10 Household Tools for the Machine Embroiderer Part 2
We received such a positive response from my recent blog: 12 Household Tools for the Machine Embroiderer that I decided to revisit this subject.
- JoAnn Connolly of Garden of Daisies Embroidery thinks craft foam and a cardboard carton are great reusable items to keep your hoops clean when using temporary spray adhesive. To get a custom fit, use your inner hoop as a template. Trace around the inside edge and cut the foam ¼” smaller than the traced line. Leave the foam “whole” so that it will cover the entire hoop when spraying.
Place the hoop in the bottom of a deep carton. Place the foam over it before spraying. Pull the carton’s “flaps” in a bit, if possible when spraying, to contain the overspray. Make one for each hoop.
- Toilet brush – What’s a toilet brush doing in your sewing room? Scooping up threads from carpeting. When a pristine toilet brush is swept across the carpeting, the bristles easily grab all threads and even pins. Stash it under your sewing desk so a family member doesn’t use it for its original job
- Rubber mallet - A rubber mallet lets you apply force to grommets, snaps, rivets and the like without damaging the metal parts. Keep it handy in your sewing room.
- Needle nose and flat jaw welding pliers. Needle nose pliers are great for turning small items. I used them all the time when turning tabs for one of my Designer Handbags.
Welding pliers have a 3 ½” wide flat jaw that firmly grasps the corner of a stiffly-interfaced handbag. I don’t have to worry about damaging the fabric by stressing a small area like the needle nose pliers.
- Toothpick. A toothpick is ideal for sewing on buttons by machine. Just place the button over the toothpick to create a ‘thread shank’ when using the button foot and the zigzag stitch with no stitch length.
- Lisa Archer from Pickle Pie Designs loves to use Scotch tape for their In the Hoop designs. It’s great for holding fabrics to your stabilizer while your machine stitches each step of the design.
- Rubber mat for hooping and placing under your machine. I like to use the lines on a cutting mat as reference points when hooping but the hoop slips all over the place on the sleek mat. To avoid this, I cut a hole in a rubberized mat so I can view the cutting mat behind it. Make one for each of your hoops – you’ll be glad you did.
- Nylon cord: a cone of nylon cord is handy when creating ruffles. I like to zigzag (or couch) over the cord when creating long ruffled strips. Just make sure you don’t stitch on the cord. The nylon glides through the stitches when the cord is pulled on one end.
- Baker’s Cooling Rack: after stitching lace on water soluble stabilizer, I rinse the lace and place it on a baker’s cooling rack. The air circulates around the lace and speeds the drying process.
- Starch – the original stabilizer. Don’t overlook the power of starch when preparing fabrics for embroidery. Soft, supple cottons and linens benefit from a generous spray of starch before adding additional stabilizers for hooping.
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I love the Aberesque Style as this is a favorite design of mine that I woul use for Linens, hankerchiefs and collars. It is very old english looking and a style that I love
Love thr ideas
My favorite monagram from the mentioned web site is the candlewicking one! I LOVE candlewicking, it is fancy looking, somewhat old worldly, and you can still tell what letter you are using!
I love Moderne! I’m doing some kid’s quilts and like that the letters are simple for doing an alphabet.
I like Moderne Monogram Set 3. Embroidery Arts does great work. When I first started machine embroidery, I didn’t have software and wanted to do our business logo on shirts for my husband. I found Embroidery Arts thru an ad probably in Designs magazine, sent them the logo and they digitized it for me. I am still using it!
My favorite would have to be GOTHIC 5, i would use this to embroider towels for family and friends!
I love the Moderne 1, I would use this one a lot. The tool tips are great too.
Love the candlewick monogram, would use it on many things, like pillowcases and clothing
My favorite is the number 1 Applique monogram set. It would be so great for beach towels, totes, and sweatshirts. The applique aspect enables one to change the fabric and the look of the letters.
Gail
I like the Arabesque Set 12. I think it would look great on a set of pillowcases!
The Celtic Monogram is my favourite
Sorry, forgot to put what I’d use it for. I would use it for placemats
I love the Cutwork monogram sets, both set 1 and the XL. The XL would be nice on pillow slips, the smaller one for placemats.
I Like the arabesque 5 monogram. Might use it for the tablecoth I’m designing especially for the inauguration of our three-season porch!
I love the cutwork XL. it is so elegant.
I love the Teen and the Teen XL Applique. They can be stitched in the current trendy bright punchy colors. I plan to use them on my daughters quilted backpack and lunch box. Fun! Fun! Fun!
Great tips, thanks “sew” very much!
I like Arabesque 8 and would use it on bed linens. Thanks for the great tips.
Wow, such gorgeous designs…..the romantic in me would go for Art Nouveau Monogram Set 1 ‘cos it’s just so pretty; the calligrapher in me (it is one of my many hobbies) would love Gothic Monogram Set 14 but the Mackintosh in me (my surname) leans me towards Arts and Crafts Monogram Set 1 as it’s in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and I love it.
As for uses, I regularly embroider polo shirts for my husband and I to wear while we’re riding our GoldWing so our names in the Mackintosh style under an image of our motorbike would be perfect.
I love the Lace 1 monogram style. Thanks for the great tips too.
I do a lot of monogrammed bath towels for wedding gifts for friends. When asked their preference, most choose Empire or something scrolly like that.
For me personally, my favorite font is the Art Nouveau set #3. I just love the way that comes out on everything. I’ve done baby blankets, towels and hankies with that font! Love it!
I like many of them, I think Cutwork 1 is a favorite. I would use on linens.
I like a number of the monograms, but the one I think I would use the most is Art Nouveau #3. This could be used on many different projects.
I love the Cutwork XL. I would use it for pillow shams.
Hard to limit myself to one because as you said you can never have enough monograms. But if I have too, my favorite would be the Circle 4. I liked the multiple colors and that you could use it with bright colors for children’s items or kitchen towels, or more monotone for napkins, hankies, etc. I think it would look great with a little sparkle to it for christmas towels or banners as well.
I love Circle set 6! I would make a bunch of monogrammed linens for our new home!
So many choices! The Diamond Monogram Set 3 has so many possibilities — shirts, large and small napkins, purses … love it.
I like the Candlewick font for it’s timeless beauty. I’d use it for pillowcases & pockets.
I’d do tween for weddings- I have several coming up and I see some beautiful towels– or even a ring bearer pillow. I also love yoga. But I’d do it on dancewear.
I especially like the Romanesque 1 design, and I believe it will be lovely on a set of nice bath towels.
Hi All,
I just love, love the arabesque7 XL, I would use this design on anything I could get my hands on, from towels, to bed linen. I think it would look beautiful on just about anything. Thank you also for all of the interesting information!!
I couldn’t believe all the different monograms. I especially like the Romanesque monopgram. I love to monogram pillowcase and this would be great on the border.
I’ve been looking for a suitable monogram for a pair of beach towels for a soon-to-be wed couple going on a honeymoon to the Caribbean and love Embroidery Arts’ Diamond Monogram Set 5 for this purpose! This will be a great shower gift for them! Thanks for leading me there.
Hi Eileen. Congrats on your wedding!! I really like the Arabesque XL Monogram. These would look great on napkins.
Thanks Cindy! Hope you’re doing well.
I love the Arabesque XL and I think it would be great on a scarf. Great Christmas gift!
I think that the Arabesque would be beautiful monogramed on a handbag.
I like the Moderne 4 set – the letters are clean and readable, and will work very well on some of the retro-type embroideries I have been creating.
Great timing… I am going to start the designer bag this week..
I love your fonts.
I love all the Moderne styles.
You forgot about doorstops. When I am sewing, not embroidering, I put door stops behind the machine to raise it up just enough that I am not straining my back. This works great at retreats when the tables are not as ergonomic at what I have at home.
I like the Teen and Teen XL Applique’. I would use for making Key Fobs, towels, purses and many other things. I love alpha’s of all kinds. Thanks,
Wow those are some great ideas!!!!
I would choose Varsity. I have a 2 boys on high school sports and how cool to be able to make quilt with those letters. names, school name. could even be for college!
Diamond 3 is my favorite. It is very unique in design and it will look beautiful on decorative pillows and bath towels.
Love my disney machine!
Arabesque 8 was ONE of my favorites – liked so many of them it was hard to choose. I would probably use it to embellish pillows I am making to match the Double-Wedding Ring quilt I just sent off to the LAQ’s for quilting.
Moderne Monogram Set 3 would be perfect for linens, towels, travel accessories… I could go on and on about this versatile style.
I love Modern 2. It’s very chic – not to fussy but it has great style.
I like the Oval set 2. I’d use it on purses, towels, pillow cases. Very nice!
I like the applique 2. Would be great for Kid’s stuff!
I always like to repurpose items if possible. That’s why having strips of stabilized left over after embroidering makes me feel like I am wasting perfectly good stabilizer. Therefore, I take an empty spool from a lint roller and wrap strips of discarded stabilizer around the spool and use it as a lint roller to pick up thread pieces from furniture, clothing, and carpeting. This serves two purposes – stabilizer doesn’t get wasted and it keeps the peace with my husband when thread clippings get out of control.
Wow! So many monogram fonts and they are all so gorgeous. it was so hard to decide. I have always loved calligraphy and flourishes, so the Arabesque 3 would be my favorite. I can see it on on so many things. Thank you for sharing this website with us. It was a great find.
Sorry. Specifically, I would like to put this monogram on our napkins and then a pillow for our bedroom. We have never had anything monogramed, so this is so exciting.
I simply can’t choose just one! There is no limit to using any monogram font. You can use them on anything your mind can imagine. I wish I had time and money to create all the things my mind can come up with when I shop for monograms and designs.
I think all the tools are wonderful. especially the foam blocks for your hoops. It prevents a real sticky mess.
I really like the twigs they are so whimsical. Since I live in upstate New York I would incorporate them into an Adirondack quilt.
I like the Alphabet monogram set. I have a new GREAT Grandson and see many things I could use that on for him!!
Couldn’t limit it to just one – Love the Five & Dime – simple yet beautiful – and also Cutwork 1 – elegant!
I love the cutwork XL and would use it on tablecloths.
I like the Teen XL Applique. I would use it on towels, pillowcases, maybe purses. It is a fund design and can be changed around with different material.
I love each mongram I’ve ordered from them. Stitch out beautifully. I’m in the process of making outdoor pillows and I think Circle XL would be my next choice. I especially enjoy the section on monograms in the movies and today I discovered they’ve added a new one since I last visited. Such a neat site.
Also wanted to thank you for the tips. My favorite is the foam creations to prevent overspray. It will save me a lot of time. Thanks!!!
I love the Moderne pattern! I am pretty new and inexperienced with embroidery–I would love to try the best!
Thanks!
love the cutwork 1 designs… can see me doing those on my vintage styled work
All of them, I want all of them!
Love…love….love!
I like the Teen and Teen XL. I have 3 young granddaughters and think this would be great to use for them when they are older.
I loved this list of basic household items for the embroidery machine. The new ones for me would be the craft foam and cardboard to keep my hoops clean. Wow! When I started out with embroidery, I just got that spray all over the place. I also loved the scotch tape for holding things in the hoop and then the toilet brush for picking up threads? I love it, not that I would have threads all over the floor in my sewing room! ;^D
I love Five and Dime. It displays well when used on the back of shirts. I am constantly asked to embroider sport shirts for various team competitions.
I like the Diamond XL Applique … love putting this on little girl dresses and tops in bright fabric colors … in fact, putting it on my Grands’ swim coverups this week
Teen monogram would be my choice. my granddaughters would love that one
I love the Avant Garde Monogram set 1 – I would make some table linens to use on special occasions.
I love the cutwork monogram. I’d love to make a summer tunic of white or icy pastel color with my initial L in cutwork as a trim on the tunic. I think the design could be run one up, one down, for a border at the bottom or one L and one R for a trim down the front, or it could be put on a top with a large ruffled collar on like a peasant top and the design could be on the collar running it different directions for the fun of it.
Louise, MI
aaquilting.com
I find it more and more difficult to make decisions as I get older and I do find I am getting needier!! LOL I love and need all of them for they each are unique.
I think the Arabesque style is my favorite. I really like all of the swirls. I am fairly new to embroidery and would like to try embroidering on some towels.
My favorite is Cutwork 1. It’s just so delicate.
I really love the Arabesque 9 design. I would use the letter C to monogram and top that has a spot on the left side (must have dribbled coffee) -
My Fav is Art Nouveau 3 and would make everyone in my family monogramed towels for the pool. Maybe this way when my grandkids came ovder they would pick them up off the floor! LOL! At least I would have good looking towels to pick up if not!
I love the Candlewick alpha. So beautiful and delicate.