There are several ways to handle the bulk of a large quilt. How large is large? In my book, large is any dimension beyond a crib size quilt (36″ x 52″). Once a quilt is wider than four hoopings, it’s time to pay attention to the weight of the quilt.
A few weeks ago, I discussed handling a large quilt in my Facebook Live session on the Weightless Quilter. You can watch that broadcast here.
Tomorrow at 1:00 CST, I’ll demonstrate the shortE – the Embroidery Short Arm with a Long Reach. Since it’s quilting month here at DIME, I figured it was a good time to have a live Q&A on the topic. The shortE is set up in the studio so you’ll get a good look at it and you can watch the quilting process. I’ll discuss how to prepare a quilt when using the shortE, how to ‘work the quilt’ and what’s the difference between quilting on the shortE vs. the 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!
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.
Machine embroidery is supposed to be beautiful. And the process of making beautiful embroidery should be fun and enjoyable. But all of that can be for naught when the experience is dampened by poor results, painful tasks and laborious placement. Enough already! Let’s get the fun back into embroidery.
I have five pet peeves that annoy the daylights out of me when I’m embroidering. And since I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, I’ve come up with solutions. My pet peeves are hoop burn, hand strain, fabric distortion, laborious placement and tedious rehooping. What’s my solution? I ditched the standard hoop about 10 years ago and haven’t looked back.* Let me elaborate.
When knits, textured and napped fabrics are squeezed between two standard embroidery rings, the hoop often leaves a noticeable impression around the embroidery. Those lofty and delicate fibers are now flattened – and possibly permanently flattened. Yikes! The flat frames of Snap Hoop Monster leave no hoop burn – they firmly grip the fabrics and hold them in place without permanently damaging the fibers.
Twenty years of embroidery can wreak havoc on your hands, fingers and wrists. Pushing an inner ring into an outer ring and tightening a screw 5, 10, 20 or maybe 30 times a day is grueling punishment. No more. I just snap that magnetic top frame over the bottom and I’m done!
Fabric distortion is a thing of the past because I pull and tug on the hooped fabric while it’s hooped in Snap Hoop Monster. It’s the inner and outer rings that squeeze and distort fabric – doesn’t happen when fabric is sandwiched between two flat objects – a magnetic top and metal bottom.
I’ve invented all kinds of placement tools but sometimes I want to move the fabric just a smidgen under the needle. With Snap Hoop Monster, I lift the top frame, slide the fabric, drop the frame back in place and press start! No hooping and unhooping to move the fabric a millimeter or two. I like the freedom Snap Hoop Monster gives me right at the machine.
Speaking of the machine, when I use Snap Hoop Monster, I can remove the top frame and advance the fabric to the next hooping without taking the bottom frame off the machine! Oh my, what a time saver! If you’re not sure why I love that benefit so much, take a look at this video. It’s long – about 12 minutes – but you’ll see how I quilt entire quilt (62” x 80”) in one day! Oh baby – I love those Monster hoops!
If you’ve been following along, this month is Hoopapalooza at DIME and in honor of that celebration, The Hoop It Up book is on sale. My Stitching Sister Marie Zinno and I co-wrote this handy hooping tutorial. You’ll find 99 hooping tips in there! You can check it out here: https://www.shop.dzgns.com/collections/specials/products/hoop-it-up
*’Ditched the standard hoop over 10 years’ is an exaggeration. I still use a standard hoop on occasion as you’ll see in the Hoop It Up book!
Happy HOOPAPALOOZA! My Stitching Sister and co-author of Hoop It Up, Marie Zinno and I just did our first Facebook LIVE as the Stitching Sisters! We shared our Top 10 Hooping Tips and some special news on our hoops this month.
Watch below!
Receive a FREE gift ( our e-book Quilting Continuous Line Designs plus TWO designs) and FREE shipping when you purchase our Snap Hoop Monster🤩
Use Code: SHIPHOOPFREE 😎
Did you know there’s a speedy auto sizing feature in all Inspirations software programs? It’s practically hidden but once you know how to find it, you’ll make it a habit to use all the time.
Open a design in any Inspirations software program such as Perfect Embroidery Pro, My Quilt Embellisher, My Block Piecer, Word Art in Stitches and more. Click on the Hoop icon (on the left tool bar).
Click on the hoop you want to use from the drop down menu. Use the scroll bar on the right to see all the hoop options.
The design appears centered in the hoop but it’s much larger than the hoop I intend to use.
Click on the arrow under the Hoop icon and select Auto Fit.
Instantly, the design is resized to fit in that hoop! Of course, the stitches have been recalculated so there’s no worry about the design being too dense due to resizing.
Auto Fit is such a time saver! The feature evens provides a little wiggle room so you don’t have to struggle during the hooping process.
Speaking of hooping, it’s HOOPAPALOOZA at DIME this week! If you’ve had a Snap Hoop Monster on your wish list, this is the time to take advantage of our low price, free shipping and gift with purchase. You can learn more here.
Join me on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 at 1:00 PM CST on Facebook Live. Marie Zinno, my Stitching Sister and co-author of Hoop It Up will be joining me in the studio. We’ll share our Top Ten Tips for Hooping. Follow us on Facebook to get a reminder here https://www.facebook.com/DesignsInMachineEmbroidery/
Happy Hoopapalooza! This month will be all about hoops, starting with magnetic hoops. When the first home embroidery machines were released in 1990, consumers were advised not to use a magnetic pincushion near the machine. The computer console in those machines probably resembled our 1990 cell phones – large and clunky, and looked like this:
And our computers (if you even had one) were something like this dinosaur:
Today, all that computing power is in our cell phones and it fits in your pocket.
Imagine the technical advances that have been made in our embroidery machines. Its computer console is no longer ‘large and clunky’ and it is highly insulated. Snap Hoop Monster magnetic hoops are safe for your machine. For instance, the magnetic hoop attaches to the machine far away from the machine’s computer module and the metal bottom frame insulates the magnetic shield. In this video, you’ll see how a pair of scissors are firmly attached to the magnetic frame but when the metal bottom frame is connected to the magnetic top, the scissors fall away.
Some people think their machine will not recognize a Snap Hoop Monster or the sewing field will be diminished. If your embroidery machine recognizes what size standard embroidery hoop is attached, then it will recognize the Snap Hoop Monster. The sewing field is the same size as the corresponding standard hoop. Take a look below, you’ll see the attachments are the same.
Another popular misconception is magnetic hoops will erase your embroidery designs. Not true – your digital designs are safe with Snap Hoop Monster.
I use Snap Hoop Monster everyday – and I don’t think I would still love machine embroidery if I had to squeeze every piece of fabric I stitch between the inner and outer rings of a standard embroidery hoop. My hands would have given out long ago!
Join me on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 at 1:00 PM CST on Facebook Live. Marie Zinno, my Stitching Sister and co-author of Hoop It Up will be joining me in the studio. We’ll share our Top Ten Tips for Hooping. Follow us on Facebook to get a reminder here https://www.facebook.com/DesignsInMachineEmbroidery/
