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    Embroidery on velvet

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 9,392 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, 3,780 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. 

    Embroidery on organza

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 7 comments, 12,079 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Yesterday I was embroidering a basket for the Easter egg on organza and, while creating a file, thinking if there were some digitizing peculiarities for this type of fabric or you could do the same as with other fabrics like calico or denim that don't pose any problems. 
    In the end, I used the standard density and underlay settings. I didn't notice any embroidery defects except the yarn slippage inherent to this fabric. 

    Today I set out to look up the recommendations for digitizing for organza. As usual in the machine embroidery field, there is an information shortage on the subject. That's notwithstanding the fact that the whole world and his wife embroiders on organza. This is a perfect fabric for the interior decoration, you know. 
    Organza is a semitransparent plain weave fabric. It can be made of silk, polyester, nylon or blended, depending on the manufacturer. According to Deborah Jones and other machine embroidery masters, the fiber characteristics (their strongness and thickness) call for the careful choice of needles, simpler designs, looser upper thread tension and invisible stabilizer. 
    Almost every recommendation I've found hold that a design for organza should be as simple as possible: no understitching except jumping stitches, and much less density. The reason for dropping an underlay is clear: it will be visible through the light finishing fill, which will, in turn, have a damaging effect on the look. 
    That is, the embroidery should be very light and semitransparent; as for the "heavy" techniques, they should be replaced by the "lighter" ones, such as the use of sequins, sparkles, open-work, various types of appliqué, simple stitches, low-density satins with and without splits. To all appearance, it is necessary to avoid ruining the pliability of the fabric, reduce the level of pulling and also for economy reasons. 
    But it turned out there are many examples of non-transparent and even multiple-colored embroidery on organza. This means that all you have to do is to test the digitized design and not be scared to experiment. 
    General recommendations on light machine embroidery on organza: 
    Needle — the thinner, the better (#65–75 is optimal). Needlepoint — sharp (K, R SPI). The choice depends on the type of organza.  The fabric should be hooped with extreme care so that not to skew the transverse or longitudinal fibers and to prevent the appearance of the loose stitches (see the photo below): 
    The defects of this kind may be the result of turning the hoop screw too tight or pulling the organza in the hoop to optimize the tension. You can also wrap your hoop so that to avoid traces and to keep the fabric in the hoop. Read more about it here. 
    Use either water soluble film or other water soluble stabilizer. Hoop it together with the organza if there is just one layer of it. In case there are multiple layers, you can drop the stabilizer.  Loosen the upper thread tension until you get 2/5 + 1/5 + 2/5 (upper/lower/upper) on the wrong side.  Thread – rayon or cotton one; they are the softest.  Density values should start at approximately 0.6–0.7 mm. But you should still do a test sample. I set the density at 0.44 mm, and nothing bad happened. But my basket maintains its shape thanks to the number of stitches.  The stitches shouldn't be longer than 5 mm.  Underlay should be removed, even on edges (the edge run).  Of course, you'll still have to test every design and select the parameters suitable for it alone. 
     

    Appliqué with low-dense fill on top

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 4,498 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    As I wrote in my article about different types of appliqué in machine embroidery, there is a rare kind of appliqué covered with a low-density fill for the purpose of shading or saving of the stitches. 
    The making process is rather simple, being an exact replica of the one of the traditional patched appliqué: 
    First, you embroider an outline that will show where to place the appliqué fabric. Then the machine makes a stop and the hoop comes out for the fabric.  The appliqué fabric is secured with running stitches or zigzags. Then the machine makes a stop and the hoop comes out for trimming of the excessive fabric right in the hoop.  After trimming your embroider the fill on top of the appliqué fabric and the finishing border that covers the edge.  Digitizing is also simple and differs from the ordinary appliqué only in the creation of an additional fill:  First, we create an outline that will show where to place the fabric and digitize it with the running stitches (for economy reasons).  Then insert a stop and the hoop coming out for the fabric.  After that, we create an outline for the appliqué fabric.  Then insert a stop and the hoop coming out for trimming.  Now we add a low-density fill, through which the stitches will show. Remove about 30–50% of our standard density and also all of the underlay.  Having done that, we create a finishing column.  Everything is very simple and can be achieved in any embroidery editor. 
    I've long scratched my head over the possible use of this technique, and the only thing I came with was creating flowers: 

    Today it dawned on me, where I could use an appliqué of this kind, with the lightweight fill on top of it. It's rather obvious – such fills will be good for saving the stitches in big objects with gradients and also for reproducing color gradations with the help of two- and three-color gradients. 
    So I immediately decided to embroider this helicopter to see how it works: 

    As you can judge from the image, it only contains very simple shapes. But one wants to give zest to it. So I decided to replace the helicopter rotor with a button (pinched the idea from the Smartneedle designs). I put an appliqué on the background and filled the areas with density gradients in order to make the sole-colored fabric more interesting: 

    This 13.1x10.5 cm design has about 8000 stitches, which is not much for the design of this size. 
    In the end, it turns out that such a design doesn't require too much effort, but the result is quite good, especially if you bear in mind the fact that the fabric changes its look under different kinds of stitches (compare the windows and the cockpit). 
    P.S. My husband says that helicopters do not have rotors in that place. But it's too late now. I'll just let it be. 

    3D appliqué step by step

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 5,090 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Let me tell you how I made my first free-standing appliqué. I never had any reason to do such a thing, so, having perused several sources of information on the subject, I decided to give it a try. Curiosity, you know. 
    It took me some time to choose a design, and in the end, I opted for a free one from one of the Western websites. I don't remember which one.
    This is the original design: 

    As I needed to create an insect, I settled on organza leftovers as a fabric for my appliqué. Gray for the back side of the wings and milk-white for the front. I thought it would make the appliqué look better. 
    A separate 2-stage file was created for the wings. 
    I outlined the wings with satin stitches of the constant width. 

    Separated the wings from each other and placed them in a row so that it would be easy to cut the fabric near the border. 

    I decided against satins in the areas covered with mosquito's body in order to avoid excessive density. In the original design, the wings were superimposed, and 2 layers of satin borders would result in a bump under the element on top of them. Therefore, in the lower part of the wings, I replaced them with running stitches. 
    After that, I created the main file with the rest of the design: 

    This is where the machine goes in. 
    For the wings, I hooped 2 layers of organza without any stabilizer whatsoever. 

    Embroidered them: 

    Trimmed carefully along the satin border. I left a margin in the lower part of the wings that was to be covered with mosquito's body. I reasoned in this way: better to leave a margin and be sure that everything would be firmly attached. It could be carefully trimmed and the leftovers singed afterward: 

    After that, I hooped my basic fabric and began to embroider the rest of the design. When digitizing, I placed all the background elements first in the line: 

    This instantly showed me where to place the wings on a mosquito's body in order for them to be properly covered: a small empty wedge under the head. I tried to arrange the wings inside this wedge, securing them with pins. It would be much more convenient to attach them with the help of temporary spray adhesive, but it wouldn't hold organza in place. So I made do with what little I had: 

    After that, the machine did a tacking stitch that attached the wings to the chosen place. Right after an appliqué was topped with an element that was supposed to cover its edges. I had to trim the organza margin, after all, to prevent it from sticking out. 
    Then the embroidery proceeded to its end. 
    Here's the mosquito I got as the result: It has some weak points, but overall looks impressive. Thanks to the wings, of course. 

    The embroidery process when employing this technique is rather demanding and requires diligence. But the effect is worth it and, besides, it only takes 7500 stitches. 
     

    In-The-Hoop. A heart for sweets on a Sweetheart Day

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 3 comments, 3,772 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    A few days ago I remembered that St Valentines Day was ahead, so why not to invent something special for the occasion (I have already made an embroidered postcard). Though I have plenty of ideas, I settled on another project that doesn't involve a sewing machine. 
    As the result, I got this bag for candies with a Velcro. With the candies properly tucked inside. 

    Initially, I intended to make a heart with a zipper but abandoned this highly interesting option shortly after. The lack of an appropriately colored zipper was the reason. Therefore, I opted for a Velcro fastener instead. I should try it out, shouldn't I? 
    Having measured the Velcro, I drew a very simple picture (very simple was exactly what I needed): 

    Then I created 2 simple designs. One for the box itself. With its help I prepared 2 templates which would be then fastened with a Velcro: 

    The second one was for the back side and holding all the details together: 

    I chose fleece, a knitwear fabric, as a basis for my embroidery. I opted for it not only because it was of an appropriate color (pink), but also because this fabric was highly stretchy so it would be convenient for me to fill it with the sweets afterward. 
    Time to proceed to the embroidery. I hoop the stabilizer: 

    Load the first half of the design and stitch the guideline that will mark the position of our future embroidery: 

    Then attach the first part of the Velcro with its adhesive side in. I secured it with a paper tape, like that: 

    Put a piece of fleece on top on the Velcro: 

    Started the machine, stitched the Velcro, secured the edge with a zig-zag, embroidered the first part of the front side of the heart and marked the place for the next detail: 

    Now it's the time to position another piece along the key lines: 

    Then stitch the fleece to the stabilizer. The basting stitch shows where the Velcro is going to be. I forgot to make a snapshot. But, in my opinion, everything is clear even without it, especially if you take a look at the picture containing the first part of the design. I attached the Velcro adhesive side up along the guideline and secured it with tape: 

    Stitched it: 

    Took out all the details, cut along the perimeter. These will be my templates for the next stage — sewing parts of the heart together. 
    Hooped another piece of stabilizer: 

    Loaded the second half of the design and marked the places where parts of the heart will be joined together: 

    Took the hoop off the machine, turned it the wrong way out and secured a piece of fleece on the layout with temporary spray adhesive – this would be the back side of my box. The fabric should be face up: 

    Carefully, so as not to shift the fabric from below,I inserted the hoop back into the machine. 

    Time for attaching the front side of the heart bounded together with a Velcro fastener. Which is what I did: 

    I started the machine and stitched the heart with the small-scale zig-zag along the perimeter. I was lucky and two zig-zags almost completely coincided. Usually, it is hard to position all the details on the layout and achieve a perfect fit:

    Once again, take the hoop off and turn them the wrong side up: 

    Trim the extra fabric near zig-zag: 

    After that you can replace your bobbin thread with the one matching your upper thread in color: 

    Insert the hoop back into the machine and embroider the finishing border: 

    Detach the heart from the stabilizer. 

    Then do the cleaning: remove the threads that stick out, also connectors, and singe the edges with the lighter so that to get rid of the protruding fibers. I haven't removed the stabilizer and left it as it is. Almost ready. 
    Fill the heart with the sweets: 

    After that, act according to the situation. 
    As a result of my impromptu, I've come to the following conclusions: 
    Don't stitch the Velcro with a finishing border — the result will be too dense. You can avoid it by using a smaller piece.  If you slightly change the sequence in the second part of the design, you can embroider the back side of the heart, too. In that case, it won't look so empty. 
    This would also reduce the number of steps.  But, as they say, the first pancake is always a failure. 

    Fringe to imitate fur

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 2 comments, 5,359 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I've always been interested (and hope that I ever will be) not only in conventional machine embroidery techniques but also in (as my Western colleagues call them) various "advanced" ones that help to enrich the look of the embroidery. 
    About a year ago I've decided to experiment with fringe after having seen a free embroidery design on one of the websites abroad. It was a funny-looking lamb made with the use of the fringe embroidery. Moreover, I could never have guessed the way it was made unless I've seen it with my own eyes. See how good is to study other digitizers' work sometimes. So I set out to create something like that myself. But left it midway because of time shortage. 
    My efforts resulted in this fluffy hare. Now I'm determined to somewhat enhance the technique that I'd seen by adding acrylic threads. So as to get a real good imitation of fur: 

    This is how it looks from the side: 

    Choosing the right density and stitch length turned out to be the problem. My hare's fur was not dense enough – you could see the fabric showing through. 
    Today I decided to finish what I started. 
    I chose a simple image so that not to embroider anything except satin stitches and running stitches for tie-offs. I downloaded one of the free images off the Internet: 

    Of course, I don't have such a vibrant color. But I have a spool of Gunold black acrylic thread. Sure, it will make the fluffy thing a bit morose. But let's leave it as it is – Halloween’s nearing, right? I wouldn't buy the threads for the test project, would I? 
    So, this is how I actually did it. I began digitizing a design from the bottom upward. My decision was driven by the fact that fur usually goes down. 
    I digitized my fluffy animal with long satins stitches (10–12 mm) so that it would be easier to trim on the wrong side. Remembering the bald patches on the hare I embroidered in the past, I decided to add some underlay in order to make the fur thicker and opted for double zigzags. I set the density at 2.5 lines per 1 mm (it is the way the density is measured in the Stitch Era). 

    I secured satins with running stitches (marked green) so that they didn't unwind after trimming: 

    A bit higher I put one more satin column with the same settings. This new column (marked blue) slightly overlapped with the previous one: 

    It, too, was secured with the running stitches (marked gray): 

    In such a way, little by little, I got to the head of the fluffy thing. At the end of the sequence were the eyes digitized with an ordinary thread. Then, as an afterthought, I drew a manual underlay under the entire design just in case. 
    The fluffy thing became rather unsightly. 

    I proceeded to the embroidery. Inserted a #100 needle for the acrylic thread. There was much trouble with the tension — I got 3 or 4 "bird nests" and that sent me back to square one. Finally, I managed to find the right settings – no more "bird nests" or thread breakage. But to be on the safe side, I set the machine speed at 450 rpm. The design has a low number of stitches anyway, so it will be embroidered quickly. 
    When embroidering the eyes it became clear that the density in the acrylic area was excessive; I was under the impression that the needle sunk repeatedly and that such density was too much for my machine. But none of my needles – and I only use #70 ones – broke. 
    This is the look of the fluffy creature had after the embroidery: 

    And here we come to the most complicated and responsible part, in which we need to cut the threads on the wrong side and pull the out to the front. 
    This is the wrong side of the animal before trimming: 

    One look at it made it clear to me that something should be done with my machine so that threads stopped breaking and"bird nests" would be no longer popping up. 
    I made a cut exactly in the middle of a satin column as the bobbin thread was practically invisible. It didn't take me long, for the satins were wide and the scissors glided under them effortlessly. 

    This is how the wrong side looked after the thread cutting: 

    Now I could turn the embroidery the right side out and pull the threads to the front. 

    And that proved to be extremely difficult. As the threads were thick, they wouldn't be pulled in bunches. Sometimes it came down to just 1 or 2 threads at a time so that not to rip anything. But in the end I got this cutie: 

    Side look: 

    It has a long thick fur without any bald spots. I even had to trim it in several places. 
    So my summary on the subject is as follows: this technique is sure not for the work-shy. Too many manipulations. Digitizing is easy, though. 

    Double-sided appliqué

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 5,231 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Today I'll describe how I made a double-sided appliqué. 
    I decided to do it to test a third-party technique (see my article on the double-sided appliqué). I chose the most simple flower with five petals. I had an idea to put it in the corner of a piece of cloth so that the flower stretched beyond the basic fabric. 
    I.e., I should get something like this: 

    It is currently a popular place to put on an appliqué, and it is frequently used as an eyelet on a towel. Only my applique does not have a hole in it. 
    I've already digitized this same flower. So I only slightly modified it, having added one more zig-zag for trimming of the extra fabric. 

    Step 1 
    I hooped only the tear-away stabilizer. I chose white threads in order to avoid changing a standard bobbin thread color. 

    Step 2 
    The machine stitched a basting stitch. 

    Step 3 
    I put a piece of fabric for the back side of my appliqué onto a stabilizer, face down. I started the machine and embroidered a narrow zig-zag stitch to which the excess fabric would be trimmed. 

    Step 4 
    I trimmed the extra fabric around my appliqué. 

    Step 5 
    On top of it, I put my basic fabric shaped as a triangle. 

    And another layer on top of that – the front side of my appliqué. 

    Step 6 
    One more zig-zag was stitched, according to which I'd trim the upper layer of fabric. 

    Step 7 
    Now I trimmed the extra fabric.

    Step 8 
    I hit the start button to embroider the finishing satin border. 
    Something went wrong almost immediately. Logic suggests that, since all my fabric pieces weren't hooped, I should have secured them somehow. The only quick way of doing that in my case was sprinkling them with temporary spray adhesive. But I neglected it. And I paid for this – the layers of fabric in my "sandwich" began to crumple and shift. I had to straighten them out, but it didn't help much. 
    As a test piece it is still rather good: But now I know that I'd better not be lazy about it. You can see in the photo how the dark red fabric puckered. 

    One more surprise popped up when satin columns were being embroidered on the stabilizer. Naturally, the stabilizer became perforated around its contours, but only sporadically. Most probably, this is related to the direction the fibers are arranged in the stabilizer. But perforation was not critical, and an appliqué was secured enough. 

    Step 9 
    The satin stitch border is now finished. I took the hoop off the machine and began to detach my appliqué from the stabilizer. Just press it slightly, and it will drop out. 

    Step 10 
    I turned the embroidery the wrong side out and removed the stabilizer from the appliqué on the back. 


    This is how it looked in the end. 

    After that, I've arrived at my own conclusions – not every stabilizer is good for this technique, so you have to choose carefully. And don't forget to additionally secure the layers of fabric with an adhesive. 
    I used a simple tear-away stabilizer from Gunold. It turned out that the at this density value it becomes perforated, which was to be expected, and there were leftover fibers after it had been torn away. In other words, it behaves just like a cut-away stabilizer when you try to tear it. The edges become quite frayed, and this fact does not contribute to the good look of the embroidery. The only thing you can do is to singe them with a lighter, the way I did in my master-class on 3D Puff. 

    In-The-Hoop. A bag for paper tissues

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 3 comments, 4,951 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    I like to embroider items that don't need any sewing on the follow-up. The ones that come out of the hoop completely ready. Not so long ago I saw how to make a simple bag for the ordinary paper tissues and decided to do one myself. Make use of my designing skills, after all. The current season calls for paper tissues. 

    I measured an ordinary pack: 

    That gave me an idea for the item size and various details, such as interlocking flaps, so I chose a simple picture. For this, I used CorelDraw and here is what I got: 

    When creating a design, I bore in mind the fabric type. I'd chosen fleece, for it does not fray and, therefore, doesn't require an edge finish. 

    The next steps are simple, as are all truly great things. 
    You print the templates for the details of your future item on paper: 

    Cut them out: 

    Sprinkle them with temporary spray adhesive and arrange them on the fabric: 

    Now cut out the details: 

    Hoop the stabilizer only: I used a middle-weight cut-away stabilizer as I'm going to embroider on fleece. 

    Now load the design and embroider a guideline: 

    Pick up the flaps, sprinkle them with temporary spray adhesive and arrange in the area outlined with the basting stitch with their right side up: 


    Start your embroidery machine and stitch the details along the perimeter to attach them to the stabilizer: 

    My fleece has rather high pile, so I covered it with a piece of thin water-soluble film: 

    At this point, I realized that I made a little mistake while planning an embroidery sequence, and if I didn't turn the flap back, the roses in the upper part would stitch both flaps together. This is how I wiggled out of it: turned the fabric back (it appeared to be stretchy) and secured it with pins.
    Here is what I got: 

    Before embroidering the lower flap I took the pins out: 

    And this is how the end result looks: 

    After that I tore away the film, sprayed the other detail with adhesive and secured it on top of the one already embroidered with its wrong side up: 

    I hit the start button and stitched the whole "sandwich" perimeter-wise: 

    Unhooped the embroidery, tore away the stabilizer and removed the leftovers of the film: 

    Turned the item the right side up and got a bag. The work is finished! 

    After seeing the right side it became clear that the embroidery on the lower flap should have been placed higher. I can now put the tissues in my bag. 
    In the nearest future, I intend to write an article about digitizing and embroidering on fleece. 

    In-The-Hoop. Pincushion

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 64,961 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Today I've set out to do a simple yet in every way useful thing: a pincushion. It will allow me to kill two birds with one stone. No wait, even three: 
    First, it will solve the problem of storing my needles and pins, which usually are all around the box where I keep sundries.  Second, I'll practice digitizing for knitwear.  Third, I'll practice embroidering on knitwear. 
    The latter two may seem odd to some people, but I can assure you that they are nothing of the kind. Even my meager experience on the subject tell me that this fabric requires experience, skill, and knowledge of all relating digitizing and embroidery techniques. And how can you achieve those if not practicing? Theory is nothing without practice. 
    This very simple image became the basis for my design: 

    After digitizing it, I got this: 

    This being an In-The-Hoop project, I thought that I could do without hooping the fabric and hooped only a tear-away stabilizer (size ~35-40): 

    I start with embroidering the guideline: 

    Then I put my fabric on top of it and sprinkle it with temporary spray adhesive (you'll see a bit later that it will hardly make it any good): 

    I hit the start button and here comes a very nasty surprise that I should have expected from the very beginning – the distortion of the fabric, which now has ugly wrinkles: 

    Those cannot be straightened out with washing and pressing: 

    Well, nothing can be done here, as you see. When I turned the embroidery inside out I saw that this stabilizer wouldn't do as the needle cuts right through it around the edges of the satins, falls off and does not support anything anymore. 

    Conclusion: use a cutaway stabilizer instead and be sure to hoop the knitwear. Furthermore, test the quality of the hooping, using the most common methods at the very least. 
    Then hoop your fabric and try to lift it a bit: 

    If you've succeeded, do the rehooping. 
    Or even simpler: slide your finger across the fabric and see if any bumps will appear, like on the photo below. 

    If there is one, the fabric is loose and you'll need to rehoop. 
    At last, after several attempts of hooping my piece of knitwear together with the stabilizer, I got everything right: 

    In the same photo, the hoop burn on knitwear is visible, which is not good either. But it does not matter in this particular case. 
    Now it's time to use the machine. I embroider the front side of my pincushion: 

    This time the result is much better. But it is still not good enough as there are gaps between the stitches in the flower. I should find out what went wrong at the digitizing stage. So I'll go and read some more literature on the subject of digitizing on knitwear. 
    In any circumstances, I intend to finish this project. My next step will involve placing another piece of knitwear on top of the one already embroidered, to make the back side of my pincushion: 

    I start the machine and embroider an open circle. 

    Then I unhoop the embroidery and remove the stabilizer from its wrong side where possible: 

    I cut the circle out of the fabric, leaving a margin: 

    Turn it the right way round: 

    The only thing left is to stuff it and then sew the hole up. 

    The work is almost finished. The sequence is really simple. You can also attach an eyelet if you want to hang your pincushion on the wall. 
    But the knitwear itself is tricky. 

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