Drawing Placement Lines For Machine Embroidery

I tried making a movie on how to arrange multiple templates and mark them on fabric but my camera kept acting up.  My son says my voice is hilarious and started laughing.  13-year-old boys think everything is funny.

I marked the fabric according to the directions; through the centers and on the diagonal.  I printed out each template with Embird and cut them out.  This particular block has 13 templates to work with.  

1. Mark Your Centers

Embird prints out my designs with center lines through the entire template.  If your design/template doesn't have centers marked through the entire template, draw them out.  Or find a reference point to work with.  Push a pin through the center of each template so you can mark the centers later.

2.  Making Templates Temporary

I like double sided tape but couldn't find it today.  I ended up using 505 spray instead.  I had too many pieces to just lay out.  505 spray was messy but it worked. I know some people make templates using special paper that is reusable.  

3.  Lay Out Templates

Following the picture/guide start laying out the templates.   Align them using the center lines on your fabric and on your templates.  You can see them between the two flowers and aligned up.

From Embroidery Designs

Think about placement and what is going to be done first and last.  Work from the back to the front.  In this block, I think the two flowers are going to be embroidered first.  Because they are stitched as one piece and I have another motif that sits between them, I have them first for visibility.  You can always reposition your pieces.

Keep checking for accuracy and make sure your placement guides line up on the diagonal, vertical, and horizontal lines.  I found I had to cut closer around the templates to have them all fit.

This is why having that cross reference line stitch from Embird is so important when I do a new motif.  If I'm off just a little, the entire design is off.  Just like in quilting. This block is cutting it close for my embroidery skills.    

From Embroidery Designs

4.  Mark Your Center And Outer Lines Of Templates

Using a pencil or other marking tool mark the center and the reference lines for each piece.  If they were quilting templates trace them out.

Take a ruler and draw lines from the outside edges making sure the lines are in the center.

From Quilted with Love

With the above lines you can now embroider the designs for your block.