Designs In Machine Embroidery – Eileen's Machine Embroidery Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Designs In Machine Embroidery’

Little Ways to Say I Love You

December 9, 2015 by eileenroche / Current Posts, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Wildcard Wednesday / 37 Comments

Spouses, partners and significant others find countless ways to show their love. My husband shows his love in many thoughtful ways but there’s one that I really enjoy. He’s my “eye in sky.” He travels quite a bit for business and when he’s on the road, I have proof that he thinks of me. You see, he sends me photographs of embroidered or decorated garments, wallhangings and who knows what. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the garments are worn by some innocent bystander. Here’s how it plays out:

I’ll be working at my desk, and my cell phone will ping. When I look at it, I see it’s a message from Pete. I love that – I get all warm and fuzzy and then look at the message. An image appears. And then another. And then the explanation of why he sent it and who the person is follows. He’s very thorough.

This week, he’s in Las Vegas at a convention. And you can imagine just how many embellished garments (or items trying to pass for garments) there are in Vegas on display. But he knows I’m more interested in everyday wear. He knows my current fave is uniquely printed fabrics because of our new business, MyFabricDesigns. Pete is still in the learning phase of understanding the capabilities of print on demand fabric so he was intrigued when he saw the back of this coat:

And even more so when he introduced himself and asked permission to photograph the coat. She only spoke Italian but her husband granted permission in English.

Here’s your assignment this week:

So tell me, how does your significant other show you that they are thinking of you?

Numbered Patches in My Block Piecer

October 17, 2015 by eileenroche / Current Posts, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Tips, Inspiration Software, My Block Piecer, Piecing Techniques, Software Saturday, Software Techniques / 2 Comments

Welcome Software Saturday readers! Recently, I was creating a Flying Geese border in My Block Piecer. I stitched 16 repeats and after the third or fourth one, I knew the patch sequence by heart. Since I’m always on a mission to find time-saving steps, I figured if I omitted stitching the actual numbers in each patch, I would save some precious time. Here’s how to do it.

Open a new file in My Block Piecer. Click on the Block Libraby icon and enter Flying Geese #7 in the box. Click the green down arrow to jump to Flying Geese #7. Click OK.

Select the block, right mouse click and select Ungroup. Delete both side panels.

Select the remaining patches and click on the Workflow icon and Autobuild. Click Preview. There are 12 patches in this unit. Click Save and close.

Copy and paste the unit to stitch two in one hooping.

Select all and Ungroup. Now click on each individual letter and delete it.

You’ll be left with everything but the numbers.

But don’t worry, when you saved the design earlier, a PDF was created with a visual guide to the block. The first image includes the numbers on each patch.

The second shows an image of the design with the numbers.

And finally, there’s an instruction sheet which guides you through each patch.

Save this edited design with a new name and use it to stitch the block. Don’t you just love this software? It gives you so much freedom when creating blocks to piece in the hoop!

Diary of a Novice Embroiderer: A Harrowing Tale

October 14, 2015 by Denise Holguin / Current Posts, Home Decor, Hooping, Inspiration, Inspiration Software, Monograms, Planning Embroidery, Quick Gifts, Wildcard Wednesday / 57 Comments

Preface: My friend Gus asked me to embroider a pillowcase as a birthday gift for his wife, Sophia. I agreed and expected him to purchase a pillowcase. Instead, he purchased fabric, sewed the pillowcase and presented it to me to embroider. It was flawless—and I was so touched that a husband would do that for his wife. Not only that—he had a special sentiment he wanted embroidered for his dear wife.

For reasons that defy logic, I chose the day before Sophia’s birthday party to start stitching the gift. The timeline below showcases my thought process while completing the project. I share my tale in hope that you can relate and find solace in knowing the creative process is indeed a process—full of ups and downs but this is how we grow and gain experience.

6:00 pm. I guess I should start stitching the pillowcase. I am relieved Eileen improved the layout of my design. My original versions weren’t as artistic as I wanted. My biggest concern is hooping the pillowcase. It’s probably wise for me to stitch a test sample. I am glad Gus bought tons of extra fabric—hopefully I won’t need it to make a new pillowcase.

6:30 pm. Everyone at the office left for the weekend. Eileen gave me advice on hooping and assured me I could call if I needed help. Now it’s just me, the pillowcase and dozens of tools. I felt like Sheldon from the Big Bang theory. This pillowcase HAS to be perfect. I better unhoop it and try again.

This is an important engineering feat. Wait… no, it’s just a pillowcase. But it really does need to be precision placed. Yes, I should unhoop and try using a different method…

I decided to start over using a different hooping method…

7:38 pm. I sent a frustrated text to my friend: “the opposite of fun is right now! I will never ever agree to stitch something special for someone else. It’s so difficult! No, it’s impossible! However… I did learn how to use the camera function on THE Dream Machine… so that’s a positive.”

7:45 pm. I guess it’s time to hit the Start button to take my first stitch. I wondered if I would look back at that moment with regret. I looked at the design on-screen—it indicated it will take 31 minutes to stitch. After that time, I will know if the design is crooked or not. But by that time it’s too late. This is highly stressful.

7:51 pm. Wow! This is working! It’s absolutely working! The rich purple thread I chose is perfect!

7:53 pm. I kept a watchful eye on the machine as it stitched. Because the pillowcase is cylindrical (and a tight fit) in the hoop, I had to make sure the excess fabric didn’t get caught during stitching. I should have listened to Eileen and used one of our Hoop Guards. That would have helped.

There was a brief moment I took my eyes and hands away from the excess fabric. Sure enough, the fabric got eaten by the machine. I remained calm. This is why I’m at the machine, watching and waiting. I can fix this.

I carefully clipped away the few stitches that were eating the fabric. Then I used the machine’s stitch advance/reverse feature to back up and redo the stitches.

8:00 pm. Look at me! I’ve got skills.

8:15 pm. I sent a photo to my friend showing the progress. My friend’s reply, “Because stitching text wasn’t challenging enough, you had to add the butterfly! You really challenged yourself!”

8:34 pm. My ears perked up to the familiar, comforting chime of the embroidery machine, indicating the design is finished stitching. The friendly smiley face appeared on the machine, as if sharing in my joy of accomplishment.

I examined the pillowcase, still hooped in the machine and proclaimed, “look at me, I stitched my first pillowcase!”

About the design:
Butterfly from Kreations by Kara. http://www.kreationsbykara.com Search: BB Shadowed
Lettering from Perfect Embroidery Pro software. The path tool was used to create a unique curved effect.

Here’s your assignment this week:

We are going to turn the table and ask you to post an embroidery related question for us in the comments below this week! Denise and Eileen will do their very best to get you an expert anwser and one lucky commenter will be chosen to win Eileen and Marie Zinno’s new, yet to be released Hoop It Up book!

The winner of the last assignment answered the following question:

Thank you all for allowing me to share this occasion with you. I hope you’ve learned some tips and maybe even thought of using an idea or two for a special bride in the future. What tip or idea from this wedding do you think you are most likely to use?

The winner is:

Beth Daniels: “I would use the ribbon idea on even some clothes that I would make with the pattern number and name of clothing.”

Digitizing a Mylar Design

April 18, 2015 by eileenroche / Current Posts, Inspiration, Inspiration Software, Perfect Embroidery Pro, Software Saturday, Software Techniques / 7 Comments

Want to add sparkle and sheen to simple images? Try Mylar applique. When using Mylar, let the Mylar shine through the stitches. Plan on using a motif fill that mimics fish scales. Start with a drawing of a fish – I drew this simple shape in Inspiration’s Perfect Embroidery Pro. There are six elements: the main body, the three fins, the head and the eye.

Select the body, right click and select Complex Fill.

With the body selected, change the Fill Type to Motif and the Pattern to #135 in the Properties Box (Fill Tab). Change the Pattern length to 2.5, put a check in the 3D effect box and click Apply.

Select the head, right click and select Complex Fill. With the head selected, change the Fill Type to Wave, Stitch length to 2.8 and the Density to 3.10. Click Apply.

Select the eye. Right click and select Complex Fill. Leave the default settings.

Select the eye, right click and select Create Border.

Select the border, right click and select Steil.

Change the width to 1.5 in the Properties Box (Steil tab).

Select the three fins. Right click, Convert to Run. Change the length to 2.4.

Select the head and the body, right click and select Create Outline. Change the distance to zero, click ok.

The outline is artwork at this point so select it, right click and convert it to Run. Change the run to a Bean stitch, 2.4 stitch length, 3 repeats in the Properties Box, Run tab.

Now let’s change the stitch order as you’ll want the outline to stitch last. The order should be: body, fins, eye and outline. One last step: add a placement guide for the Mylar. Select the last color, the outline, Copy and Paste. Select the copy, change it to a run stitch (from a bean) and set the stitch length to 3.0. Renumber the colors place the run stitch outline as the first color.

How fun is that? Perfect Embroidery Pro makes you look like a digitizing whiz!

The Case for Applique: Open and Closed

December 6, 2014 by eileenroche / Applique, Digitizing, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Inspiration Socials, Inspiration Software, Uncategorized / 3 Comments

By Tamara Evans

This week’s blog explores two different, but simple, methods of creating applique designs. We have received many requests for instructions to create the necktie applique on the onesie shown at our Inspiration Socials. Here are some very simple instructions using My Quilt Embellisher software. (The same steps may also be used with Perfect Embroidery Pro software.)

Find, or draw, an image of a necktie and save it to your computer. Load the image as a backdrop in the software. Resize if desired. This one 5″ long.

The applique is created in two sections so that the fabric on the top of the tie could be placed in a different direction than the tail of the tie; just like a real tie. The knot of the tie is a “closed” applique, and the tail is an “open” at the top.

Select the artwork option. Click Fill in the Properties – Artwork box, then click apply. Select the magic wand icon.

Closed Applique – The Knot

Click in the yellow knot area at the top of the tie to create an artwork image.

Zoom in to the view the new artwork. Select the Shape tool, then click on the artwork to display all of the nodes.

Since this design is quite pixelated, it needs to be cleaned up. Select and delete nodes to smooth out the shape. Reposition the remaining nodes until the shape is acceptable.

Select the artwork with the Select tool, then click the Applique tool to convert it to applique. The knot of the tie is now complete.

Open Applique – The Tail

Select the Artwork tool. Click the down arrow next to the tool to select the Pen option. Using the backdrop as a guide, click in positions 1-5 (shown below), then right click to finish the input.

With the newly created artwork selected, click the Shape tool to display all the nodes of the tie tail artwork. Select the node at the point of the tie, and then right click to display the options dialog box, as shown. Select the Smooth option for the selected node.

Adjust the “antennae” on either side of the node to soften, or smooth, the point. Pulling them further out will adjust the curve of the point.

Once the artwork has been satisfactorily adjusted, click the Select tool. Then, select the Applique tool to convert the artwork to applique, as shown.

Finishing

With the tail of the tie still selected, click the Send to Back icon. Now the tail will stitch first, leaving a raw edge of fabric at the top under the knot. The knot will cover the raw edge at the top of the tail.

Save the design in the C2S format. Use this format to resize, adjust the applique stitches, etc. When ready to stitch, save the design in the proper stitch format for the embroidery machine.

Have fun with the sizing and fabric options for the necktie applique!

To locate a DIME Inspiration Social near you, click DIME Inspiration Socials

December Update in Perfect Embroidery Pro

November 29, 2014 by eileenroche / Digitizing, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Holiday Stitching, Inspiration, Perfect Embroidery Pro, Software Saturday, Software Techniques, Software Updates / 20 Comments

Beads, Crystals, Pearls and Rhinestones

Do you love to add crystals, beads and pearls to some of your embroidery designs? Then you’re going to love December’s free update in Perfect Embroidery Pro! Now you can audition gems on a design in Perfect Embroidery Pro before you ever take a stitch. Click on the video below to see how easy it is to add crystals to a lace neckline.

If less sometimes leaves you wanting more, then watch the video below to see how a demure neckline can be transformed with holiday sparkle.

Gems are not just for garments as they make lovely additions to home décor items. LuLu Christmas includes a lovely trio of Christmas ornaments – perfect for linen guest towels when sprinkled across the towel. But I don’t always have time to fill the width of fabric with edge to edge embroidery yet I still want a fluid design. The video below shows how crystals are a simple solution in Perfect Embroidery Pro.

When you update, you’ll find 24 beads, 12 crystals, 16 pearls and 40 rhinestones – each customizable by size. And of course, you can add your own images to the library. Just set the position of each crystal by placing a node on the design or let the software automatically create a string of gems for you – all evenly spaced. Adjust the spacing by changing the instructions in the properties box or fine tune the placement by adjusting the individual nodes.

Stitch marks (you choose between a cross and a circle) are inserted into the design so that the placement can be easily achieved after the embroidery is complete. The size of the stitch marks is adjustable so that even the tiniest gems cover the small marks.

I hope you enjoy December’s free update – I know I’m going to have fun adding sparkle to my creations!

Software Saturday – November Update to Perfect Embroidery Pro

November 1, 2014 by eileenroche / Digitizing, Eileen Roche, Software Saturday, Software Techniques, Uncategorized / 21 Comments

The latest updates for DIME’s Perfect Embroidery Pro are so exciting there’s only one way to show them to you – by video! Click on of the four short videos to see what’s coming your way on Monday November 3, 2014. All you have to do is click on Update when prompted by Perfect Embroidery Pro.

Reflection Template

Scatter Template

Enhance Repeat Features

Don’t forget to update on Monday to enjoy these new features and November’s free embroidery designs! Enjoy!

Manipulating Designs in Perfect Embroidery Pro

October 18, 2014 by eileenroche / Digitizing, Eileen Roche, Embroidery Techniques, Embroidery Tips, Inspiration, Inspiration Software, Software Techniques / 7 Comments

Even if you don’t digitize, you can most certainly manipulate designs to get the look you need. All you need are building blocks. What are building blocks? Building blocks are designs – designs that are stashed in Perfect Embroidery Pro.

Let’s take a look at a design from the Monogram catalog.

Click on the Monogram catalog icon and select Mon10683.

Select and Ungroup the design (right mouse click or use the Ungroup icon on the tool bar). Select the branch on the right.

Copy and paste the branch. Move it to the upper right, connecting the bottom scroll to the original branch.

Let’s close the space at the top between the original branch and the new one. Zoom in to get a magnified view. Select the Shape Tool and move the last two black dots to expose the blue squares underneath (the points).

Select and pull the blue squares down to the original branch.

Position the black dots back on top of the blue squares, this sets the direction of the satin stitches.

Hit Enter on the keyboard to extend the satin stitches.

Select the new branch, copy, paste and mirror image the section. Move it to the opposite side.

Voila! A perfectly shaped design for a child’s neckline.

New Features in Perfect Embroidery Pro

October 4, 2014 by eileenroche / Digitizing, Eileen Roche, Software Techniques, Uncategorized / 23 Comments

Wow! October’s free updates in Perfect Embroidery Pro are amazing. I’ve prepared seven short videos so you can see what’s coming on Monday. My Block Piecer and My Quilt Embellisher also will have new updates – I’ll report on them in future posts. Just click on each image to view the video.

3D motif

Variable size motifs in run paths.

Search feature in catalogs

Placement marks for hoops

PNG image

Enhanced Zoom Feature

Add a note to an embroidery file

Have fun playing with these new features!

Software Saturday

September 20, 2014 by eileenroche / Eileen Roche, Inspiration, Inspiration Software, Software Techniques, Uncategorized / 19 Comments

It’s exciting to hear so many of you are anxious to receive the link to update your G7 Solutions software program. I thought I would take this opportunity to address many of your questions.

1. How can I be Inspired? How can I get the download link?

The link will come in a joint email from your dealer and DIME and will contain a form to fill out. Once completed and submitted online, you will be given a link to download the software when we have identified the dealer that is closest to you. When you receive the email, it will look similar to this – a joint message from DIME and your local dealer.

As you scroll down the email, you’ll spot a large blue box.

Clicking on this link will take you to a form. Fill out the form and click on the Submit button.

Once you click on Submit, a message appears with instructions. I’ve highlighted two important points – you’ll receive the download via email and a reminder to check your spam folder.

The email will list the appropriate links. Click on each link to download. If the links are not active (you cannot click on it) in the email, your anti-virus software is blocking the link from working. Turn off your anti-virus program for about 15 min. You will then find the link is active. You can also try to copy and paste the complete link into your browser.

2. Should I save or run the program when I click on that link?

We suggest that you save the file into a folder that you call My Special Files (or a name you choose).

It’s a large file, so please be patient while it downloads.

After you download/save the file into the selected folder, go to the folder and double click on the file….and you will be Inspired!

If your anti-virus software is active, you may receive an alert because this is an executable file, designated by the .exe extension. Most likely you have encountered this message on an earlier occasion when you installed a new software program.

To proceed, click on Allow this File.

And click on OK to install the program.

Once installed, fill out the registration form. If the submit button is greyed out make sure all required areas are filled in.

Is this the computer that has a registered Floriani software program on it? You must have a registered version (registered prior to August 1, 2014) of the software in order for Inspiration Software to install properly.

3. Is the software name correctly chosen in the top box? Use the down arrow for the dropdown selection (if provided) to select your proper software name.

4. Will the Inspiration Software do anything to my computer, or previously-installed software programs?

No. Inspiration Software will not do anything other than to create additional icons on your desktop so that you can easily be Inspired!

5. Is there a deadline to update? No, there is no deadline.

6. Do I have to update? No, you do not have to choose…..the Inspiration Update is free to registered owners of Floriani software (registered prior to August 1, 2014). Take one or take both….. no pressure…..Be Inspired!

Exciting times like this involve the coordinated efforts of many people – including your local dealer. Dealers are really busy people so they and we, appreciate your patience as we continue to grow out network. More Inspiration to come – every Saturday!

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