Not anymore with the ease of the Weightless Quilter!
Watch today’s Facebook LIVE and see why the weightless quilter is a perfect solution to your quilting needs.
Take advantage of our early bird Facebook special with code WQFB10 ($10 off shipping!) and get a FREE quilting template bundle when you act now: https://www.shop.dzgns.com/collections/specials/products/weightless-quilter
If you read our last blog, you’re aware of our recent trip to St. Louis MO for Baby Lock Tech 2019! Baby Lock retailer Christopher Blakeman and Eileen had a blast going from vendor to vendor gathering over $2000 in prizes including two Baby Lock sewing machines, the Zest.
There’s still time to win one of the prize bags! All you have to do is watch the video, share it with your friends, show some love with smiley faces, hearts and a thumbs-up. The person who engages the most will win half of the goods! The other half of the prizes go to Christopher Blakeman’s winner from his page.
The winners will be announced this Friday, September 6, 2019 so make sure you hop onto this wonderful opportunity while you can! We hope you win!
Jump over to Facebook and watch the Baby Lock Tech Vendor Walk on the Designs in Machine Embroidery page. Click here to view.
Baby Lock retailer Christopher Blakeman and I walked the vendor mall and chatted with each vendor. We gathered over $2000 in prizes including two Baby Lock sewing machines, the Zest. The Zest is a terrific machine for taking to class, teaching newbies how to sew and using as a back up when your embroidery machine is busy making beautiful embroidery.
All you have to do is watch the video, share it with your friends, show some love with smiley faces, hearts and thumbs-up. The person who engages the most will win half of the goods! The other half of the prizes go to Christopher Blakeman’s winner from his page. The winners will be announced on Friday, September 6, 2019.
This week, I’m off to Montana to fly fish in the great Glacier National Park. Whew! It’s been a busy summer so I’m really looking forward to a week of chilling out and tuning out. I’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled activities the week of September 9. In the meantime, watch the BLT Vendor Walk – hope you win!
Happy Thursday Embroidery Friends!
Eileen and Deborah had a wonderful time getting down to the “nitty gritty” of stabilizers in their Facebook Live today. If you missed it, watch the rebroadcast below! We are currently looking for suggestions on what to call our Facebook Lives so be sure to let us know in the comments your ideas!
Get an early advantage on our Friday special and free shipping up to $10 when you use code SHIPMYCOMPASS here https://www.shop.dzgns.com/products/embroiderers-compass
The fabric/stabilizer combo is the first step in producing professional results for your embroidery. Even seasoned embroiderers often need a reminder when it comes to selecting the right stabilizer for your fabric. Tomorrow, Deborah Jones and I will be chatting about stabilizer in Facebook Live at 1:00 CST.
We’ll look at a variety of samples – sweater knits, wool felt, cotton, moisture-wicking fabrics, denim and more! Deborah will ll share her 30+ years of commercial embroidery expertise and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions during the live session.
We are doing our best to improve the Facebook live broadcasts and we appreciate your patience during this growth period. Hope to see you tomorrow, August 22, 2019 at 1:00 CST. Go to our page and watch: https://www.facebook.com/DesignsInMachineEmbroidery/
Eileen and Deborah had a great time discussing valuable tips on needles! Watch their live video below and make sure to leave any questions you have in the comments!
When viewing, use the scroll bar at the bottom of the video to advance to 2:31 and the sound and hi-res quality will kick in. I apologize for the poor quality in the first portion of the video – but you’ll find valuable information at point 2:31 and beyond.
These needle savings are on point! Take advantage of our special here: https://www.shop.dzgns.com/collections/specials
Join Deborah Jones and me tomorrow (8/9/2019) on Facebook Live at 1:00 CST for the scoop on needles! You’ll be amazed at the information Deborah will share. Every time I hear Deborah do a presentation, I always come away with valuable tips that I immediately apply to my embroidery projects. I’m confident you’ll feel the same after tomorrow’s Live session. To watch, log onto Facebook and head over to our page @designsinmachineembroidery at 1:00 PM CST.
I hope you’ll join us because it’s always more fun with a crowd!
Patches on the moon? Not only did they go to the moon on Apollo 11 but they were made in Dallas, Texas! Not only made in Dallas, Texas but made in the factory owned by the father (Marvin Gardner) of my business partner (of 21 years) Gary Gardner. We have the patches to prove it along with a personally signed letter from President Richard Nixon. How cool is that?
Don’t believe me? Click on the video below to hear the whole story, see the history of making patches and learn just how many men have walked on the moon.
Since we showcase a special product in every Facebook Live, our brand new Hoop Mat is the week’s star. Click here to learn more about the mats. They’re on sale Now!
If you were alive in 1969, leave a comment telling us about your experience watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Hard to believe it was 50 years ago!
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. 
I added the bold yellow line to the photograph to make the stitched line more visible. In reality, a single line of running stitches is underneath the drawn yellow line.
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!
After some minor difficulties (first time bringing on a virtual guest!), we’re so happy Eileen was able to chat on Facebook LIVE with our special guest Christine Conner of Amelie Scott Designs! Christine Conner is the author of Edge to Edge Quilting and her new book, Custom Quilting with Your Embroidery Machine.
Watch below to learn more about Christine and all the fun, exciting events coming up at DIME.