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    In-The-Hoop. A doorknob hanger

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 2,664 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    To be honest, I don't like to sew, despite the fact that I'm fairly tightly bound to the sewing industry. Therefore, I've long set my eyes on creating a freestanding double-sided appliqué where you don't have to sew anything and a ready item comes right off your machine. What's more, this item is embroidered on both sides. Last year I tried to create New Year trees using this technique but something went wrong. Now I'm ready to try again. 
    This is the doorknob hanger I got as the result (the inscriptions say, accordingly, "Occupied" and "Vacant" — translator's note):
    Side 1: 

    Side 2: 

    For avoidance of doubt, the two sides view of the embroidered design: 

    Let me tell you about the making process. 
    I started, of course, with choosing a design. I found these free smile-shaped oranges on the Web, added some letters and drew my doorknob hanger: Here is what I got: 

    I created 2 embroidery sequences: First was the design itself. 

    And second was the edge finishing (same as in the traditional appliqué): 

    Now let's embroider. 
    I hoop the basic fabric for my hanger with the stabilizer. I commonly use a cheap Chinese cut-away middleweight one — it works well. 

    Embroider the main part of the design: 

    Unhoop the whole thing (carefully!) and trim very close to the stitch that shows us the edges. 

    Proceed to the second part of the embroidery. Hoop only the cut-away stabilizer. 

    Put the pieces of fabric with their wrong sides facing each other and fix them with a temporary spray adhesive or an ordinary paper glue (we won't embroider them anymore, only finish their edges, so you can use the glue if you like). 

    After that, I changed my standard bobbin thread for the upper thread specially winded on a bobbin. After all, my item has two faces, so it won't look good if one side of a thick satin column is embroidered with an ordinary white thread: 

    I load the second part of my design to the machine and embroider the outline: 

    Sprinkle the hooped stabilizer with the temporary spray adhesive and stick my semi-finished product onto it by either side so that it fit the hoop: 

    Now I do an E-stitch that stitches my item to the stabilizer perimeter-wise: 

    At this stage, you still have a possibility of adjusting the hoop if the stitch shifts. Because if it does, it is highly probable that the finishing border won't cover enough fabric, which will result in it falling off the item. For this reason, you need to carefully check everything and, in necessary, adjust the hoop. 
    I embroidered the finishing border: 

    Having embroidered the finishing border, I checked whether the fabric didn't fray and found that it did in a couple of places, in spite of all the hoop shifting. I've arrived at the conclusion that I was too skimp – the border would do better if it was a couple of mm wider (mine was only 4 mm).
    Then indeed nothing will fray and the border won't detach from the fabric. Also, the black outline that I stitched for the purpose of trimming, is exposed. It had better be covered. 
    So I created an additional embroidery sequence with a wider border and embroidered it right on top of the already existing ones. Just how much wider it was, you can see in the photo below: 


    This is my hanger still in the hoop, front side: 

    This is the wrong side: 

    After that, I unhooped the item, thoroughly tore off the stabilizer, cut the ends of the tie-offs, and singed the leftover fibers sticking out of the satin edges with a lighter. And get this hanger as a result: 


    All my efforts resulted in the following conclusions: 
    Such an item is quite easy to make. The finishing border should not be less than 6 mm.  The letters didn't come out good enough but if I ever going to make a hanger in the future, I'll correct my mistakes.  Gradients painted along a straight line look very crude on round objects. I should master the technique of painting gradient along a curve. Or, I should have blended all 3 colors instead of 2. But this is another topic. 

    Quilt on the embroidery machine. For the lazy ones )

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 2,172 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    An embroidery machine can do many interesting things besides the common embroidery. Not by itself, of course, but with the help of a person sitting at it. Nowadays there are many projects called Piece in the hoop. If asked to explain what it means, I would answer in that way: these are projects that allow getting a ready item or a semi-finished product without the use of the sewing machine. 
    What you can do in such a way: 
    Almost ready soft toys: you'll only have to stuff them and sew up the opening.  Eyelets of different shapes with double-sided appliqué for towels.  Various embroidered accessories that are sewn up right on the embroidery machine – smartphone cases, eyeglass cases and so on.  Semi-finished quilts. Both with the embroidery or not.  Could be many other things, for all I know. 
    All of them, of course, are made in a proper sequence tailored to their individual purposes. You can easily find all the instructions on the Web.
    The designs are necessarily digitized in a proper technique. 
    I've long observed how the quilt on an embroidery machine is made. Today I, at last, decided to create a square with a very simple design myself.
    In my opinion, quilt can be regarded as a type of appliqué, so why not to make it in the hoop? Especially if you dislike sewing as much as I do. 
    Here's what I got as the result: 

    a quilt square made on the embroidery machine
    Below is the step-by-step guide. 
    First, I created a simple design containing the running stitches only. About 1020 stitches in general. 

    Design preview from the quilt editor 
    I selected 5 different kinds of fabric and went with them to the machine. 
    The first thing I did was to hoop a stabilizer. Not long ago I bought a 60 g/m Chinese perforated tear-away stabilizer. It is very soft, despite being rather dense. I decided to use it. 
    Quilt: step 01 
    The first thing I embroidered was an outline for my future quilt. I settled upon the black threads – so that everything would be visible. 

    Quilt: step 02
    Then I placed the basic fabric so that it completely covered the embroidered square. 

    Quilt: step 03
    After that I stitched my fabric along the perimeter so that it didn't shift, crease or fold. Perhaps I shouldn't have done it, I don't know. But I thought it would be right. 

    Quilt: step 04 
    Then I embroidered the upper ornately shaped border and also the first outline to which I'd fit my first piece of fabric. 

    Quilt: step 05 
    I picked up the fabric and placed it face down with its edge to the stitch: 

    Quilt: step 06 
    I started the machine and stitched this piece of fabric to the one that was already there: 

    Quilt: step 07 
    Now it was an interesting moment – I folded the fabric into the face: 

    Quilt: step 08 
    Then I embroidered one more stitch on top of everything, to which I would trim the extra blue fabric and with which I would align the next piece: 

    Quilt: step 09 
    I trimmed all the extra material: 

    Quilt: step 10 
    Put the next piece of fabric: 

    Quilt: step 11 
    Again and again, I stitched, folded, trimmed and added new pieces of fabric – until the embroidery was completed. 

    Quilt: steps 12-25 
    In the end, when everything had been stitched and folded, I decided to add one more black stitch along the perimeter of my square. Now I think it was unnecessary. The stabilizer is wrong, too – it shows through the fabric. I should have used a different one. Something like spunbond, I think, which wouldn't be visible through the fabric. You need to test every time, you know. 

    This technique requires quite a lot of effort. But me having tried it suggested the following: I could add ornaments to the jointing edges to get something akin to crazy quilt. Must look interesting. Also, there are tons of patterns for this purpose on the internet. 

    Cutwork with a pair of scissors

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 6 comments, 7,358 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I'm giving a serious thought to creating cutwork on the embroidery machine. Once and for all I decided to work out the technique to the last detail and to learn all the secrets of cutting out the holes by hand. 
    I've encountered this embroidery technique many times before. Even drew the designs for it in Corel Draw. Though I'm not an artist. Like the majority of designers that create their own embroidery designs, I've never thought how to make a drawing of such quality that it could be embroidered right away. To take into account all the slight and subtle differences (what should be done and what shouldn't), one must understand both the digitizing and the embroidery processes. Well... that's why the embroiderers offered some criticism of my designs. After all, the resulting look of the embroidery depends on the original idea a great deal. 
    In my grandmother's coffers, I found a cutwork curtain, make in a free-motion embroidery technique. This machine made piece was created 40 or 50 years ago. 

    The curtain has been washed and washed again many times but the embroidery is still there: nothing has frayed, nothing has worn away! I also want to point out that the embroidery on this particular piece is very delicate. Which cannot be said about machine embroidery designs created on a computer. Here's a typical design from one of the most popular Russian embroidery shops, Advanced Embroidery Designs. (Nota bene: you can also find a variety of such designs in our shop). 
    Thin borders are not perhaps the best-looking but their main advantage is that nothing will fray or detach. Such items are not excessively thick, the embroidery is very soft and looks more delicate. 
    Having seen all this once again, I decided to create my own design and achieve as thin bridges as possible. 
    So I found 2 designs. A flapper for sachet: 

    A rosette-shaped drink coaster: 

    I digitized the first design, for the sachet with a flapper: 

    After two unsatisfactory attempts and further corrections, I arrived at the conclusion that the density should be reduced to at least 0.7-0.8 mm and the number of running stitches under the bridges narrowed down to just 2. The bridges themselves should be made with two narrow zigzags running in the opposite directions. 
    A special focus should be on the first part of the design which contains the first parallel underlay with very short stitches and small zigzag stitches over it. This is the basis for the embroidery. The stitches should interlink so that the bridges won't detach and the satin borders around the holes won't fall off. You need to plan your embroidery sequence so as to keep the number of trims to a minimum. 
    An even greater attention should be paid to the choice of fabric. My first fabric was so battered with old age that it raveled out in my hands when I started to fiddle with it after the embroidery: 

    In the end, I embroidered this design on a linen piece and then sewn the sachet. I showed the photo in my article about cutwork creation: 

    I'll elaborate upon my second design because it turned out so much better than the first. Below is the preview of the ready design: 

    I planned to embroider it not with a rayon or a polyester thread, but with a cotton one (~30–35 g). In my opinion, lustrous embroidery threads are not suitable for cutwork because they make it look like a cheap Chinese product. 
    First, I hooped a heat-away stabilizer called Thermogaze from Gunold together with a piece of linen fabric. 

    Hit the start button and stitched a double outline along the perimeter of the design: 

    Right after that I added a small zigzag on top of it: 

    I took the hoop off the machine – time to cut out the holes. Cutting out took as much time as the embroidery and didn't please me the slightest bit.
    One hell of a task, not for the weak-nerved! In spite of all effort, I cut the stabilizer in several places: 

    Then I inserted the hoop back into the machine and embroidered the rest in one go: 

    This is the wrong side. It is rather neat. 

    Then I trimmed the rosette along the perimeter. 

    I now have little left to do – to remove the stabilizer. I put my rosette between two layers of paper: 

    And then place a very hot iron (no steam!) on top of it: 

    Wait for about 2 Tequilajazzz songs until Thermogaze will get darker. This is what I got on the wrong side:
     
    Rumple and pull the embroidery to remove the stabilizer. Also, this will help you to test the embroidery for endurance and resistance to wear.
     
    Here is the ready rosette: 

    It has the most ordinary look, and the bridges are not as thin as I wanted. But neither are they the thick monsters from the other designs. I believe that if embroidered with the ordinary #40 threads the bridges would be much thinner. A very pleasant fact is that nothing shifts or comes apart. 
    Why did I choose Thermogaze as a stabilizer instead of a water soluble film? Because it's much easy to use; the film would be very hard to wash away afterward. The only thing I like about embroidery on film – it is practically impossible to snip it with scissors when cutting out holes, which cannot be said about a heat-away stabilizer. 
    My entire design had only 2 trims: the first one for cutting out holes and the second one for trimming after completion. This was not easy to achieve. Also, I had to rack my brains over joining the parts of the embroidery with the underlay so that it would keep it together after the embroidery. My only mistake was not enough reinforcement of the edges. Satin border, in my opinion, insufficient. You need more reinforcement along the perimeter, like in a festoon. I'll do that next time. 
    Now I understand that the experienced pros of free-motion embroidery would make the best digitizers. They, too, try their best to avoid trims and plan the embroidery sequence right in the course of the embroidery. 
    In general, I learned that there is no sacral knowledge behind this type of the design. A cutwork design can be created in any embroidery editor.
    All the digitizing laws are just as relevant here. The only thing you need is to use your brains. 
    Download the ready design here. 

    Embroidering an origami-style box for small things

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 3,065 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I think that many people are familiar with origami — everybody I know had made paper fliers, pompoms, tulips, etc., in their childhood. Today I suggest to refresh our memory about this art and make the simplest possible box called "masu". 

    Of course, the biggest attraction of this project for me is that I won't have to sew. I'll just embroider the fabric and make a three-dimensional figure out of it. 
    So. I plan to embroider only 4 sides of the box. I drew this simple design and fitted it into a square: 

    It is very easy to calculate the measurements of a square piece of fabric and the position of the embroidery on it using this formula: 
    L=1.41х (S+2xH) 
    Where L is a square side length  S is bottom length  H is the box height  Why the diagonal position of the embroidery? Because I folded the paper to create a box, marked the sides where I wanted my embroidery and unfolded it back again. Then I did a drawing in Corel, based on the proportions I calculated using a formula above. 
    I digitized my drawing: 

    Hooped the fabric together with the stabilizer: 

    And embroidered the entire design: 

    Two red stitches on the right and on the left of the ornament are parts of the borderline of my future square visible in the frame. Tacks mark the centers of the sides of my square. According to them I'll draw the required square and cut it out. I didn't tear away the stabilizer from the wrong side. It is necessary for making the fabric coarse. 
    I extended the embroidered lines so that they formed a square: 

    Cut the square out: 

    Now it's time to make a box. I turn the fabric the wrong side up and fold it in two and then again to get proper creases. They will help me to make the box. 

    This way: 

    Then open the square up and fold the corners into the center: 

    You'll get an envelope: 

    After that I fold every edge into the center of the square and unfold them back again to make the sides of the box: 

    Like this: 

    Now it's time to assemble the box: For this, I need to unfold two corners diagonally: 

    And then form the sides by folding vertically along the creases: 

    This way: 

    Now I fold the fabric in along the creases and also fold the corners into the center of the bottom the box: 


    This is all, in a nutshell. The box is ready. It is harder to fold the fabric than paper but not impossible. Especially if you harden the fabric so as to make it coarse. 

    I put a piece of ordinary cardboard on the bottom of the box to cover the edges of the fabric. But, in my opinion, it is possible to turn this into an advantage, too. Fox example, to embroider on the heavyweight fabric and harden it with the interfacing material and then finish the edges to prevent fraying. 

    How to make puffs on your embroidery machine

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 3,645 views
    Original text by Olga Milovanova

    The word "puff" derives from the French verb "bouffer" – to puff up. Puffs are rows of pleats arranged in a certain way.

    The fabric for them is gathered manually.
    The puffs were especially popular in the 70s and 80s: so-called "waffles", a type of handmade puffs, were used then for dresses and blouses.

    Nowadays we witness the second wave of popularity. Modern designers use this type of decoration in their collections. Puffs are becoming a fashionable detail of the clothes.


    Thanks to the innovations, it became possible to make puffs and create embroidery designs with crashing on the embroidery machines. 
    Brother Innov-is XV embroidery machine has an unusual library of designs with 3–5 mm stitches, which are repeated 3–5 times. 
    These are crashing designs that imitate puffs. (Crashing effect is also called crinkle effect). 



    Madeira Smoking thread is used for that. After washing and ironing the threads on the wrong side gather and create wrinkles on the fabric. 

    These are what we can call «designs with crashing effect». 

    Let's play around! 
    Wind the Smocking thread on a spool, hoop the fabric, pick a crashing design from the library and start embroidering it. You won't need a stabilizer here. 
    After unhooping, the embroidery looks just like usual. Iron it. Set your iron at the maximum temperature for your fabric type and gently slide across its wrong side. No pressing down! The thread will gather about 30%. 

    The lighter is the fabric, the more pronounced will be the crashing effect. 
    I used a ready shirt as a test sample. 

    I aligned my future embroidery with the waistline. Framed the shirt, without a stabilizer, and embroidered it. 

    Set an iron at "Cotton" and "heated" the embroidery through, from the wrong side. This resulted in a "crashing" effect. 


    I decided that I wanted more volume and made changes to the sewing pattern. 
    I cut the pattern for the back bodice along the princess line and the waistline. On the lower side of the back bodice, starting from the folding line, 5–10 cm were left for allowance. No allowance in the upper part; I cut it from the folding line. 

    Gathered the fabric with the basting stitch along the waistline, and pinned the lower and upper sides face-to-face. Stitched the upper and the lower parts of the back bodice. 

    Time to embroider! Frame the fabric so that the seam line runs parallel to the edge of the frame. Position the design in such a way that the design will cover the seam joining the two details. 


    Stitch several times to make it more expressive. 

    Unhoop the whole thing, iron it with a hot iron from the wrong side. The smocking thread will shrink 30%, gathering the fabric, and the allowance will add the volume. 

    Now sew up the item. 

    This is the ready item embroidered on the back. 

    The experimenting continues )

    Loosely woven fabrics

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 4,634 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Several days ago I was thinking if there was a difference between machine embroidery on a net and on a loosely-woven fabric. Technically, both of these materials have enough of empty space for the design to have rather an unappealing look, because the stitches don't have much to hold on to. And the most important task is to achieve even borders instead of jagged ones. 
    When you come to think of it, you can embroider on anything at all and still get good results. You just need some effort. That is, choose the right stitch parameters and meet all technical requirements. 
    The technical requirements in our case are simple and widely covered in the variety of sources: 
    Stabilizer under + stabilizer on top. Obviously, these fabrics being semitransparent, an ordinary tear-away or cut-away stabilizer isn't suitable for them. That being so, there are not many options left – either semitransparent spunbond (no-show mesh) or water-soluble stabilizers (among them even the adhesive ones with a protective layer, such as Filmoplast) or, as I have already mentioned in my article about embroidery on knitwear, a piece of organza of a matching color. You need to additionally secure this "sandwich" with a thin water soluble film on top and hoop it to prevent wrinkles.  You can use the threads of any thickness and structure.  Loosen the upper thread tension.  Use the most ordinary needles matching the threads and the fabric in thickness. Needlepoint – sharp.  Lower the speed a little so that not to pull the loosely woven yarns.  In my opinion, following these rules allows us to embroider almost any kind of design except the ones with a large number of stitches. The fabric is a very flexible thing, and it is better not to play with it. 
    There are some special aspects of the machine embroidery on this kind of fabric: 
    It goes without saying that you should pay close attention to the basis of the embroidery – the underlay. Debora Jones, for instance, advises applying 2 layers of underlay, consisting of the edge run and zigzags for satins and the lattice at 90° under the finishing fills. But if you want my opinion, I wouldn't be so keen on strengthening the fabric under the thin satin outlines – better to leave just one underlay of the two.  Use a standard stitch density. Don't increase or reduce it.  It makes good sense to increase the pull compensation a bit. For example, I set pull compensation at minimum 0.5 mm on each side of this mosquito, plus the artificial shape distortion (the outlines widening) mentioned here.  No extra-long stitches on these fabrics; the length should be limited to 3-4.5 mm. Anything longer than that should be split. 
    Nevertheless, the amount of overlapping of the object and its outline (shape distortion + compensation) just barely avoided the appearance of gaps.  Based on this experience, I would exclude the running stitch outlines from the design and use only simplest fonts like Arial.  Also, the most important thing is to test everything.  I used organza as a stabilizer for my mosquito because a tear-away one would be visible through my fabric (it is like cross-stitch canvas, but not quite). On the right you can see the fabric with the stabilizer under it and on the left – without it: 

    While in this photo there is organza on the right, and you cannot really tell which is which: 

    I hooped the fabric together with the organza: 

    And put a piece of water-soluble film on top: 

    The ready embroidery: 

    After that, I removed the film from the front and trimmed the organza along the perimeter. 

    I am quite satisfied with the result, though it has been my first attempt at embroidery on this fabric and that I chose a design with borders and very thin outlines. 

    One more method of color blending

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 2,489 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I've written on the subject of color blending in machine embroidery several times, covering the basic blending principles and also 2 methods of doing it. Today I'll add one more method to the aforementioned two. 
    You can see the examples of this technique in the works of at least 2 famous embroidery persons: Bonnie Nielsen of Madeira and Niamh and her team embroidery. I like the ingenuity and the expressiveness of this color blending style, its devil-may-carishness, and chaotic nature. 
    Its key point is to superimpose low-density layers of fill stitches (either flat or motif ones). The density, stitch direction, and texture of each layer may vary. And the most important thing – the design is not filled completely as it is custom in standard digitizing (from one outline to the other), but instead, the layers are put on top of each other in blots of a different shape. The next layer may or may not be of a different color or shade, they may all be of the same color, it's the density that creates the color depth. 
    I.e. you should get something like in the case: 

    In this case, not only the fabric but also its texture and color play an important role. All this is visible between the stitches and makes embroidery especially beautiful. I also like that registering of the outlines is not important here – it is a different digitizing style. 
    Of course, it is not applicable to any kind of embroidery, but for the works in a modern style, it is rather good. This style bewitches me. And I understand that I cannot use just like that, but at the first sight, it looks easy enough. 

    3D Puff on baseball caps. Open ends, push compensation. Oddities.

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 4,836 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I've long wanted to raise a question of push compensation in theory and in practice but didn't get around to it until today. And last week I faced it head-on in connection with 3D Puff embroidery on baseball caps, so it would be utterly wrong to linger even more. 
    Well, about a week ago I received an order for a cap with puffy. Sounds like nothing unusual. It's only the 3D Puff, I've embroidered designs with 3D Puff before. But now it turned out that all the knowledge I have about adding volume to the embroidery is good for the flat surfaces, and not for the rounded and flexible one like a baseball cap. 
    I think it is common knowledge that the open ends of 3D Puff should, too, be penetrated by the needle (along the direction of the stitch). For this, you need to draw special "caps". Like the lavender ones in the photo below: 

    Also, stitches in the upper layer, according to several push compensation theories, should be shortened by a certain number of mm or stitches.
    See the example below (marked in the photo): 

    In this case, I removed the commonly suggested 5–9 stitches (~1mm). 
    I've always been confused by the fact that by using this technique we consciously create a non-penetrated segment on the open end, through which the puffy will undoubtedly peek: 

    Reality shows that 3D Puff does indeed stick out, and there is nothing you can do about it: 

    All this brings me to the upsetting conclusion: information that can be bought or read for free about digitizing for 3D Puff is not always correct and lacks many details for the fear of competition. 
    Oh well, any theory is good enough so long as you are able to analyze it and expand on the subject after digitizing. 
    In my opinion, according to the simplest laws of geometry, the aforementioned "caps" should have not one but at least three sides with lines of needle penetrations through 3D Puff, just in case. 
    But to me, the question of shape is not the main one related to the 3D embroidery on caps. I'm much more concerned by what remains unsaid about pull compensation. 
    Here's the example. In the photo below you can see one of the 3D elements with the canonical caps and shortening on the open edges in order to prevent the stitches from slipping off the edge and onto the cap surface. I painted the upper layer green so that to make it visible that I'd done everything according to the theory. That is, a capped corner + 1 mm off both edges: 

    What should look perfect really looks like this: 

    In the upper end the cap is insufficiently covered by the specified number of stitches, and at the lower end, they slip off the edge and onto the fabric. Starting and end points are to blame for that. In this case, I arranged them as follows: the starting point (green triangle) below and the end point (red triangle) above. 

    That means that the stitches always slip at the beginning of the embroidery and stay in place at the end of it. And this repeats every time I embroider something. Even if it is something of an ordinary density. Though in the latter case it is less pronounced, because there is less push in the direction opposite to the one in which the embroidery goes. 
    This contradicts all established theories on the push compensation, where an equal number of stitches should be spared on both ends. 
    I even counted the stitches that had slipped off the caps at the beginning of the upper satin layer – there was always 10–15 of them. This means that I should lop off additional 1–1.5 mm from the upper layer's starting point. And on the contrary, to add some at the opposite end so that the cap didn't look so bare. This is how the upper layer should be constructed in order for the embroidery to look neat and clean: 

    And not like this: 

    At the same time, if I remove 2–2.5 mm from the cap inside, it will enlarge the are where there are no needle penetrations. This will cause the cap, in its conventional form, to stop working completely. 
    The reality doesn't always conform to theoretical rules, at least my experience says so. 
    Here is the list of possible reasons: 
    I use the wrong settings while digitizing – density, for example – and, consequently, create faulty designs.  I don't stabilize properly.  My machine doesn't work quite the way the others do.  P.S. All 3D Puff embroidery theories work fine on a flat surface, at least this is my case. I consciously omit the method with the use of the parallel underlay, loved by many embroiderers, which makes design creation much easier, as it is not compatible with all fonts. It visibly distorts straight elements so that the letters begin to stretch diagonally and extend over the baseline. 

    Embroidery on velvet

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 9,018 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Sometimes I think that it is strange to even ask how to embroider on velvet, for everything seems to be obvious here. This is because I have some experience of the embroidery on velvet and can share these simple rules with you. 

    The main (commonly recognized) rules of machine embroidery on velvet are as follows: 
    No hooping: the hoop flattens the pile and leaves visible traces. Use only a magnetic hoop or an adhesive.  There are different kinds of adhesives. You can use an adhesive stabilizer with a sticky side covered with a protection layer; it doesn't need to be pressed to the fabric with an iron – Filmoplast, for example. I, for one, don't like Filmoplast – it is hard to remove. Especially if you embroider a big design and leave it for a while – in that case, the pile will come off with it. But it secures the fabric well. 
    You can use an ordinary stabilizer, sprayed with temporary spray adhesive, and then stick the fabric to it. But with designs containing a large number of stitches you can only use this one at your own risk – the velvet will detach during the embroidery. 
    I've seen lots of recommendations on choosing a stabilizer. Some write that a heavy-weight cut-away should be used for chevrons, and some – that a tear-away middleweight one. I think that the suggestion to use a cut-away looks strange here. I use a tear-away one. Or nothing at all if the velvet itself is thick and stable so that it can withstand hooping. 
    There is also a very popular advice – to additionally secure the velvet already attached to the stabilizer with a basting stitch along the perimeter of the design. In my view, not every kind of velvet will endure the additional needle penetrations, and there will be leftovers after ripping the thread out. Better to test every time. 
    The velvet should be covered with a water soluble stabilizer (film) so that the pile doesn't peek between the stitches. This film should be removed after the embroidery. This may prove not to be the easiest task. There are the designs with the small details, you know. And the velvet shouldn't get wet, so you'll quite busy with it.  Besides, there exist contradictory opinions on when to remove the film. Some people write that it should be removed after embroidering the underlay and before the finishing layer of stitches. But the majority insist upon waiting until the embroidery is completed. I'm with the latter, because, to me, the first option only complicates the design. Also, you won't stop the machine just to tear off the film, will you? 
    Alternatively, a heat sensitive stabilizer is suggested in such cases, for instance, Thermogaze. That seems more than questionable to me, though. 
    The embroidery threads may vary greatly in composition and thickness.  The most standard needles like R or SES should be used. Their thickness should correspond to the thickness of the threads.  Velvet fabric may vary in composition – you can find silk, cotton, rayon, polyester velvets and so on. Some of these are very stable, and some very stretchy (knitted velvet). In the case when velvet is secured on a sticky base and not hooped, it does not matter. But if you are going to hoop your velvet, then its stability is of a great importance. 
    I think everybody knows that velvet is a piled fabric. The pile ranges from very short, almost invisible, to considerably high. I used to embroider on velvet with the pile about 5 mm high. Such velvet is very similar to the fake fur, yet it is velvet. 
    Besides its height, the pile may vary in direction (nap). It is very easy to know if the pile has any – just slide your hand across it in several directions. 
    How can this knowledge help or hinder you in machine embroidery? If you don't hoop your velvet but use the adhesive instead, it is no help. But if you do the hooping, it is very important to know how the pile is inclined. 
    No, I didn't mention hooping by mistake. A long time ago I, too, was surprised by the possibility. But, as the experience has shown, it can be done. But instead of the hoop, where we don't have any influence over the character and direction of the pressure applied, use the frame, as on the industrial embroidery machines. That is, the one that has special clamps. The clamps should be fastened in the direction of the pile. In this case, the damage to the pile will be minimal (provided that you use a Tajima-like frame). Also, of course, you should add a piece of soft fabric for protection – flannel, for instance. Clamps leave traces, too, but they are much less visible than the ones from the usual hoop. Besides, if you have a good steam-generator with a brush, you can put everything right. Yes, it requires a great deal of experience, no argument here. Nevertheless, it is possible. 
    Also, last year I encountered a cheap velvet, on which the hoop left no traces – what a pleasure it was to embroider. But to frame stretchy velvet instead of sticking it onto the paper is sheer agony. 
    While I was writing, one more way of securing velvet sprang to my mind – pinning it onto the hooped water soluble film. One hell of a task. But can be used for extremely delicate velvets. 
    There are no digitizing recommendations for the ordinary velvet except the following: 
    Avoid small details, especially the ones embroidered with the running stitches – remember that you'll need to remove the film from under them. Besides, they will sink in the pile because of their size.  Avoid big areas filled with lots of stitches – there is no stability in sticking the velvet to the paper, it will begin to detach, and the embroidery will be distorted as the consequence. This means that we'll need to substitute the fills for something else, such as an applique, which, by the way, looks fantastic on velvet.  The underlay should be of the most ordinary kind, corresponding to the size of the elements and stitch lengths. And to the desired effect, of course. Although, I've frequently seen the recommendation to place at least zigzag under the finishing layer of satin stitches and the lattice under the fills. But if you use film on top of the pile, even the ordinary designs will look good on velvet without any strengthening layer.  The density of the finishing fills is also standard – 0.4–0.45 mm. The main thing is to prevent the fabric from peeking through. 

    In-The-Hoop. Embroidered passport cover

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 3,503 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I got an idea of making a passport cover. Not a common one, with a thick satin border, but of a more elaborate kind, with all seams closed – like the ones made on a sewing machine. It all began when my daughter obtained a passport and bought a funny cover for it. The cover was clearly handmade, vivid color with a button. I turned it this way and that, feeling glad for the creator of this eye candy. Tonight it suddenly dawned on me how to make something like that on an embroidery machine, together with the embroidery. 
    I got this as the result: 


    The making process is very simple. Anyone who practices sewing can guess its structure. But let's begin with choosing of a design. Having measured the passport and left some fabric for the turn-ups, I dug up yet another free design on the Web and fitted it to the resulting pattern: 

    As always, the embroidery sequence contains several stops. The first stitch outlines the future design, and the second one stitches the cover.
    The line is not closed. I left an opening through which I'll later turn the cover the right side out. 
    The number of the stitches in the design is not high – about 9000. In my step-by-step demonstration, I'll use the test sample (you can see the final variant in the photo above). 
    The first step is to hoop the tear-away stabilizer: 

    Then I load the design and stitch the outline: 

    Place my fabric on top of the stabilizer, face up, and secure it with an adhesive. This is how the front side of the cover looks like: 

    I start the machine and embroider the entire design as planned. After that, stop. 

    This is where the things get interesting. I prepare the fabric for my eyelet. I chose a plain hair tie, the only elastic thing of the matching color I could find: 

    Away with the metal thingy on the hair tie – I won't need it: 

    I place the hair tie approximately in the middle of the embroidered side and secure it with paper painters tape: 

    Time to add the flaps (or how are these things called), which will hold my passport. While preparing for the embroidery, I cut out 2 square pieces of fabric: 

    I folded them in half and pressed them with an iron, face up: 

    What I need to do now is to secure them with an adhesive on the front side of my cover: 

    Add another layer of fabric, for the inner side, face down: 

    Stitch this "sandwich" with a running stitch along the perimeter. Unhoop the whole thing and turn the wrong side out: 

    Trim the extra fabric to the outline, which is the outermost stitch: Also, I cut the corners diagonally: 

    I decided against removing the stabilizer because I thought it would help the cover to maintain its shape. Time to see how the result looks like.
    This is the front side: 

    This is the inner side: 

    I sew up the opening by hand. Now I grasped how I should have done it. You can use the machine if you want. I sewed the button on, aligning it with the eyelet. 

    Removed the jump stitches and ironed the embroidery: 

    The cover is ready for the passport. 

    This is how it looks like with the passport in it: 

    Nevertheless, I didn't like the sample. So I decided to choose another fabric, add one more cm for the allowance and modify the pattern. 
    The design didn't change much, but the embroidery became way easier: I added the marks for the flaps. See the small vertical ticks that mark their position: 

    I align my flaps with them, and I also stitch them before the fabric for the inner side: 

    The whole thing takes about an hour. But the result sure is cool enough. Find out how to make a cover for a school diary by using a similar technique. 

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