I’ve been learning free motion embroidery from this book.

Above is my attempt at a leaf. I’m quite happy with the results. The key for me was to go really slowly - my machine is set at the lowest speed. Also, a spring tension hoop seems to work much better than any other kind plus it is much easier to rehoop when you need to move the hoop.

Another foundation pieced card …

I’ve been working on another applique - a dinosaur. I starched the fabric again and this time used a tear away stabiliser on the back.

The dinosaur is from here and the frame from here.

Another Princess Applique. The crown is from Designs By JuJu and the frame from Bunnycup Designs.

This time I starched the fabric before stitching the applique - makes things much easier.

As P is very keen on dinosaurs and A on princesses, I decided to make them applique T-Shirts. I found the designs at Designs by Juju (I did briefly consider digitising my own designs, but as hers werre exactly what I wanted it seemed more efficient to just buy them - plus she had a buy two sets get two sets free offer!)

 I bought these ones …

Fit for a Princess Applique

Jacobean Floral Applique

Sunbonnet Belles Applique

Dinosaurs Roar Applique

The applique is quite time consuming, but easy to do. I’ve used calico as a base and then sewn them onto the T-Shirts afterwards (that way there isn’t a lot of thread on the inside of the T-Shirt and I don’t have to try to hoop a T-Shirt).

We have two birthdays coming up, so I decided it was time to design a new card. This one is foundation pieced using my embroidery machine.

I digitise the design in Thred, convert it to the right format and resize it in Embird and then stitch it out. The cards are from Officeworks (you can get them in a range of colours).

I could just do traditional foundation piecing, but I find this much easier and way more accurate.

A friend has ordered a bodysuit (onesie) for a friend’s baby. The font is Nadianne from GG Designs. I have a CD with 25 fonts - very useful. I think I should design my own fonts, but that’s quite time consuming and it’s nice to have some fonts I can use when I’m in a hurry.

And here is the final product …

I’ve been having a few problems with the comments. I’m being spammed by some drug thing - very annoying.

I’ve been busy designing an embroidery for an apron.

In Part 1 I digitised my letters. Now I’m going to stitch them out and attach them to a towel.

I like use calico (Quilters muslin) as a stabiliser for my T-Shirt and Towel appliques. It seems to work really well for me.

As you can see, I hoop the fabric as well. For some other projects I don’t hoop the fabric just the stabiliser, but I’ll save that for another day.

I then stitch out the letters…

I use Robinson-Anton Rayon Embroidery thread and Janome bobbin fill (I resent having to buy the Janome Bobbin fill, but it does seem to work the best). It’s also a good idea to change the sewing machine needle every 8 hours or so.

I then cut out the letters. I usually do this while watching T.V.

I’m now ready to attach them to a towel.

I spray the back of the letters with a basting spray - currently I’m using Craft Smart Applique and Embroidery Positioning Spray (I also use this to attach fabric to the stabiliser when I don’t want to hoop the fabric). I bought it from Spotlight.

I use low tac masking tape on the towel to mark a straight line and I place the middle letter of the name in the centre of the towel - the spray will make them stick (just temporarily).

I then attach the letter. I use an ‘invisible’ thread in the needle and a bobbin thread in a colour to match the towel (in this case white). I use Sulky Invisible Thread, which you can get from here.

I sew the remaining letters using the same method - working outwards from the centre. For example, with a name like Karen I would start with the r, then the a, then the e, then the K and finally the n.

I would show you the finished product, but this one is a gift and I don’t want anyone to see it before them, but here is one I prepared earlier…

As I’m planning on making a few more of these towels as gifts, I thought I would describe the process.

I like to use a sans-serif font. Less fiddly when you come to sew the letters on! My favourite at the moment is Verdana.

I use a combination of Paint, Scansoft PC (an old Janome Package) and Embird to create my letters.

In Paint I set the image size to 400 by 380 (that’s the size scansoft can take). I then use the Text tool (set to Verdana, Bold, size 200) to create one letter.

Of course, you can use whatever size and font you like. I then save the letter as a monochrome bitmap - it’s one of the options on the Save As panel. Once again, I do this because Scansoft will only take monochrome images (it’s very old software, but cheap!).

I then open Scansoft and import my letter.

The software traces all of the lines.

I select the Line tool (the cursor is pointing to it in the image below)

I then select (on the panel that pops up) the width of the satin stitching.

At this stage I don’t worry too much about the colour - you can use whatever colour you like when you sewing it out.

I want to embroider all of the lines, so I select the All Lines button (see image below).

The image is highlighted.

I then select the Register button to make the embroidery.

The following panel appears

I select the Make button (the Cursor is point to it in the above image). The following panel appears …

I select OK and the letter is created.

I then save the letter in .sew format.

As I have a Janome MC350e, I need to convert from the .sew format to .jef format. I do this in Embird. See this tutorial for information about converting files in Embird.

I also like to use Embird to combine a few letters into one hoop (see image below for an example). I’ll create a whole new post later about combining designs in Embird.

I then save the designs onto my USB stick and stitch them out.

Next post: stitching out the letters and attaching them to the object.