This week's special
As tempting as it was to go overboard, I limited myself to make just one machine-embroidered element for my recent wedding: the table numbers. In retrospect, I’m not so sure anyone noticed that the numbers were embroidered but that’s okay with me. I enjoyed the process. Since our wedding took place in a natural...
12 Household Tools for the Machine Embroiderer Digital Camera– best design tool in the house (besides pencil and paper). I use a digital camera to record my progress when designing an embroidery layout, auditioning fabrics or setting blocks in a quilt. Any task that takes several attempts to get a certain look can be...
How to Embroider on Minky Do you love the feel of Minky but have been afraid to add embroidery to this luscious fabric? Its cuddly-soft texture, stretchy give and lush fibers tend to scare the most courageous embroiderers. But don’t worry; it’s fairly easy to tame Minky. Let me show you how. First, select...
Placement Guides, Alignment Marks, Placement Marks, What’s the Difference? No matter what you call them, they are a visual aid to place fabric in a hoop so that the design stitches exactly where planned. Placement Guides A placement guide is usually a running stitch partial outline of an item such as a collar point,...
Those stretchy, skinny t-shirts are so popular. Here are some tips on how to stitch them successfully. First, the right embroidery design for the right fabric is crucial. Don’t try to force a design on any fabric. Look at the limitations of this baby soft knit fabric (sheer, 4-way stretch and nubby). That’s an...
Let me introduce you to PAL – Perfect Alignment Laser. I use PAL for common machine embroidery tasks: finding the center of a quilt block or pocket, squaring my fabric/design in the hoop and continuous embroidery. First, I’ll show you how easy it is to set up PAL in your sewing room. Once it’s...
I’ve always been charmed by advent calendars. When I saw this Winter Mitten Gift Card Holder from our friends at SWAKembroidery.com, I couldn’t resist transforming the in-the-hoop ornaments into 25 mittens to countdown the days until Christmas. The mitten is featured in the current issue of Designs and is a bargain-buy at $8.00 because...
I’ll be the first to admit my digitizing skills are quite limited but the more I try, the easier it gets. Lately, I’ve been playing with digitizing software on how to make embossed monograms for lofty fabrics. Follow along as I show you how to do it in Floriani software. Click on the Text...
What is Spanx for embroidery designs? It’s underlay – the seamless foundation for beautiful embroidery. Without it, you’re going to see a whole lot of puckers, wrinkles and divets. Things that are very undesirable in embroidery and fashion. But how do you know if you need it? Well, in fashion, a mirror will tell you if...
I’m afraid to count. I feel like Imelda Marcos but instead of shoes, it’s bags. Handbags. In the past five months, I’ve made over 20 handbags. Wow – it would be embarrassing if it wasn’t necessary. Every time I made a bag, I learned something very valuable that I applied to the next bag....
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