Alignment Stitches With Embird

I had someone ask what fusible fleece is.  Fusible fleece is a thin batting that you fuse to your fabric.  It's not fusible batting which is much thicker.  

Here's what I was talking about when I was using Embird to make an alignment stitch.  Sticky stabilizer is like contact paper and is used if you don't want to hoop something.  For the quilt block I am working on, hooping each design over and over would stretch out the fabric and distort it.  However; I think I'm doing a good job of that on my own.  LOL.  Here's what sticky stabilizer looks like:

From Embroidery Designs

On the first test out I drew horizontal/vertical lines on the stabilizer but it didn't work as I was still off.  I tried several times to line with the lines I had drawn on the fabric to the lines I had drawn on the paper.  Then I realized the lines I had drawn weren't done right with the marks on the hoop as I did the alignment stitch on it.  Sigh.

Here's what the fabric looks like on top of the hoop.  You can see the references lines I've drawn.  My design HAS to be perfectly aligned with those lines or it won't fit.  I know the lines aren't perfectly straight when I placed it on the stabilizer either because I'm not that good.

From Embroidery Designs

In Embird I can do an alignment stitch that does a horizontal/vertical set of stitches so I can double check my if my marks are exactly centered on the hoop.

From Embroidery Designs

Errr...  I think I'm just a little off.  If I just guessed my design would have gone over into the other design.  Sigh.  I'm really pathetic at lining this up.  LOL.

I take out the stitches and I get needle holes in the stabilizer for exact placement.  I thought about doing that first, but it actually works better if stitch over the fabric first.

From Embroidery Designs

I put the my fabric lines up with the perforated stabilizer and it works perfectly every time.  And yes; I have tried it with the grids on the lined paper.  You still need center marks on the sticky part. 

It would be totally awesome if the machine gave you this option.  Or if the overpriced 4D Extra would do this as part of their editing.  If you are looking for embroidery software, buy Embird.  The name brand software programs aren't awful, they are just extremely limited in what they can do and they force you to keep buying up until you spend a fortune on their TOL software.    

Machine Embroidery Tips

I ordered my threads today for the peacock bag. I'm slowly understanding the machine embroidery world of designs. Here's what I've figured out:

1. Check Your Sizes. I almost ordered a 9 inch design by accident. My largest hoop is a 5x7. Also check if your design is too small..or has enough designs that are in scale to one another. I ordered a set thinking they were different sizes and they weren't. There are no exchanges or refunds in this world.

2. Check Your Format. Janome runs on JEF. Before ordering make sure you buy the right format. Now, if you screw up and have a spiffy software program you can convert designs, but I don't. I've found that a lot of "freebies" only come in certain formats.

3. Know What You Want. People are out to get you to buy their stuff. They offer freebies, discounts, special pricing for joining their groups/newsletters, and funky sales ideas. It's almost like watching "QVC" all day long. LOL. It's really easy to fall into the trap of buying things not because you want them, but because they hype it up. Hmm..don't they do that with fabric too? LOL

4. Back Up Your Designs. If your computer crashes, you are out of luck. I copy mine to CD and label the discs. I have some on a USB drive as well. Actually; someone on the Janome group had a great idea of backing up all your personal stuff on a USB drive in case of emergency and you have to leave your house ASAP.

5. Don't Be Afraid To Try New Things. I fell in love with the peacock design on the purse but had to decide if I wanted to try the purse. I took the risk because the design was on sale and I liked the design of the purse. The site had 2 other peacock designs on sale as well, but I knew they weren't for me. There are TONS of purse patterns out there, but I liked this one.

6. Check The Quality Of The Design. It might be a stunning design, but if it seems "off" it might be. 99% of the designers I've used are incredible and I haven't had a problem. I have been to other sites that have been plain awful.

I love sites that show examples of their work and work from other people. As a newbie, it boosts my confidence and gives me ideas of what to do with a design. I'm not so much interested in freebies as I am with workable projects. The peacock purse had directions, thread lists, and actual pictures of the purse. While the designer figured I knew what I was doing when she wrote the tutorials, having pictures is wonderful.

7. Print Out Templates. I have a 3 ring binder full of print outs of the designs in their sizes. It helps me plan out a pattern and I have instant access to designs. Yes, it takes time and space but it really helps.

8. Organize. I'm still working on this one. I know they have software out there for organizing down to the tiniest detail but at this point, I can't afford them nor do I need it. However; if you stick everything under your embroidery file, it's easy to lose things. I do have subfiles and that helps some. This is where the physical template binder helps. I can be more anal there.

I find that organizing by designer helps more than organizing by subject. Then within the designer you can put in flowers, quilt blocks, etc

9. Join The Groups/Newsletters That You will Buy From. With everyone wanting your attention it's easy to join everything. I've had to scale down to the sites that I do want instead of everything. There's no point having someone that you don't want, emailing you every day to buy their stuff. Joining up with some groups has let me find sites that I would never find on my own.

10. Buying From Different Sites. I've found that designers are on several sites that are like being in a shopping mall. Each "mall" has different payment types and offer different types of "rewards" and clubs. Some "malls" I don't like so I don't use them. Designers have their own site but belong to "malls". I watch the specials from each "mall" and buy that way to get the best deal for me.