Tag Archives: snowflakes

Qullting with Machine Embroidery: An Experiment

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Even good ideas can start with a real mess. That’s what’s shown above.

I had the inspiration to do a small quilt/wall-hanging featuring a panel of some holiday-decorated sheds. Charming right? They really are.

And I wanted the quilting to be featured, because I really liked the idea of falling snowflakes as a quilting design.

I got this design at Embroidery Library who just never fails me. Then the idea snowballed (no pun intended) and I found a charming village embroidery that I wanted to incorporate.

So far so good.

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!

P.S. Don’t forget your quilt labels!

Just Like Grandma Used to Make – Almost

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This time of year, I really long for some snow.  Like everyone else, I’m really sick of it by March, but late November, early December, give me a little bit of holiday cheer in the form of weather.

At a recent community supper, I was lamenting about the lack of snow and how much I wanted to see it this year and global warming, blah, blah.    A friend looked at me and said, “As long as the weather stays moderate, I can work outside.  Working outside makes for a decent income.  When weather gets cold, we need different kinds of contracts–indoor work.  And while I can still get that, it’s never enough.  The longer I can work outside, the better.”

Oh. Now I see.  (I was blind and now I see.)   I don’t need the weather outside to be frightful, even though a fire is so delightful. I’d rather see people keep their jobs and income.

As for snowflakes, I can make my own.  Grandma used to make wonderful doilies by hand, some of them no larger than the palm of your hand. I still have a few.  But times have changed a bit, and now I can make ornaments with basically the same look, only they are done on an embroidery machine.  Free-standing lace is what they are called.  No teeny tiny crochet hooks.  Though I love the look of handwork, too often, I just don’t have the time.

I used two layers of Aquamesh  Washaway stabilizer.  Once the design stitches out,  cut away the bulk of the stabilizer, and rinse the rest under warm water. It disappears almost instantly.  I prefer Aquamesh over Badgemaster, having used them both now.  Badgemaster has a gummy, gooey feel to it as it rinses and does not seem to rinse as easily.  But in a pinch, it will work just fine.

Then just lay them flat and pin them onto a piece of styrofoam.  They dry out overnight, and maintain a slight stiffness.  Whenever I do this part it reminds me of the way my mom used to wash out doilies (she made plenty of them too).  But she had to starch them to get them to hold a shape, while mine will have a slight residue of the stabilizer to keep them in their shape. It’s a little hard to see the pins in the photo, but they are essential to maintaining the shape and flatness of the ornaments.  Free standing lace embroidery is everywhere these days, and I’ve seen some gorgeous designs for the holidays.

Most of these came from a collection by OESD called Snowflake Elegance #12429.

And I guess they are still homemade, though I have been contemplating exactly what that means.  If it’s made on a machine, is it really made by hand?  When I ask myself that question, I think about what Grandma might have done if she could have gotten her hands on a machine like I have.  I think about my mom and her knitting machines.  And the question then becomes not whether or not I should make use of technology, but with my heritage, why wouldn’t I?