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    Sewing in the hoop: a decorative element

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 4 comments, 4,048 views
    Author: Seva Brother
    Embroidering a decoration is not difficult. Our website offers numerous masterclasses and step-by-step guides into embroidery on knitwear, cotton, wool, and velvet, choosing the right kind of stabilizers and threads. This masterclass was done on the Brother machine.

    Besides beautiful brightly colored photos, it offers some insights into making a ready-to-use item that could afterward serve as an appliqué. The machine was running in the embroidery mode.
    Sewing in the hoop: a decorative element
    There are no clear recommendations on the subject. Use any cotton fabric as your base. In this masterclass, I didn't use any stabilizers, but you can strengthen the fabric with a thin adhesive one if you are not sure of the result. This will add some density and will make turning the item inside out and forming fine sharp angles more difficult. You can use any kinds of embroidery threads (polyester or rayon).
    Depending on the fabric and the design color scheme, use black or white bobbin thread.
    Sewing in the hoop: a decorative element
    Hoop the fabric with its right side up. Open the design on your machine, choose the color scheme and embroider. Owners of Brother embroidery machines that have this nifty Color Shuffling option, may use it to create a color palette according to one of the available charts. Others will have to rely on their artistic flair.
     



    Sewing in the hoop: a decorative element
    Choose a 02-001 frame from the ones your embroidery machine offers. Change its size to fit your design and your preferences. In any case, see that it is not smaller than your design and bigger than the hoop you intend to use.

    Cut a square out of a different fabric. The square should be larger than your frame. Place it on top of the design, with its wrong side up, as shown in the picture. Using an adhesive tape, stick it to the hooped area, to prevent it from slipping away during the embroidery.
    Embroider the frame.

    Unhoop. Trim the extra material, as shown in the picture. Please mark the way in which the fabric at the corners was trimmed! Cut small slits in the center on the side that doesn’t have the embroidery. Turn your item the right side out.


    Please note that the size of the resulting embroidery will be defined by the size of the chosen frame!

    Now let’s think where you can use this decorative element.

    Your little needle replacement helper

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 4 comments, 6,141 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I consider it to be a common knowledge that one should turn a replacement needle 0–5° to the right.  That’s what every embroidery machine manual says. 

    A long time ago Vera Osinina asked me about a device that helps to position new needles whem you sew machine embroidery designs. I was quite a bit surprised then, so I only shrugged and said that such a contrivance was unknown to me, and that I didn’t know where to find one. 
    But the cat always comes out of the bag, sooner or later. The answer came from a wonderful Melco Bravo website. They offer a cylindrical-shaped orientation magnet – you can buy it here. You need to attach its butt perpendicular to the long groove, to see at what angle and in what direction the needle is positioned.  
    You've set the right angle if the magnet is turned approximately 1 minute on a clock face, or 6 degrees. Genius lies in simplicity, as they say. 
    Of course, there is no need here to order a magnet from the U.S., at an astronomical price.  I guess a simple magnet instead of a brand one, will do for me
    There was a long argument about the diameter: I insisted upon buying a thin cylinder, as my American colleagues use, and my husband stood for a thicker one as more visible. 5 mm cylinders were purchased eventually. We tried the magnets and saw that they worked: the positioning of the groove was no longer the problem. One only needs to get used to it so that it doesn't hamper the replacement. I checked all my needles only to find out that all of them were set higgledy-piggledy – one of them was even turned let; that was immediately fixed. Small wonder that my threads kept breaking. 


    The magnet turned out to be a real helper to those whose eyesight and eye estimation leave something to be desired. 
     

    Snowflake-shaped pot holder  

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 4 comments, 6,697 views
    Original text by Olga Dushenkova

    Step 1 – put the “sandwich” you're going to embroider under the main fabric.  After an outline is stitched, you’ll need to trim the extra fabric (that is, everything beyond the outlined area). 

    Step 2 – put the second piece of fabric, of a contrasting color, and stitch the second outline (snowflake-shaped).  Now, trim the extras (the fabric beyond the outlined area). 

    Step 3 – embroider the design, take the hoop out and put the next piece of fabric under the wrong side of the embroidery.  Again, after an outline is stitched, you trim the extra fabric (from the wrong side) – that is, everything beyond the outlined area. 
    Step 4 – embroider what’s left. 
    Step 5 – attach an already prepared eyelet to the center, then fold the design in two and add the finishing stitch. 

    Oilskin and how to deal with it

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 2 comments, 5,288 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    On the map of my machine embroidery journey, I've reached another white spot – embroidery on the oilskin. As the rumor goes, this fabric, once washed, puckers like mad, and no matter how much ironing you do afterward, the damage will stay forever. So I've decided to try and see with my own eyes, what should be done and how to make the embroidery at least acceptable. 
    Little as I know about oilskin, it is enough to understand how to create a design and to plan the embroidery sequence: 
    It is a woven and, therefore, rather stable fabric.  It is thin.  And slippery, too.  It's coated with a special substance that repels water. And the embroidery damages the fabric, making it permeable to water in the places where it had been punctured.  Given all mentioned above, I can say that: 
    One would need the smallest hoop possible.  Cut-away stabilizer is the recommended choice for oilies. But I'm gonna pick the stabilizer I use for everything – a cheap middle-weight one with long fibers, made in Turkey, which was sold to me as a tear-away. It tears in any direction, leaving long fibers.  The type of the design does not matter. This is my own deduction: people usually embroider what they want or need to, and not what is recommended for this particular fabric. As a commercial embroiderer, you work with what the clients have brought you, and that includes simple designs as well as big and stitch heavy ones, with lots of fills.  There is not much sense in making the design denser, therefore, density value stays as it is. What you perhaps should do is to lower it, then adding a lot of understitching to compensate. Whether it works, we'll see after doing the test pieces. Don't forget, the more punctures I make, the less watertight the fabric becomes.  In my opinion, the only change one should do is to shorten the stitches in the underlay so that the fabric sits as tight as if it was nailed.  I decided to experiment a little and embroider several outlines with different stitch parameters. So I created 3 outlines: narrow 1.5 mm satins, also 5.5 mm satins and the filled squares. The density in the outlines on the left is 30% lower than my standard one (5 lines/mm or ~0.4 mm). The underlay stitch length in the less dense outlines is set at 1.5 mm along the perimeter and under 2.5 mm in the center.
    Under the wide satins and the fills lies the underlay is denser. The outlines on the right have standard density, but I used short underlay stitches only in the edge runs, and 3–3.5 mm ones everywhere else. 

    All of my test pieces (see below), while still in the hoop, were pulled in more or less the same fashion, but the outer look is different in every case. The lack of density is very much visible: the fabric is not entirely covered with stitches. 

    If you hold them to light, you can see that the perforation along the outlines is approximately the same, except the narrow satin column, top right: 

    After unhooping, the amount of pull in all three test pieces is roughly the same, no matter what stitch parameters were used: 

    Looking at how the tests came out, I reached the following conclusion: you can lower the density of the upper stitch layer only slightly, to avoid damage to the outer look, and you should use shorter stitches only in the edge runs; the rest should stay as it is. 
    This mosquito was the result of my efforts: One can see that, both before and after unhooping, the surface of the fabric stayed even, despite the 12000 stitches having been added to it. Nothing shifted. 

    Nor would I say that the puckering was oh so awful – this is how it looked before pressing: 

    It turns out that the embroidery on the oilskin isn't difficult at all. 
    And what about the punctures? Some say that you can lubricate the threads with 100% silicone or natural wax, that will fill in the holes, serving as a stopgap. Whether it is true, I do not know. But Gunold recommends strengthening the wrong side of the waterproof fabrics with a special film called THERMOSEAL, once the embroidery has been completed. 

    Embroidery sewing: joining together two fabrics with the embroidery

    By diver361, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 4 comments, 9,590 views
    Creating bed linen, tablecloths, napkins, even garments, you may need to sew two different pieces of fabric together. This masterclass shows how to do that with the help of the embroidery. It also shows how to decorate a seam with an array of flowers. As the result, you'll get two pieces of fabric stitched together, and the seam will be hidden away. In this masterclass, we join two pieces with curved borders. If you want to stitch pieces with even borders, you'll need another design for that. 

    Embroidery sewing. Materials: 
    1. Tear-away non-adhesive stabilizer 
    2. Temporary spray adhesive 
    3. Upper thread 
    4. Underthread 
    5. Machine embroidery design 
    6. Two pieces of fabric of different colors 
    The process of embroidery sewing goes like this: 
    Hoop the cutaway non-adhesive stabilizer. Insert your hoop into the machine and stitch the outline. Add a layer of spray adhesive onto the stabilizer. Press a piece of the light-colored fabric in the center of the hoop area. 

    Change the thread color and stitch the outline again. Cut the fabric close to the stitched line. Place the second piece of fabric, a dark one, on top of the first. Position it in such a way that it covers the outline with 1 cm margin. Embroider the third outline. Now cut the dark fabric. 

    Insert your hoop back into the machine and embroider the design. The closely spaced elements will hide the seam. 
    This is how the ready embroidery looks like, front and back: 

    Remove the tear-away stabilizer from the back of the fabric. Iron the embroidery from the wrong side. Carefully use steam in order to prevent puckering and waves. The embroidery is ready! 

    Water-soluble stabilizer in machine embroidery

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 5 comments, 11,075 views
    Original text by Olga Armyakova 
    Broidery Magazine 
    A wide variety of stabilizers is used in machine embroidery. Today we'll dwell on the subject of water-solubles. 
    Given that the only the imported stabilizers of this variety can be found on the Russian market, here's the list of names that you may read on the package or a website: 
    Water-soluble  Wash Away Stabilizer  WSF  Water-soluble film  Dissolve stabilizer  All of the above denote stabilizers that are removed by water. 
    They are commonly used as a backing, just as their cut-away and tear-away counterparts. Equally, this is the only type of stabilizer that can also serve as a topping or as your base fabric without any additional materials.  Water-soluble stabilizers are used when absolutely no traces of additional materials are tolerated. Along with that, they do not contain formaldehyde and, therefore, can be used in underwear and other items where the embroidery is intended to come into contact with the skin.  Water-solubles can be removed the moment the embroidery is completed or while washing. Having finished the embroidery, you can easily cut or tear the extra stabilizer beyond the outlines of the design, and the bits within them are destroyed with steam or damp sponge. If necessary, a water-soluble stabilizer is washed away in the running water or first soaked in water and rinsed afterward.  To dissolve the stabilizer in water, use the temperature between 10 and 40° C: this way the color and other fabric properties will stay intact. Just how long it will take, depends on the manufacturer. The higher the temperature, the quicker the stabilizer will dissolve. I strongly advise against heating the water too much: the stabilizer leftovers may turn into lumps and solidify.  Make sure to read the stabilizer specifications, because they might contain important points on how to work with this particular type.  In general, water-solubles expire in 1 year. Better to keep them in a box in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight. Once the expiration date has passed, try to use your stabilizer as quickly as possible, otherwise, it will lose all its properties. This is especially true for thin water-soluble film. 
    CHOOSING A WATER-SOLUBLE STABILIZER: 
    In order to choose a right stabilizer for machine embroidery, you need to take into account the following factors:
    The structure of the fabric, type and properties of the fibers  the density of the embroidery and whether the embroidery will come into contact with the skin For a lacy design embroidered with polyester threads two layers of lightweight stabilizer will be sufficient, but the same design embroidered with metallic threads will require a denser one.
    Let's try to sort the wash away stabilizers into categories and describe their fields of application. I will hereafter use the most common names in circulation. 
    WATER-SOLUBLE STABILIZER: DENSITY 
    The principal characteristic of a water-soluble stabilizer is its thickness (specified by the manufacturer in microns) or density (g/m2). 
    Thin, or lightweight stabilizer 
    Thickness: 10 microns 
    Composition: Different manufacturers specify different raw materials: 100% polyvinyl alcohol or 100% modified rayon. 
    The product looks like a thin plastic film. It is used to prevent the stitches from getting lost in heavily textured fabrics. For example, in knitted garments or ones made of terry cloth, also in piled fabrics. First, you create a stabilizer-fabric-stabilizer "sandwich". Then, in case the fabric is thin or you have an outline embroidery design, you hoop it. 
    Medium-weight 
    Thickness: 20 microns 
    Composition: 100% polyvinyl alcohol or 100% modified rayon 
    Some manufacturers' wash away resembles a non-woven cloth, akin to the interfacing material used in sewing, others' is like a thick film. Use it to strengthen the tricky fabrics whenever stabilizer must not be seen. On see-through fabrics, for example. You can use several layers of medium-weight stabilizer spare the fabric. 
    Heavyweight 
    Thickness: 30 microns
    Composition: 100% polyvinyl alcohol or 100% modified rayon 
    This one looks like a very thick greenhouse covering film. It is used for embroidering FSL or 3D designs. Fix it in the hoop without your main fabric. The design should be created in such a way that all its elements are interconnected, in order to prevent it from falling into separate pieces once the stabilizer has been removed. 

    Water-soluble stabilizers in machine embroidery 
    WATER-SOLUBLE STABILIZER: VARIETIES 
    Unfortunately, there are not many brands of water-soluble stabilizers on the Russian market at the moment. Nevertheless, machine embroidery in our country is buoyant. Many consumables, and that includes stabilizers, can be ordered from online shops. For this reason, I'll describe all types of wash aways that can be found these days. 
    First three or four types are non-transparent non-woven fabrics. 
    Adhesive 
    This is a water-soluble stabilizer with a paper backing. A spray adhesive and a stabilizer rolled into one. Pull away the paper to expose the stabilizer's sticky side. Stick it onto the embroidery area before or after hooping. Having done the embroidery, dissolve it in water. 
    This type of stabilizers is used as a backing. 
    Fusible 
    A tear-away, webbing-like stabilizer that is pressed to the fabric with a warm iron. After the embroidery is completed, it is rinsed away with water, leaving no trace. 
    Preventing the fabric from shifting, it is as handy as the adhesive stabilizer, and is, too, used as backing. 
    Mesh 
    Dense wash away stabilizer that is used for FSL and other laces, or heavily textured fabrics such as velvet, corduroy or knitwear, and also diaphanous and light-colored ones. 
    Transparent film 
    Is placed on top of knitwear or heavily textured fabrics. Its main purpose is to prevent the stitches from sinking deep. 
    The film's advantage is that you can see the fabric and the design through it. That allows us to avoid problems that may arise when we join the designs or their parts together. 
    This kind of stabilizer can be used instead of the fabric for such things as 3D designs or FSL. 
    It takes a trained eye to define whether the thin transparent film will be able to withstand the pressure of the design at a mere glance. 
    Liquid 
    Soak the fabric in it prior to the embroidery and let it dry. Embroider your design and wash the design in water. 
    Water removable spray 
    Is sprinkled onto fabric prior to the embroidery. Be certain to let it dry properly before starting the embroidery. It is rinsed away with water once the embroidery is completed. Besides the spray, you can use the starch powder for ironing that comes in aerosol form as well. 
    There are also such domestic methods of firming up fabrics with gelatine or starch, which can be considered the subvarieties of the last one. 
    CONCLUSIONS 
    Every stabilizer has its specifications and user's manual. I advise you to create a special file to keep track of all the stabilizers, needles and threads used in every project. This will make your future choices much easier. 
    Dense water-soluble film. You will easily discern it by sight. It looks very similar to the greenhouse covering material. This stabilizer is used as a backing for laces or, sometimes, as a background fabric. 
    Thin stabilizing film. This type of stabilizer looks like a thin polyethylene bag. It is primarily used as a topping to prevent the stitches from sinking into the fabric. 
    Dense wash away stabilizer. This one is used as a background fabric for laces. It looks like a sewing interfacing material. 
    If the stitches have sunk and the resulting embroidery looks untidy, try choosing another stabilizer or use two layers of the present one, also readjust the thread tension or simply change the bobbin thread and see whether it makes any changes. If nothing helps, blame the design. 
    SOME TIPS 
    When using the fusible stabilizer, make sure that the iron is set at the lowest temperature possible and do without the steam, otherwise, your embroidery will suffer.  Don't throw away the accompanying materials to your consumables. It may contain important information, such what time does it take for a stabilizer to dissolve and at what temperature, the density, the brand name and the item number. Staple this information to the stabilizer's package. In future, it will make the process of choosing a right fabric in a shop much easier.  Don't throw away the stabilizer leftovers after the embroidery has been cut out. In future, they might come in handy: arrange them in the embroidery area of a hooped fabric, and they'll do just as good as a whole piece.  For denser designs and thicker fabrics, another layer of stabilizer may be needed. I recommend testing the design and the fabric first, in order to estimate the required number of layers.  Provide yourself with several pieces of stabilizer that will fit your hoop. It is not too demanding a task; arranging those pieces in the hoop in advance will save you time and fabric.  Before using a water soluble topping, make certain that your fabric doesn't fade.  When embroidering on knitwear with a film on top, don't forget to stick the background material to the underlay – it will prevent puckering.  Small trims can be dissolved in warm water and used as a stabilizer liquid to temporarily fix the tricky fabrics. 

    Embroidering a textile ball

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 3 comments, 5,321 views
    Textile toys can make an unconventional and creative present. They can be given as gifts to the occasion or even without one, just to please someone you love. Today I'll tell you how to make a ball on your embroidery machine. Depending on the chosen fabric, its color, and the design, the ball can become a kid's toy, a decoration or a souvenir. 

    Embroidering a ball. Materials: 
    Sole-colored non-stretchy fabric  Padding Tear-away adhesive stabilizer  Upper thread  Underthread  Scissors Machine embroidery design 
    Embroidering a ball. The making process: 
    If you have prepared the materials, let's begin. Load the design into your embroidery machine, choose the thread color that suits you and matches your fabric. Strengthen the fabric with a tear-away stabilizer. 
    I used a tear-away adhesive here, but you can use a tear-away + temporary spray adhesive combination. 
    Insert the hooped fabric into your machine and hit the start button. 

    In order to create the ball, you'll need to embroider 12 identical pieces. If your embroidery machine has a large frame, this won't take long. In that case, you'll be able to embroider several pieces at once. If the frame on your machine is small – well, arm yourself with patience. 
    In any case, the embroidery is not the most toilsome part of the job! 

    When finished with all the pieces, carefully trim the fabric along the outer outline, leaving 0.5–1 cm for seam allowance. 
    The most difficult part is joining all the parts into a ball. In order to get one, you'll need to carefully sew all the pieces together. Below you can see a picture that will help you to assemble the ball quickly and easily. I found it on the Web and haven't seen anything more useful for the purpose. Join the parts using back stitches in the outer row of the design. You can do that on a sewing machine, but in that case, perfect register and the neat outer look would be harder to achieve. 

    The ball consists of two parts, so to speak, each having a pentagonal bottom, around which the pieces are attached. Then, you join these two parts together. When the item is almost sewn up, you need to add filler. Any one will do: cotton, wool, chlorofibre, polyester batting, underwool, etc. 
    The more carefully you stuff your ball, the rounder and more beautiful it will be. 

    Embroider your own textile ball, play with colors and sizes and surprise your friends! 

    My thread supply system that prevents twisting

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 2 comments, 3,625 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    A long time ago I saw Deborah Jones' video on how to prevent metallic threads from twisting if you don't have a special net cover – using a small piece of Styrofoam. You can also couple it with the net cover for the combined effect. Styrofoam is that thing they put in packages to fill in the empty space when the item is smaller than the box, in order to prevent it from crumpling or breakage: 

    Debora's idea stuck in my memory, but I kept thinking why use Styrofoam at all – on commercial embroidery machines a metallic thread travels a long and complicated path and straightens out on the way. Only when confronted a home embroidery machine had I understood the necessity of this ploy, as thread tension regulation on those is a very confused matter, especially if you embroider with something more complex than an ordinary rayon or polyester thread. 
    The tricky thing was to obtain Styrofoam – I haven't received any packages for quite a long time. Suddenly an idea sprang to my mind: why not substitute it for the heat insulator with which I tried (unsuccessfully) to replace 3D Puff? In the end, this very material was used not only to solve the problem of twisting but also to adjust tension for the threads of any quality and structure. 
    As a result, the thread supply system on my home Brother now looks like this: 

    I cut a circle out of the insulator and put it on a spindle used for the small spools: At first, I drew the thread right through the circle by threading a needle and piercing: 

    But then, having grown weary of this, I made a small V-shaped cut and inserted the thread down to the very end. In this way: 

    I didn't register any difference in the quality of thread tension. All these methods work equally well. So, why all the undue effort? 
    Of course, I didn't spend money on special stands for driving threads from big spools to the machine or a machine that rewinds threads from big spools on small ones. All of this can be easily replaced by what is at hand. Instead of a rack, I use a belt hung from a shelf, with a binder clip through which the thread is driven. And the spool sits on the table, simple as that. 
    So much for this little gimmick. Now, this circle has a permanent residence on my machine and helps a great deal. 
    P.S. I think I've seen somewhere a piece of foam plastic used to the same effect. 
     

    Aligning circular blocks: an elegant machine embroidered napkin

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 4,701 views
    Original text by Irina Lisitsa 
    Circular embroidery may cause trouble for newcomers. It is not as difficult as it may seem. The only thing you need to do is to follow instructions that will much simplify the task and speed up the process. This masterclass will teach you how to digitize a design in the embroidery software, properly position it on an item, align circular blocks, then cut the fabric for the future napkin and finish its edges. As a result, you'll get an elegant napkin decorated with Christmas embroidery. 
    Materials: 
    Fabric  Thin sewing interfacing fabric  Tear-away adhesive stabilizer  Embroidery threads  Ribbons for decoration  Water-soluble marker or tailor's chalk  Machine embroidery design from BFC-Creations collection  Let's combine the designs in the embroidery software: 
    Although in this masterclass I use Wilcom software, you can use any one you like. And if you don't yet have any, draw all the lines and marks right on fabric. 
    Using the vector object drawing tools, create two circles of the same diameter as your future embroidery. The diameter of the first circle (marked white in the screenshot) is equal to the inner diameter of an item, and the diameter of the second – to the outer one (marked gray). 
    Using the Straight Line tool, add the center lines and diagonals between them. Using the Rectangle tool, draw an object the size of the embroidery area of a particular hoop. Duplicate the rectangle a required number of times, arranging the objects in such a way that the hoop outlines overlapped. 
    Save every part of the design under the unique name in the same order they will be embroidered. When saving the designs, make sure that the alignment crosses are present in both. This will enable quick and efficient alignment. 


    In accordance with the hoop centers, draw the diagonal lines. Straight lines and diagonals will work as guidelines when you will trace your design onto the fabric. 



    Load the chosen designs into the software. Arrange them in a circle in accordance with the lines. To do that, use the Kaleidoscope tool. 



    In places of joint, put the alignment stitches or crosses. 



    Save parts of the design each under its own name in the same order they will be embroidered. If necessary, adjust the embroidery sequence (objects, flowers) in order to save time. 



    Aligning circular blocks 
    Preparing the fabric: 
    If your fabric is thin, strengthen it with one layer of interfacing of an appropriate density. Print the template and trace the guidelines, alignment crosses, center points and diagonals onto the fabric. 
    Glue the tear-away adhesive stabilizer to the wrong side of the fabric where the first design will be placed. 

    Load the design into your embroidery machine and make sure that the fabric is correctly hooped by using the plastic template overlay that comes with your embroidery equipment. If necessary, rehoop the fabric or move the design in the machine, using the Edit option. 


    Embroider your design. Take the fabric out and iron it slightly to remove the hoop traces. 



    Glue a tear-away adhesive stabilizer to the fabric where your second design will be placed. Hoop the fabric in accordance with the marks and the design, already loaded into the machine. Plastic template overlay will aid in correct and quick positioning. 



    If your machine has a fabric recognition option, scan the fabric you've just hooped. 



    Check the design position against the alignment crosses or the scanned image. Embroider your design. 


    Embroider the remaining parts in the same fashion. After having embroidered the circular design, carefully remove the alignment crosses. 



    Embroidering a round napkin 
    Fold the detail in two and draw a line with a water-soluble pen, then fold in the opposite direction and mark it. This will be the center line of your napkin. 



    In order to draw a neat edge, use this simple method. Fold your fabric in four. Pick up a strong thread. Tie one end to the pen and the other – to a nail or a needle. Insert your nail in the center of your future napkin and draw the edge of an item with a pen in the way you'd make a circle with the compasses (you can use a ruler instead). Don't forget seam allowance if you're going to turn-up the edge. 



    If you're going to finish the edges with a border, seam allowance won't be needed. 
    If the fabric sheds, overlock the edge, turn it up and iron it, then add a blind hem on your sewing machine. Finish the openings with the basting stitch or make them into lacing holes. Draw various decorative ribbons through and tie them in knots. 
    Now the edge is finished and the napkin is ready. 



    P.S. You can choose from a wide variety of Christmas designs in our shop. 

    Border frame: An example of usage

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 4,512 views
    Original text by Lisa Prass 
    For Brother embroidery machines, a special border frame can be purchased. It has a somewhat different fixture system that enables quick and precise framing of the material and, consequently, perfect alignment in repeating borders. Brother Innov-is I and Innov-is Ie sewing and embroidery machines have an inbuilt camera that, together with a border frame, can perform miracles. 
    Brother Innov-is Ie border frame 
    I won't describe border designs creation in this article; if interested, you can always ask a question in the community. This masterclass is aimed at highlighting the process of embroidering borders in a frame. The work process includes embroidery machine preparation, construction of a design in the embroidery software and the embroidery itself. If you have a Brother Innov-is I, I suggest consulting the following chapters in the operation manual: 
    "Changing the frame size" (pp. 238–239) – this chapter tells you how to set the 100x180 frame as your default border frame. 
    "Creating repeating borders" (p. 286) – this chapter contains the detailed information on the creation of the continuous motifs. 

    Creating marks for further alignment Set the start and finish points of a design as shown in the picture. A is a start point, B – a finish point. 
    You can find all the information on how to create a design in the operation manual! Stabilizers should be used when using border frame, especially when embroidering on soft fabrics. Of course, if you are a pro, you will be able to afford embroidery without a stabilizer, but if you are a new to machine embroidery, be sure to use it. Border frame will never excuse such a liberty in a novice! 
    Materials: 
    Fabric  Stabilizer (adhesive tear-away)  Upper thread  Underthread  The making process 
    Glue a cut-away stabilizer to the fabric. Draw two guidelines. The first one is to position your design along. The second line is a start point. 



    A side note: This master-class shows how to position a design along the guideline that marks its border. This is not a rule set in stone. In future, after you'll gain the experience of using a border frame, you'll be able to position your guidelines as you wish. 
    Fix the fabric in a frame, aligning the guidelines with the notches on its sides. Place the pattern on top of the hooped fabric and make sure that you've hooped it neatly and evenly. Keep in mind that the guidelines should not go beyond the embroidery area. 


    A side note: In a second photo the lines are placed exactly on the edge of the embroidery area; in case the design is smaller than the frame, it is not necessary to adhere to such arrangement. The guidelines may go beyond the embroidery area. The important thing is to keep them parallel to the grid. 



    Insert the frame into the carrier and activate the camera (the one that shows the needle position, not the one scanning the design on fabric).
    Align the design so that it starts in the right-hand corner and continues along the right side. Make sure that the first stitch in the design (a green cross) falls onto the second guideline that marks the start point of a design. Hit the start button. 
    The machine will stop after embroidering an alignment mark you've decided upon while digitizing. 
    Having finished the embroidery, reframe the fabric, placing the already embroidered piece outside. Maintain the guideline position by aligning it with the notches. Start the camera (not the fabric scanning but the needle position one!) and place the needle above the center of a mark.
    Start the embroidery. 

     
    If did everything in the right way and maintained the guidelines position, the successful embroidery is assured. Repeat this as many times as you wish. 

    It's better to use vanishing fabric markers for drawing guidelines. The tailor chalk I used here didn't come off even after I washed the item with Fairy. 

    And don't forget that the border width should not be over 100 mm and the border length – over 180 mm. Good luck with your embroidery! 
    Discuss in the community 


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