Enhancing with Machine Embroidery

Some months ago I received an email from an embroidery friend asking me how I visualized the finished embroidered item. She was interested in going beyond the simple one embroidery design concept and believe me that is what Machine embroidery really is. Stitching out a single design is quite easy but how to embroider several designs combining them to create masterpieces. A lot depends upon the design actually. To stitch out heavy density designs on a rather fancy fashion fabric is surely going to tear the fabric up so one needs to find some designs that can be stitched without making the fabric look and feel like an armoured plate blouse or garment or home decor item.

My last collection for the year 2007, “Farsi III”  is finally completed. It took a lot of planning and thinking to come up with designs that looked like a lot of work but actually were simple and could be used in a multitude of ways, whether for garments or home decor. With the holidays approaching, I also wanted the designs to be somehow incorporated into using them for the holidays. Farsi III is actually different from the first two Farsi series in that these are purely embroidery designs and not applique like the previous series. Moreover, the inspirations for the designs came from the Persian tiles which are so abundantly decorated on buildings, carpets, metalware etc. The table topper quilt above was created using only one design but changing the colors to the colors of the holiday season. Each block had eight hoopings of 5×7 and created a faux double wedding ring block look.

One design can speak volumes. That has been evident by my series of “Power of One” blog entries. Taking one design and creating something special with it has always been my challenge and every collection that I create I take pains in visualizing and creating something that can be done with each and every design. As Farsi III designs are varied, yet I wanted them to blend together somehow. Eleven 5×7 hoopings produced this elegant cushion cover. The fabric being Dupioni silk, I wanted to showcase how several designs could be embroidered onto one item and yet they would not tear up the fabric. I chose various shades of blue on the beige silk and the end result was indeed spectacular. The matching up of all the various designs was a day long event with several templates all pinned to the fabric and ofcourse the painful decisions whether I wanted to keep on filling the cushion cover completely or not. One can never know until one tries so I chugged on. Surprisingly, there were no puckers at all even with all the embroidery. Silk requires preparation prior to embroidery and the best stabilizer that I have found is Sulky’s Totally stable which is an iron on tearaway. To adhere the stabilizer to the fabric, it is important that one does not iron, rather simply place the iron and lift. The stabilizer makes the silk very sturdy yet it can easily be torn away after the embroidery is finished. As I never  hoop fabrics at all when embroidering, I generally use Hollingworth and Vose’s tearaway wash away stabilizer. This is the best tearaway stabilizer that I can recommend. Pinning the fabric to the hooped stabilizer and making sure all the templates are properly positioned created this masterpiece.

Taking some of the same designs in another color scheme, I decided to spark up some ready made bed sheets and pillowcases. This time I decided to go with shades of pink. The beauty of the Farsi III designs is that any color can be used to embroider according to taste and decor. Again I used only one design positioned multiple times to create the border. Speaking of borders, I received my Duetta’s upgrade package recently. It contained the new 5×7 border hoop. I have to admit that I am very surprised and pleased. Some while back I had been debating whether to invest in the Magna hoop but I think Brother has finally figured out a way to create a hoop that is better than any of the other hoops out there in the market. Not only does the hoop have a spring action opening where the inner hoop simply lifts up but inside the hoop they have a strip of grip type fabric (that is the best way I can describe) that grips onto your fabric very easily and is extremely stable. Using the hoop by simply sliding the fabric is extremely easy and one can create quite large borders using it.

One of the interesting items in the market these days are embroidered jeans. It is not only the legs of the jeans that are embroidered but also the backsides. Ofcourse this makes the back pockets extremely useless but in the name of fashion…does anyone care! LOL. A word of caution though to friends who may want to embroider on the backside of jeans. First of all, have the person who will be wearing  the jean, wear it so you can mark where the design will go. Some extremely embarrasing embroideries can be created otherwise!! Another lesson I learned was that the back pockets must be either sewn down or somehow closed shut so the embroidery foot would not get underneath it and mess up the embroidery. Again, I used only one design stitched out four times to create the effect.

Ofcourse, having done the back side, I had to take another pair of jeans and embellish them using some more of the designs and then using Swaroski’s crystals to further embellish.

The hardest part in embroidering this pair of jeans was how to embroider on the hip area without having to open the whole leg and also without getting the pocket caught into the embroidery. It was not easy and I definitely recommend that your home embroidery machine be on a table with absolutely nothing on it so you can keep on manipulating the jeans while embroidering.  Yes, there were times, I questioned myself whether this was a good idea or not…now it is a good idea….LOL. Would I do it again, well perhaps yes but next time I would use a sticky back stabilizer(much as I cringe at the thought…sticky stabilizers and I do not get along). Again I had used the H&V’s tearaway washaway, even though the jean is a stretch jean.

This is the time for the holidays and my favourite thing to do is to go around changing minor objects all around the house to give a festive look. Lots of embroideries are done is metallic threads and so it was no surprise that I chose to stitch out a faux suede decorator cushion for my guest room with metallic threads. Again using simply one design, I managed to create a much larger design. Now if only I can get several more items done before the holidays including some stockings and a tree skirt…I think I can be completely ready.