Cutwork project

After the release of my Arabi (cutwork) collections, many friends inquired about the process of cutwork. Cutwork created using your machine embroidery is fun and fast.
 Here I have completed a Bread basket napkin. The design is from my Arabi III collection.

Cutwork dinner napkin

• 1/2 Yd of good quality linen
• Two cutwork designs. The designs used in the project are from my  Arabi 3 (soon to be released collection).
• Pins, tearaway stabilizer, wash away stabilizer (I used Vilene from Australia*) and sharp pointed scissors.

1.    Cut out a 18"x18" square from your linen fabric. Fold it in half and then in half again. Lightly press these folds as they will aid in placement of your designs.	2. Print out a template of your design. I used two designs from my Arabi 3 collection. One of the designs is an edge cutwork design which means that the edging is finished in the hoop. The other is the long rose stem design. Pin the paper template where you want your designs to sew out. As I want the four corners to be placed in each corner I lightly pressed a fold in each corner to give me an idea where to place.
3.   The paper template has the markings for the center/horizontal and vertical notches. Place your needle on the center marking and then make sure the horizontal and vertical notches are matching with the template. Now pin the fabric to the tear away stabilizer in the hoop, making sure that the pins are not in the way of the design.	4.  Embroider the designs. The machine will first stitch out the areas to be cut out and stop for color change. As we are using only one color, we will not change the color but only take the hoop out of the machine. Do Not Remove the fabric from t he hoop. Place it on a flat surface. Using an x-acto knife or sharp pointed scissors, cut away the areas that are stitched out in the center of the fabric. You may cut through all layers to get a nice clean look.
5. To trim away the fabric from the edge, remove the pins from the area that are holding the fabric on the staiblizer. Hold one edge in one hand and very gently trim away the excess fabric. Do Not cut into the stabilizer here. Please be gentle.	6.  Place a piece of vilene (wash away stabilizer-if using solvy, then use several layers) on top of the  fabric. Pin it secure through all layers.
7. Place the hoop back in the embroidery machine. Let the machine finish stitching the designs.	8.  After the machine has finished stitching the designs, place the hoop on a flat surface. Trim any threads, both at the top and bottom as well as excess wash away stabilizer. Unpin and gently pull away all the tear away stabilizer from the fabric.
9. We want the same design on all four sides, so we will repeat steps 2-8 and sew the design on all four sides.	10. Gently wash the breadcloth in cold water to remove all the wash away stabilizer. If you have missed any threads that need trimming, also do that now.
11. Lay the breadcloth on a flat surface over a towel to dry. Once dried, spray starch and iron the breadcloth from the wrong side of the fabric.	12. And our breadcloth is now complete.