So here’s a very easy use of Kraft-Tex and machine embroidery to create a charming village.
I re-upped this border design which I used on my last quilt project. Some simple white Kraft-Tex and an exacto knife, and I trimmed the whole thing.
I attached it with crazy glue to a 1 x 1 block painted white. Honestly, the simplest of ideas. And yet, it’s really effective. For anyone who’s not familiar with Kraft-tex, it’s a tough, durable leather-like textile. It withstands a lot. It won’t rip. It’s washable, if that’s what you want to do.
But I just used a sticky-back tearaway stabilizer (Stabilstick) with a piece of the white Kraft-Tex on top. This particular design is ideal for this application. It’s not stitch heavy, but enough to hold its visibility.
I created three of these village scenes, added some fairy lights, with a backdrop of a white birch, which I already owned.
A bit of white filler which I found in the basement (for making stuffed shapes, pillows, etc.)
And when I was done, I had a charming village which would look lovely on a mantle. I have it on a book shelf in our hallway.
It took very little time to create this scenario, and of course, I wished there had been a series of these borders with other shops and scenes all in the same profile. But this worked out on its own.
I hope your holidays are peaceful and calm. May you enjoy your craft and create beautiful things. Happy Stitching!
But I really got hung up on the border. I wanted so badly to incorporate red and white buffalo checks. I tried it in so many ways. I wanted it to fit with my soon-to-be Christmas theme of red and white gingham. (Never mind that my whole house is going to look like a CrackerBarrel.) Anyway, you can see from the top pic that the red was jarring and annoying.
The village border embroidery, however, was adorable and I had to use a mid-tone fabric, so that the snow trim on the village would show up.
I finally landed on a layout that seemed calm, and simple and peaceful, like the images on the quilt.
Now for the snowflake quilting. The first thing I did was stitch out the design on pieces of cutaway stabilizer. I stitch out the first right side up, and the second upside down. Yes, I could have just turned it around in the machine each time, but I also saved the design in software both ways. So with each hooping, I could choose A or B, and didn’t have to fuss with turning the design upside down and back on the screen every time. I cut them to precisely fit the inside of the hoop and used it as a guide to hoop each design.
With the first stitch out, I knew I was going to love the quilting.
Giant snowlflakes falling on a sleepy Christmas village. Yum!
But then I started to really worry about the darker color. Would the snowflakes be too busy? Would the embroidery design underneath hold its integrity against the quilting?
It worked just fine, I’m happy to say. The quilting adds texture, and if you look closely you can see the snowflakes. But they do not overwhelm the village, which was my fear. The quilting thread throughout is Isacord white. Top and bobbin. And it worked like a dream.
Do not try to do machine embroidery quilting with Aurifil. Look. I love Aurifil as much as anyone else, but it really is not designed for the high speed of machine embroidery. It breaks and you will want to scream. (Ask me how I know. Luckily, I learned that lesson on a prior project. Now I only use machine embroidery thread when using machine embroidery for quilting. Just imagine doing 40-some-odd hoopings, and you have to keep stopping for thread breaks. Trust, me on this one…use embroidery thread.)
And one more word of advice: Be sure to leave plenty of batting and backing around the outside of your quilt when you are embroidering. I had to do several hoopings that reached the edge of the quilt and stitched off. You need the room to let the design stitch on something as it runs off the end of your quilt.
In the end, the quilting turned out lovely, and I’m really enjoying the tiny details. It’s a “look closer” kind of quilt.
I want to encourage you to try machine embroidery for quilting. I know it’s intimidating, and 40+ hoopings sounds daunting. But each hooping took about 7 minutes to stitch out. So maybe 8 hours of work spread out over 2-3 days. I was able to precisely place each sequential hooping by using the 2 different cutaway stabilizer templates.
The look is exactly what I wanted. But let me tell you, along the way, I was never sure it would work. I guess that’s what makes it fun.
Happy Stitching to all of you, and Happy Holiday Season!
If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know I like my embroidery software. But I recently made a switch…for many reasons.
I switched to Hatch Embroidery Software. It is made by Wilcom, the same folks who create Bernina Embroidery Software. So if you have used Bernina, the user interface will look familiar.
They offer 3 levels of functionality, and I decided to go with the one that is basically the least expensive. I certainly could upgrade at any point. But for now, I’m very, very pleased. I found that I was not doing a lot of digitizing from scratch. In fact, most of the time I just purchased a design, added copy (or words) and was done.
I wouldn’t discourage anyone from using any embroidery software, as long as you learn to use it and then USE IT. What I found is that I was not using 90% of the software I was paying (quite a lot) of money for.
So I switched to something that is easier in functionality, downloads in a flash, is not encumbered by any hefty programs, and still does what I want it to do.
Reasons I use embroidery software:
–I like to see the order of thread colors that my design will stitch out.
–I want to personalize it by adding words or names. I do all my quilt labels in embroidery.
–I always want to know stich count.
–I like to be able to re-size my designs, or combine them on a screen that is big enough for me to see.
–I want to easily use the software on both my desktop and laptop. I keep my laptop near the sewing machine so I can refer to it, while I’m stitching out. But I purchase designs on my desktop.
Reasons to switch:
–I want to easily use my software on both my desktop and laptop, without it getting bogged down launching or freezing.
–I’m really tired of dongles and USB sticks for loading.
–Honestly, I don’t want to pay quite so much to upgrade every time for features I rarely use.
This is a personal decision and everyone has different software needs. And our personal embroidery software wants and needs change over time. Believe me, no one pays me to promote their software, so I am free to make decisions based on my own preferences.
But, of course, I wanted to share those things with you. Once I discovered this software, I was really pleased that it was an option for me.
Hatch offers a 3-tiered purchasing offer. The one I use is Personalizer. But they have 2 more upgrades which have more functionality.
You can use all 3 versions for a month for free, so you can decide which best suits you and the things you want to create. And heaven knows, they always encourage you to upgrade/update.
I find that this works for me at the moment. I reserve the right to change my mind.
And next time, it won’t cost me quite as much to do so.
I thought I would share the final version of this quilt.
Looks like I’m ready to move on to a baby shower gift. The next one will be a modern quilt. I’m busy cutting out pieces at the moment and will share it with you as soon as I get a bit further.
But here’s a little idea for those of you who do machine embroidery and drop food on yourselves. Wouldn’t you like to see the Venn diagram for that?
Anyway, I do both those things. And so I had a stain from something delicious on a shirt that I made during the pandemic. The fact that it has held up for a few seasons and many washings makes it even better. Nevertheless, I had some kind of drip down the front of it that the washing machine and dryer just made permanent. I’ve never been good with stains and I will take any and all suggestions. I don’t remember quite what the stain was on this shirt, likely some reddish fruit juice. (That’s not a euphemism for wine. I only drink white, and that’s rare.)
So I added an embroidery design. I wanted it to be light weight…and it needed to be the shape of something that dripped while I was eating or drinking…or cooking.
Luckily, I found this collection from Embroidery Online called Heirloom Birds. Turned out to be the perfect design. Lightweight, easy and quick to stitch. I purchased the whole collection. I am a healthy eater, so there’s bound to be more where this came from.
Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your craft. Don’t be afraid to use it to your advantage. None of us is perfect. But a little embroidery goes a long way. (That has to be in a Jane Austen novel somewhere.)
Happy Spring! I’ll be in touch as my next quilt gets further along.
No one uses paper any more. I know. Just a quick email or text…how are you? what’s up? how’s everything? hey, thanks (I may be using too much punctuation.)
But I am a card writer. I would much rather tell someone how I feel in long form. And if I want to confound my son, like sending a message in code, I use cursive, which no one in younger generations can interpret.
Last year, or maybe the year before, or maybe even 2019, I purchased some card stock for machine embroidery.
I did not purchase anything new to make these. That’s part of my new goal, to be as much of a non-consumer as possible unless it is electronic. The designs don’t count, at least not in my book, as they are digital–a simple download, and off we go.
Here are a few tips if you want to work with machine embroidery and cardstock:
Use designs specifically digitized for cards. Unless you are daring and a pro, I don’t recommend trying to use any design that is stitch-heavy. It’s just not worth the hassle.
Use a sticky back cutaway stabilizer like Stabilstick Cutaway from OESD
Score the paper side of the stabilizer, and remove it from inside the hoop. You hoop the stabilizer first, paper side up, then score it with a straight pin. Don’t be afraid. Then just tear it out of the inside of the hoop.
On OESD designs, the first stitch is for placement of the card. The first color of the design is a stitched rectangle that goes directly onto the stabilizer and shows you where to place the card. It saves you from some fiddling you might have to do with other designs to get the placement centered.
General machine embroidery tip: If the machine says it will take 15 minutes to stitch out, allow 30 minutes. The time allowed for stitching is just that: stitching time. It doesn’t account for any thread changing time, or cutting of jump stitches or your general speed that you like to work. The more thread changes, the more time you should allow “over” the predicted time.
Always start with a well-oiled machine, a full bobbin and a new needle (sharp or Microtex 80/12.)
This Christmas card from OESD was quite stitch heavy, and I’m not sure I would do it again. It required an applique for the black background. I measured the placement stitch and cut a piece of Kraft-Tex to fit. It turned out well, but I did not appreciate the amount of time involved for one card.
You can see the back of one of the cards. I think you can cover that up with another piece of cardstock. But I thought that some of the charm was that it looked as nice from behind as it did from the front.
As someone who loves stationery, I found these lovely and easy to stitch, for the most part. The designs do come with thread charts and instructions, but it’s a lot more fun to choose your own color way.
Finally, for the last card in the box, I took one of my photos (a peace lily bloom, with a pointsettia background). I transferred it onto the card using Transfer Artist Paper. It was simple and easy, and now I have a set of personalized cards for all occasions.
I hope you still write letters from time to time. I love to receive them and I think others do too. In a world where everything is fleeting, fast and electronic, let’s cherish a little bit of slow communication.
I update this sign on my door with the seasons. And I thought it would be cute to put up something for Valentine’s Day.
So I shopped around some of my favorite machine embroidery sites, looking for a charming Valentine’s Day design.
I was confronted by a trashy array of cupcakes, lips and kissing pigs. (OK, I know some of you would love the kissing pigs.) But it’s not what I was looking for at all.
And the hearts .So many hideous hearts. Big, ugly, hearts with loads of swirls and ornation. Gathered in multiples, in solid colors, outlines, curving, distorted, nouveau, deco, modern, punk, angry, broken, baroque, and dipped in gnomes.
I hated it all.
Truly, this is a message to all machine embroidery designers: You can do better on Valentine’s Day.
I would have settled for one of those vintage red trucks with a load of flowers and sweets…tastefully done, with some script. Or how about all the charming old school Valentine’s from the forties? Wouldn’t it be cute to have a line of those in embroidery? Or how about those old Victorian Valentine’s Day cards? Tell me you couldn’t create some designs that played off of those? Or anything cozy? After all, we’re still in the dead of winter.
Anything other than the selection that’s available now. Which is gag-worthy.
And I say that with love in my heart for artists and designers.
So after all of that, I settled on a design that barely hints of Valentine’s Day, but is warm, inviting and sweet. And it will look just as good on February 15 as it does right now. In fact, it will even carry into spring.
It’s a bit stitch heavy, but looks great against the black.
I did the design on black Kraft-tex, which is surprisingly good at supporting machine embroidery. The trick is to use two layers of cutaway stabilizer.
I still have to figure out how to create a Valentine for my husband this year. Sadly, it won’t likely be machine embroidery, though I had hoped to find something charming. I thought about the kissing pigs, and then decided against an off-color joke about our pandemic weight gains.
I have other tricks up my sleeve, though.
So carry on, sewists. Surround yourselves with bright colors and whatever helps get you through the day.
I have watched the YouTube videos. I have studied people moving those needles in and out. I purchased the right fabric. I can sew, machine embroider, hand embroider, knit, crochet, do hand quilting. I’m not afraid of stitching by hand. But for the love of all that is good, I cannot figure out how to cross stitch. I. Cannot. Do. It.
Using Bernina Embroidery Software 8, I got the idea into my head that I could run a border of these gorgeous cross stitch patterns around the outside of a very simple tree skirt I was making.
But as always, it was not an easy task. Like Tina Turner, I never do anything nice and easy. I do it nice, and rough.
It starts with a scan of the pattern, which needs to be trimmed to the exact pattern size in some sort of graphics software. I’m used to working in Adobe, so that’s what I used. But Bernina’s software comes with Corel, so you can use that too. Then it gets imported into the Cross Stitch application in the software.
Now comes the tedious part. Every single stitch gets reconstructed with a click, and a color choice. If you look closely enough at the above image, you can see that some of it is filled in with color, and some of it still has the cross stitch symbols shown. It took me about an hour to get everything filled in for that design.
The next step is to move it into the embroidery program. The software then converts every click that you made in cross stitch into machine embroidery stitches. And it’s pretty magical. One moment it’s just a weird looking drawing, the next minute it’s stitches that my machine will understand.
And I am absolutely loving the way these turned out.
I still have a long way to go on this tree skirt, and each design from start to finish probably takes about three hours. Could someone do it by hand in that time? Maybe someone who knows what they’re doing. That would not be me, when it comes to cross stitch. But I am just so taken in by their charm and sweetness.
I hope you are tolerating this difficult holiday season.
I leave you with this December thought:
“Someday soon we all will be together If the fates allow Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.”
I am not ashamed to say I had a rough summer. Between the pandemic, and a kid who’s still in the school system, I managed to fall while taking pictures. Hard. On my knee, but did a number on the ankle too.
Wound up in the ER, and x-rays were fine, but still healing. On top of that, I have the usual “You know, at your age…” health issues. But hard as I tried, I was not able to avoid going to a doctor until coronavirus is eradicated….as I had hoped. Who am I kidding?
So layer on top of that all the societal and natural disaster issues we’re facing and I made a decision:
TO PAINT MY FRONT DOOR CORAL.
Why? That’s a good question. I was all set to go with teal. And then I randomly saw a pic online of a coral front door. And I couldn’t get it out of my head. You need to know that my front door is a very dark, forest green. It has been that way for 18 years.
But it suddenly became my obsession. A primal scream, I think. I NEED A CORAL FRONT DOOR.
Since then I have discovered, to my surprise, that a front door that faces south should indeed be red or orange according to feng shui principles. Who knew. (Not me.) So, apparently, I did the right thing.
It was not my favorite. It went on kind of gloppy and was a semi-gloss. I’m generally a satin girl. And please note, that while I was doing this I was NEVER sure it was going to work. My only thought was that if I ruined the front door, we needed a new one anyway.
The first coat was pretty hideous. It was a lot of work just to get that far, and needed several hours to dry. I had to keep going back and smooth over places that wanted to drip. At this point, I was really torn. Give up now and paint it black? Or forge ahead and see where I end up. Anyone in their right mind would have hired a professional to salvage what they could.
I went for it.
Two more coats later.
My husband strolled by while I was in the process. “You’re making the front door pink?”
“IT’S NOT PINK, IT’S CORAL!”
He and my teenage son exchanged glances and backed away. They don’t really care.
But at least here’s where I get to the sewing part. Now I needed something to put on the door.
I have some black Kraft-tex, and so anyone who’s read this blog in the past, knows I love my Kraft-tex. I wanted a round doorhanger, but one that I could update seasonally. Or just when I got tired of it.
But the tool has a maximum circle size of about 8.5 inches. Not nearly as big as I wanted it.
So I approached my husband with the tool, and I told him what I wanted to do. He has a mill and a 3D printer. I wondered if he could help me find a way to get bigger circles.
He sniffed around the tool for a bit, while I went off to make dinner. An hour later he handed me an extender. Then he attached it.
He simply fitted it to the device, added a screw and bolt to hold it together and, like magic, I can now make circles about twice the size. It was amazing! And it worked perfectly. My new circle was somewhere near 18 ” acorss, almost the entire length of the Kraft-tex paper.
Now I just stitched my embroidery out and attached it with a single stitch to the the circle. I made slots so that I could switch out the seasonal part at any time.
I finished it up with a ribbon and hung it with a flourish.
I have no idea how anyone else is coping. I hope you are doing well.
I highly recommend doing something you’ve been afraid to do. (Let’s not get reckless here, I’m talking about painting a door, or a room, or yikes! a dresser.)
I didn’t know I needed this color in my life. Nor do I know how long I will want it. But it showed up at the right time for me.
Tell me why you sew, and I’ll tell you who you are. Isn’t that the truth? These wonderful ladies, friends of mine, wanted to learn machine embroidery. We won’t talk about how long they have had their embroidery units neatly packed away in boxes with all the best intentions in the world.
We’ve been talking about getting together for years to learn the ins and outs, tips and tricks of the trade. Finally — we did it.
They came over to my house for a day and and I gave them the basic Embroidery 101 lessons. Someday, I will write it all down in lesson form for this blog. I know there are plenty of others out there who have an embroidery unit packed away somewhere, hoping that they will use it eventually. Or maybe you gave up on embroidery entirely.
I am here to re-inspire you. Machine embroidery is truly fun. And the more you know, the more you can experiment, and the more you are inspired to try new things. The hardest part? Getting started.
You can see from these pics that one of the biggest impetuses (is that a word?) for machine embroidery is, wait for it, grandchildren. And children as well . But I think the grandkids get the machine embroidery lovin’. Why? Because they are fun. The things we do for them is done with pure love with no expectations for anything in return.
That’s also why I teach. I want to share what I know, so that others can enjoy this craft. I also want us to use our hands, machines, brains and ideas to make things and to inspire each other, and maybe that will spread into the world and make a difference.
I don’t know if it will. All I know is that they will be coming back for another lesson next week. I hope it inspires you to dig in, as well.
The old saying goes “You can’t take it with you.”
No you can’t. But with any luck, we can quilt it, sew, it, embroider it and leave some of it behind and hope it does some good.
