What do you get when you give 11 talented embroiderers a fairly simple fabric panel and a few embroidery designs? Eleven uniquely-embroidered works of art. It absolutely amazes me to see how people put their own stamp of creativity into an embroidery project.
The past month has been an eye-opener – we’ve seen subtle touches such as Marie Zinno’s soft blue filagree designs that are built-in the Baby Lock Valiant.
And an out of the box transformation by Cathy Sundermann of Stitch Fork Designs. That’s an impressive front door!
Deanna Springer of Nancy Zieman Productions sashed the wood grain panel with Nancy Zieman’s red Riley Blake shiplap fabric to spice it up. Deanna ditched the wrapped canvas idea and added a pretty floral border for a traditional wall-hanging.
Milinda Stephenson opted to wrap her panel around a pillow. This was a fast and easy finish and her dog, Iris, loved it!
Michelle Umlauf used the IQ Designer in her Baby Lock Solaris machine to enhance the lettering. Talk about perfect placement! That’s a show stopper technique and wonderful way to show how to incorporate prints with embroidery. It’s all about value – making sure the embroidery is visible on a busy print.
Carla Reale used Baby Lock’s Palette software program to add her own message in the applique heart of the Grateful panel. Join the Baby Lock Palette group on Facebook to watch her video.
Karen Parker made two samples! Her Grateful panel shows offset floral sprays at the top and bottom. I love that layout and never think of using it! Of course she pulled her thread colors from her fun, striped border.
Karen’s English Pub theme set the tone for her border fabrics and faux leather trim – complete with nail heads! Her satin circles mimic a dinner plate and the embroidered knife and fork really seal the deal. Finished with two glasses of cold beer, this panel will look great in any proper drinking establishment.
Debbie Henry extended the wood grain quilting beyond the panel edge onto a wide border. Love her delicate blue floral spray in the center of the heart!
The Embroiderist, Colleen Bell, used a dark thread to quilt her Gathering panel – love how visible the wood grain is. She paired her panel with an embroidered chalkboard fabric. As a mother of nine, she knows a thing or two about prepping meals!
Sara Gallegos of Sew Positively Sara added family names to the applique heart on the Grateful panel on her Baby Lock Solaris. Of course, she nailed the placement of the quilting designs with the help of a quick camera scan on the Solaris. Nothing like seeing before you stitch!
Check out her blog at SewPositivelySara to see how she pieced the heart blocks on her pillow.
Our last participant, Debbie Cleek, added trapunto to her floral sprays on the Gathering panel. She used Designer’s Gallery to add the traditional technique of trapunto but with today’s technology.
I’d like to give a huge thank you to all of the participants. If you followed along, I’m sure you’re were as impressed as I was with their creativity. And so many techniques were shared! Please leave a comment and tell me what’s your biggest embroidery challenge. We’ll pick a random winner to send one Farmhouse Sentiments kit.
This photo was taken at an office while I was getting my car registration.
The tool will remove the majority of bobbin stitches and you will still need a traditional seam ripper along with sharp tweezers, good lighting and your “readers”. Gently hold the Peggy Stitch eraser and start to cut the bobbin stitches from the back of fabric. Flip the fabric over and use the seam ripper as needed. I like to use the tweezers to pull out the loose threads.
The new initial “T” is going to be stitched on the appliqué fabric next to the “S”. The scanning function will be used to precisely place the letter.
The “T” is shown in black because it is much easier to see on the screen when adjusting the location. The zoom feature helps you to clearly see if the letter or design is in the proper place.
Now you have a realistic view of exactly how the new monogram will look.
The perfect embroidery design was located at 
The sample colors were almost the same as the final photograph. The design was very dense so I selected cotton duck fabric for the pillow which was stable enough to support the 20,000 stitches. I also used a poly mesh cut away stabilizer along with a soft tear away stabilizer.
You could make a removable tutu by sewing the tulle on a narrow band of elastic. I opted for the permanent skirt and used a long basting stitch 4.0 to attach the 2 layers. Sew the basting stitch 1″ from edge.
Pull the bobbin thread at one end gather the tulle to make soft folds. Hold in place with a pin and stitch the short ends of tulle together to form the skirt.
