Alignment and Placement – Eileen's Machine Embroidery Blog

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Volume 104 Subtle Tees – Leaf Lesson Part 1 of 2 – Software

May 20, 2017 by eileenroche / Alignment and Placement, Blue Hair Girl, Current Posts, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Perfect Embroidery Pro, Software Saturday, Software Techniques, Stitching on Knits, Subtle Tees, Uncategorized, Wearables / 2 Comments

By Denise Holguin

This is expanded coverage of the Subtle Tees project featured in Volume 104 May/June 2017.

Lesson Highlights:
Copy, paste and rotate designs in embroidery software to suit your needs.

Design: Leaves & Branches Garland Frame
Company: Stitchtopia / http://www.stitchtopia.com

I like to let the creative process unfold. Initially, when I purchased this design I planned on placing a word in between the frame. But the more I thought about it, I decided to transform the design to a 4-sided frame to showcase a spray painted leaf.

I think the process of creating and transforming is the most enjoyable part of stitching a t-shirt.

Open the Leaves & Branches Garland Frame in Perfect Embroidery Pro or similar design editing software. I used the 4” frame to accommodate the scale of the shirt and the size of the leaf stencil I will be using. (This very generous collection includes multiple sizes including: 4”, 5”, 6”, 7”, 8”, 9” and 10”.)

It’s easier to group each row of garland separately before we start rearranging and copying. To do this, select the top garland. Right click with the mouse button. Select Group. Repeat this step for the bottom garland. If you choose not to group, it can be a little tricky to select the correct elements that make up a single garland design.

Select the bottom design. Copy and paste. Slide the design to an empty space.

With the newly copied design still selected, go to the Transform Tab. Type 270 in the Rotate box and click Apply.

Reposition the design so that it is to the left of the original frames.

Slide the top and bottom garland designs to make room for the new vertical garland.

Select the left garland. Copy and paste the garland. Slide it to the right side of the design.

Go to the Transform tab. Click on Flip horizontal. Press Apply.

Rearrange the garland designs as needed until you have a pleasing shape. Once finished, go to Edit / Resequence by color.

Save the design, print a template and send to the embroidery machine.

Design Bigger than Your Hoop? Split it!

February 25, 2017 by eileenroche / Alignment and Placement, Continuous Embroidery, Current Posts, Digitizing, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Monograms, Perfect Embroidery Pro, Software Saturday, Software Techniques, Uncategorized / 7 Comments

Serious machine embroiderers never let hoop size hold them back. When they think big, they stitch big. But that doesn’t mean they have to have a big hoop. No, they just need the right software and some handy notions (okay, the notions are optional but really helpful!) to get the job done. Here’s how to do it.

Select a large design. My sample is the letter M from http://www.EmbroideryArts.com, Arabesque 9 XL. I enlarged the design to a height of 262 mm – a whopping 10.31” in Inspirations Perfect Embroidery Pro. Now that it’s so big, it won’t fit in my largest hoop. But Perfect Embroidery Pro has a great splitting feature. Open the design in Perfect Embroidery Pro. Click on the Split Design icon.

The Split Design screen appears. Click on the arrow in the Hoop field and select your largest hoop. I entered 200 x 300.

The preview screen shows two hoopings: 1:1 and 2:1.

Click in either hooping to move the split. Toggle between the first and second hooping to view each individually. Look for a natural break in the stitches. for instance, I would avoid splitting the column of satin stitches. It’s better to have one leg of satin stitches in one hooping, and the second leg in the second hooping. Once you’re satisfied with the split, click Save and the software will save the design into two separate files. Print a template of each design and send the designs to your machine.

Place the templates on the left side of fabric (allowing room for the second hooping). Slide a target sticker under template Hoop 1:1 and align the target sticker’s and template’s crosshairs. Remove the template. Hoop the fabric with tear-away stabilizer, centering the target sticker.

Stitch the first design: Hoop 1:1. The last color is a vertical basting line (placement line) which will align with the second hooping. Stitch the line in a contrasting color to make alignment easy.

Remove from the hoop. Hoop another piece of tear-away stabilizer. Stitch color 1, the placement line, of Hoop 2:1 on the hooped stabilizer. Remove the hoop from the machine.

Place the hoop under PAL, Perfect Alignment Laser, aligning the stitched placement line with PAL2’s beam.

Spray the wrong side of the embroidered fabric with temporary adhesive. Slide the embroidered fabric under the beam aligning the stitched placement line with PAL2. Finger press the fabric to the stabilizer.

Attach the hoop to the machine and restitch color 1 to verify the design is aligned.

Stitch the remainder of design Hoop 2:1. Wasn’t that easy? I often approach splitting designs with a bit of intimidation but I’ve learned if I take my time and pay attention to the details (like aligning the fabric with the laser crosshair), the results come out as planned.Splitting designs is very rewarding – people will think you’re an embroidery rock star!

Embroidering on Onesies

December 28, 2016 by eileenroche / Alignment and Placement, Applique, Clothing, Current Posts, Eileen Roche, Embroidery for Children, Hooping, Stitching on Knits, Wearables / 50 Comments

Is there anything sweeter than welcoming a new baby into the family right at the holidays? It brings the meaning of Christmas home…time to focus on the important things in live and leave the mall hustle and bustle to others. One of our team members, Sandy Griggs, became a first-time grandma on Dec. 18^th to Bo Braun – a beautiful, healthy 8.3 pound cherub.

We couldn’t be more thrilled for her family and since Sandy is a previous collegiate softball star, I thought it was only appropriate to stitch a onesie for Bo. It’s a little cold up there right now but come spring training, he’ll be ready for batting practice!

I purchased a baseball applique design at Applique For Kids and added lettering to personalize it for Sandy.

Here are the easy steps for stitching an onesie. Fuse polymesh cut-away stabilizer to the wrong side of the onesie. Place the onesie on a work surface and position the Children’s Perfect Placement Kit Center Chest template on the shirt. Match the shirt’s vertical center with the template’s vertical line and the curved neckline at the bottom of the ribbing. Place a target sticker in the opening.

Turn the onesie INSIDE out. Slide the top magnetic frame of Snap Hoop Monster into the shirt, centering the target sticker. You’ll have to peek into the garment to see if it’s centered. Attach Hoop Guard to the frame and pull the shirt over the Hoop Guard as shown.

Carefully transport the hoop to the machine (use the magnetic shield that came with the hoop). Attach the hoop the machine. Use the machine’s editing features to center the needle over the target sticker. Rotate the design so that it will stitch in the proper orientation.

Stitch the first color, the placement guide.

Place the applique fabric over the outline and stitch color 2, the tackdown. Trim the applique close to the stitching and continue with the embroidered details.

Remove the hoop from the machine, turn the onesie inside out and trim away the excess stabilizer. Fuse a soft, tricot knit interfacing over the wrong side of the embroidery to protect the baby’s skin.

If you like this baseball applique, then there’s a good chance you could win a $20 gift certificate at Applique For Kids. Just leave us a comment and we’ll pick FIVE winners next week! Since Applique for Kids designs are just $2.00, that’s 10 designs! Pop on over to Applique for Kids and tell me what’s your favorite category of designs – they’ve got plenty!

Happy New Year!

Crucial Embroidery Placement with Success!

May 11, 2016 by eileenroche / Alignment and Placement, Current Posts, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Planning Embroidery / 9 Comments

Often placement is crucial to embroidery success and little bit of planning will make your embroidery look professional. I recommend printing templates of your design so you can see it in actual size. Once the template is printed, audition it on the garment. In this case, it’s a small flower for a collar point.

Take your time with the placement and try different positions. It’s helpful to use a digital camera (or your phone!) to take a photograph of the placement. Every time you move the template take another photograph.

Do this a couple of times and then review the images on the camera. You’ll quickly know which one is the most pleasing. Tape the template to the collar. Spray the wrong side of the collar with temporary adhesive.

Hoop stabilizer (tear-away, cut-away or wash away depending on your fabric and design). To achieve perfect placement, use PAL, the Perfect Alignment Laser. Place the hoop on a flat surface and turn on PAL. Align the beams with the horizontal and vertical markings on the hoop.

Slip the collar over the stabilizer aligning the template’s crosshair with the beams. Finger press the collar to the stabilizer. For added security, you can always add tape to the edges.

Carefully transport and attach the hoop to the machine, retrieve the design and verify the needle is perfectly aligned with the template’s crosshair. Remove the template and embroider the design.

Using a template, camera and laser ensures a professional finish on your embroidery. What tools do you use when placement is crucial?

Splitting Designs in Perfect Embroidery Pro

December 26, 2015 by eileenroche / Alignment and Placement, Current Posts, Digitizing, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Perfect Embroidery Pro / 3 Comments

If you love jumbo designs but don’t have a jumbo hoop, you can easily split a design in Inspirations’ Perfect Embroidery Pro. Follow along with me to learn how.

Open a new file in Perfect Embroidery Pro. Click on the Monogram tool and select Mono17. Type in the letter P. Change the height to 6” and click Apply.

Select the design on the screen and click on the Split Design icon.

The Split Design screen appears. Click on the arrow in the Hoop field and select your hoop. I entered 130×180. The red boxes illustrate two hoopings: 1:1 and 2:1. You can move the boxes to select what portion of the design you want to stitch in the first and second hoop. It’s a good idea to move the boxes to split the design at a natural point. In this instance, where the upper right of the P meets the left leg of the P. Click on Split Preview to see the actually split.

The first hooping appears in the preview window.

When you click in the second hooping area, the preview window changes to the second hooping.

Toggle between the first and second hooping to view each individually. If you want to adjust the split, click on Split Preview again. Move the boxes around each portion of the design. Click on Split Preview again to see you changes.

Once you’re satisfied with the split, click Save and the software will save the design into two separate files and templates of both portions.

Print a template of each design and send the designs to your machine. Splitting designs has never been easier. Give it a try, this is a skill you’ll use over and over again!

Fabric Too Short for the Hoop?

December 23, 2015 by eileenroche / Alignment and Placement, Continuous Embroidery, Current Posts, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips / 10 Comments

Don’t you hate it when the fabric doesn’t fit in the hoop? Recently, I was stitching a faced scallop border on my embroidery machine and the fabric was about 3” too short to fit in the hoop. I find that so frustrating! I didn’t want to waste more fabric so I cut a 3” piece of adhesive water soluble stabilizer then removed 1 ½” of the protective paper. I pressed my fabric strip to the sticky surface. Presto! The fabric strip fit into the embroidery frame and I didn’t have to fill the hoop with fabric or stabilizer.

Stitching a faced scalloped hem on the embroidery machine is no different than stitching one on a sewing machine. It’s still a running stitch and doesn’t require stabilizer behind the stitches. The difference is the scallops are perfect when you leave the measuring and stitching to the digital precision of an embroidery machine. It works for all kinds of projects: towels, totes, quilts and garments. And now you know how to fill the hoop even if your fabric is too small!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Multi-Needle Monday: Embroidering Multiple Towels

June 29, 2015 by Marie Zinno / Alignment and Placement, Current Posts, Guest Blog, Marie Zinno, Multi-Needle, Planning Embroidery / 7 Comments

If you follow this blog I would assume many of you own the multi-needle embroidery machine because you have an embroidery business. Although some owners of a multi-needle machine use it primarily for the convenience of thread color changes and durability and do not have a commercial embroidery business. In either case, you will encounter embroidering towels at some point. We have covered proper hooping of towels in recent blogs but not simple logo placement on multiple towels.

One of my clients is a country club tennis team and they love the quality velour team towels (hand towel size) in a variety of colors. My most recent order was for 20 towels with the logo embroidered on the bottom portion of the towel.

Monogram or logo placement on towels with a woven border is actually easier because you have a straight reference point to align the design. Embroidering towels without a woven border are rather difficult because there is not a reference point to guide you. I will share with you my simple steps to embroidering towels with perfect design placement.

Step 1: Select the embroidery design and test stitch it on a similar weight towel. Check the design for stray fibers of terry cloth poking through the stitches. If this is the case, increase the density or add “under lay” foundation stitches.

Step 2: Use the Perfect Placement Kit- Hand Towel Without Border template and position the template on the hand towel at the bottom center mark. Fold the towel in half lengthwise and place a target sticker at the bottom fold.Insert the target sticker in the center hole of the template. Remove the template and follow the same directions for the remaining towels, keep all target stickers in place until the cross hair on target sticker is properly placed under the needle.Using the template minimizes the guess work of the actual placement of the logo and eliminates wasting time measuring the embroidery location for each towel.

Step 3: Hoop the hand towel in either a standard hoop or Monster Snap Hoop (my favorite) along with tear away stabilizer. Position the hoop on the machine and line up target sticker’s cross hair with the needle. Remove the target sticker and add a piece of water soluble stabilizer to the top of the towel. Use the basting file to hold the WSS in place. (You can create a basting file in software if your embroidery machine does not offer it on screen.). Embroider the towels; remove stabilizer and trim thread tails when embroidery is complete.

*Machine embroidery business owners always purchase one or two extra sets of hoops per embroidery machine. Having multiple hoops speeds up the hooping process and total time devoted to set up.*

Click here to use a $10 coupon to use on my Craftsy Class “How to Start a Machine Embroidery Business”.

http://www.craftsy.com/ext/MarieZinno_4963_D

Embroidering for Small and Plus Size Figures

April 22, 2015 by eileenroche / Alignment and Placement, Clothing, Current Posts, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Planning Embroidery, Wildcard Wednesday / 202 Comments

In my first attempts at embroidering a blank garment for a small child, I must admit I struggled. I often made the design too large for the small figure and it always landed in the wrong place. Oh, it looked great when the garment was flat but when worn, it was an entirely different story. The design usually hit closer to the belly button than up near the neckline. And a good portion of a left chest embroidery pretty much always wound up in the armpit. Once the Children’s Perfect Placement Kit was available, I was saved. I just rely on that handy tool to get the embroidery in the right scale and location for young ones.

At the other end of the scale, embroidering for plus size figures gave me the same trouble. So what’s my problem? Familiarity. I know what works on a garment that fits a person about my size, give or take a few sizes up or down the scale. But adding a left chest logo to say a man’s XXXL shirt, is not something I do every day. So finding the right location is difficult. I was relieved when the Embroiderer’s Big Helper was released. Everyone deserves to look their best when wearing embroidered garments and it’s up to embroiderers to make sure they do. After all, it’s the stitchers who set the look. The common man (those poor souls who don’t stitch) don’t know any better. They need to be led, steered in the right direction when it comes to embroidered garb. After all, they are a walking advertisement for your skills. So help them look their best – use the Embroiderer’s Big Helper when stitching on plus size shirts.

Let me show you how easy it to use.

Fuse Sulky’s Soft N Sheer Plus to the wrong side of the design area. Use enough to fill the hoop – you can trim the excess after stitching.

Place the shirt on a flat work surface. Align the Helper’s straight edge with the center of the placket and position the curved cutout at the neckline. Align a target sticker to the corresponding size notch.

Remove the Helper and stitch the design.

Remove the shirt from the hoop. Turn the garment inside out and place it on a terrycloth towel on a pressing surface. Press the stabilizer. Once it’s heated, gently lift it away from the shirt and trim away the excess leaving about ½” stabilizer around the design. Press again to fuse it back to the garment.

Present the shirt to the lucky recipient!

Here’s your assignment this week:

Every sewing studio runs more smoothly with embroidery essentials. For today’s blog, Eileen reached for Sulky’s Soft N Sheer Plus to complete the garment. What’s your favorite go-to Sulky product?

Post a comment and one very lucky winner is going to score BIG courtesy of our friends at Sulky! Prize includes:

8” roll of Tear Easy
8” roll of Solvy
8” roll of Soft ‘n Sheer
1 can of KK 2000
A set of 12 Rayon Threads

The retail value is approximately: $105

The winner of last week’s assignment answered the following question:

Which approach do you most identify with? Are you the experienced machine embroider that begins a new quilt like Eileen or a more novice embroider like Denise who used the quilt designs to finish existing projects? Post your comments and one random winner will be selected to win Windmill Garden Quilts designs. And the winner is: Beth R. – “I am more of a novice type – plus I have plenty of existing projects to finish!”

Multi-Needle Monday: Text Tools at Your Fingertips

April 13, 2015 by Marie Zinno / Alignment and Placement, Current Posts, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Guest Blog, Monograms, Multi-Needle, Uncategorized / 1 Comment

One of my favorite features about my multi-needle machine (Enterprise or Entrepreneur) is the touch screen text tools. As an embroidery business owner I wear a lot of hats; marketing, finance, designer, and operator so if I can save a little time to stitch a name on a hat back or the sleeve of a coaches shirt I am elated. Using the programmed fonts and editing tools to accomplish this task makes professional looking lettering at your fingertips.

Convert horizontal text into vertical text.

There are a handful of occasions when a vertical name is needed such as: bat bags, locker bags and a length of a sleeve. This is how I create the vertical text on my 10 needle embroidery machine.

Step1. Select the lettering icon on the main screen and type in the word “Coach”. Generally the vertical name or word would be all caps.

Select the Array icon and diagonal choice.

Step2.Select and hold the lower bottom bold diagonal line. The letters will move from a diagonal into a perfect vertical line. Touch close and embroider the text. Size and spacing can still be adjusted as needed.

Array Text

Select the horizontal line icon and the arch icon. There are many different ways to position the text with the array keys. The arch feature is the perfect tool to use if you add a name to the back of a baseball hat. You can easily squeeze the letters to fit around the opening.

Slice Tool

This feature separates each letter in a line of text.

Type in the name or text needed and select “Spacing” icon. Touch the picture of a knife and you will notice the knife moving between each letter in the word.

Use the “select” key to highlight a letter to be re-sized or moved if needed. Touch edit end and embroider the text.

Learn more helpful machine embroidery business information by taking my Craftsy class : How to Start an Embroidery Business by Marie Zinno.

Click the link to save $10 on this class.

https://www.craftsy.com/ext/MarieZinno_4963_D

Multi-Needle Monday! Roulette Table Cover!

February 16, 2015 by Marie Zinno / Alignment and Placement, Guest Blog, Lettering, Monograms / 25 Comments

If you are using your multi-needle embroidery machine for a hobby or as a business, I’m sure you have some interesting and unique requests. Through my ten years as a commercial embroidery business owner I have had my share—believe me!

Recently one of the interior decorators that I embroider for asked me to meet their client who had remodeled his living room into a small casino room. The man was widowed and decided to change his formal living room (which he never sat in during his 25 years in the home) into a real casino room; complete with a regulation size roulette table!

The roulette table has an unusual shape and the table cover was customized to fit in one direction. One end of the table is narrower than the opposite end; therefore after playing and replacing the table cover (which is 15 feet long) it was difficult to know which end would fit properly. The client suggested I embroider a monogram on the one end of the cover and then he could easily tell how to replace it on the table. Easy enough!

Yikes….the table cost thousands of dollars and the custom cover was hundreds as well. The fabric was a medium weight vinyl and he wanted a six inch tall monogram in gold metallic thread. We decided on the font (Old English) and placement which I carefully marked with masking tape while still on the roulette table. I also took photographs with my phone so I could easily envision the layout when I returned to my workroom.

Steps to success:

I used PAL2 to precisely plan the embroidery layout. In my workroom, I placed the cover on the floor and attached the PAL2 to a small table at one end. I used masking tape (not painters tape because it would not stick to the vinyl) I did not want to use pins or chalk. I measured the distance from the edge seam; which we decided while on location and checked for accuracy.
The best hoop for this heavy fabric was the 8”x 8” Snap Hoop Monster. I was concerned about marks from the frame so I placed foam wrap on the bottom of the frame on top of the magnets. I used medium weight cut away stabilizer. I attached the hoop to the machine and placed the bulk of the table cover on a chair to ease the movement of the hoop.

The metallic thread was placed on my counter, not on the spool rack, in a small mesh container I use for other notions. I have read many different tricks to working with metallic thread but this trick works for me 99% of the time. (Wish I had those odds when playing on a roulette table!)
I slowed the speed of the embroidery machine down to 700rpm and embroidered the monogram without a hitch!

As a business owner, it is not wise to play “embroidery roulette” on such custom items because of the risks involved. This is no time to “learn” or “experiment” on the job – the costs are very high. I try to steer clear of embroidering on items that I do not supply but I was confident that I had the most amazing tools, embroidery technology and experience. When you’re in a similar situation consider your experience and the risks involved.

My client was thrilled when we placed the cover on the table and he now enjoys taking the cover off and replacing.

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