.

 

Some enhancements are much too fine to do with fabric.  This spider web heart was made using a thick stitch of black thread.

 

Black silhouettes of woodland plants and vines

Black thread can be combined with other highlighting elements.  Our Small Hearts panel uses a combination of highlighting with black thread and highlighting with a black marking pen to create the multi-dimensional, romantic woodland setting.