Sometimes My Embroidery Machine Hates Me

The project I'm working on now is Vogue 7828 (see my last post for a picture). After the fitting muslin, my next step is choosing thread color for the embroidery. (Note that I didn't use the embroidery I showed in the last blog entry.  I went with the Flowerful design set instead.  My friend, T used the other set and I wanted to do something different).

I was happily surprised that I took only three tries to come up with a combination I liked. Usually, choosing the exact right colors is a process analogous to how I imagine Michelangelo approaching painting the Sistine Chapel. I see him pondering color samples and throwing on trial strokes of color. My usual process consists of days of sorting through threads, stitch-out after stitch-out, agony over the multitude of choices, then finally a decision, my hair noticeably sparser with clumps sprinkled around the sewing room floor from my unconscious pulling.

However, this process was quite fast for my current project with only 3 stitch-outs and one clear winner.

With the colors settled, I commenced the embroidery. In my own tart-it-up style, I chose to have lots of embroidery on the blouse. Queen Victoria would be proud of my lack of restraint when it comes to decorating my pieces. I planned a line of embroidery running next to each of the seam lines on one of the fronts, a line down one sleeve and embroidery strewn quite liberally across the back.

I have a pretty good relationship with my embroidery machine. It trusts me to use good thread, stabilize correctly and to use designs that aren't too dense for comfort. In return, I trust my embroidery machine to stitch each color of a design from start to finish without breaking thread or needles or stopping indiscriminately.

The system works most of the time. Usually I can set a design stitching and walk away to do something else. When I'm really on a roll, I have all 3 embroidery machines going at once, my own team of sewing elves working independently while I finish something different. Unfortunately, today the elves rebelled. Maybe it was commentary on my color choice or the sheer amount of embroidery for the piece, but during the last quarter of the third line, things began to go wrong.
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The first two lines were challenging. The top line had to follow a stitching line which bends up at a 30 degree angle. (The stitching line's angle creates a dart, pulling the edges together at the armhole.) To make sure I was sufficiently challenged, the next two lines required precise placement so they would each be centered between seams.

Line 1 stitched perfectly, even the bend. Ditto line 2. It was in the middle of the third, that things headed downhill.

First - I left  the room for just a few minutes to take a shower and dry my hair.  When I came back the machine was stopped with a broken needle dangling on the thread. Why, Machine? Why?  Of course there was an answer. The thread had twisted around the thread stand freezing up the feed. The thread pulled tight and zip - the needle broke.

Never underestimate the power of me as a disgruntled worker. Before I broke the second needle I had a major "operator error." I changed out the needle and rebooted the machine as I usually do. Unfortunately, I was particularly spacey when I fast forwarded the machine to the color I thought should sew next and I skipped color 3. It wasn't until I was totally finished with color 4 that I realized the rather major error. At first I thought I could stitch color 3 after color 4 but machine embroidery is not that simple. There are bunches of places where color 3 stitches from one part of the design to another. These stitches will be hidden under the flowers of the later colors, many of those flowers are color 4 flowers. So... if I stitched color 3 after color 4 it would stitch right over the flowers.  Shoot.  Time to break out more fabric and start again. Good thing I purchase fabric in leviathan amounts.


I re-threaded and started up again. I wasn't 30 seconds into this stitch-out when I heard the dreaded ka-thunk.  Needle number two was in two pieces. This time it was because I was at the end of my bobbin. The last teeny bit of thread clung tenaciously to the bobbin causing resistance and another broken needle. Unfortunately, this needle breakage jerked the fabric out of the hoop which meant starting yet again. My pile of extra fabric wasn't looking quite as massive.

Needle Number Three's unfortunate demise was a direct result of Needle Number Two. In the process of finishing off the late Needle Number Two, the threads had tangled around the bobbin and nudged the throat plate just a little out of line. Funny, the reaction of a needle hitting a solid surface like a throat plate.  That Poor Number Three didn't have a chance. Ka-thunk again.

Sometimes I think the machine breaks needles just to tell me to change my needles more often.

I'm pleased to say that I've finished the embroidery and I love it. I did finish with three versions of the left back panel, which enabled interesting comparisons. When I first started this project, I sewed out a couple of color options. Now I have two more variations and I like them both. I'm not unhappy with the final product but I like the other two as well.

Kind of put a crimp in my feeling of omnipotence as far as color choices. Looks like there were lots of other ways I could have gone. The obvious choice doesn't seem so obvious anymore.

Stay tuned for the next installment from the Needle Graveyard, with plenty of pictures.

I've Been Pantsed

Today's project should have been quick and easy: the first of a series of sample pants for an article proposal I'm putting together. The article will feature multiple pairs of pants, each uniquely embellished with embroidery. The operative phrase here is 'should have been'. The reality was a little different.

Let me explain that I love making pants. I really love making pants. Once you have you have a pattern or set of alterations that fit, pants almost make themselves. Unfortunately that lesser known ancient pant god, Bracchaeos, was not smiling on me today.

My goal was to use an embroidery design of mine from the Cutting Edge design set.  You might have seen these designs before because I use this set often. It's versatile and adaptable to all kinds of clothing.

Here's a picture that was published in Designs in Machine Embroidery magazine. No false modesty here - I love the designs and I love the vest.

Today I had another vision for these designs; using them to tart up the side seam of a pair of pants.

Because my goal was to produce pants that didn't resemble clown pants (or emphasize my, shall we say, low center of gravity), I wanted a color combination that would be less bold than the one on the vest. A quick search of my internal resource center unearthed a woven cotton with a little lycra in a quiet beige. The cotton/lycra meant the pants could be close fitting. 

My closest fitting pants pattern has a seam down the front of the pants, offering an additional design opportunity. I decided to put a stripe of a coordinating fabric in that front seam.

I spent quite a bit of time auditioning fabrics for the stripe. I tried an animal print, a stripe set on a bias, some wonderful men's wear fabrics.... on and on.  I sent pictures of my auditions to a few select friends seeking input on what fabric to use.

I thought I was so clever, coming up with this idea of using the embroidery and the stripe. I made the pants and took pictures.

The pictures made me humble. The stripe looked terrible.

You don't have to tell me. I know. The pants don't look good.  Here are a few of the captions I came up with for the picture.  Feel free to add your captions below.

"Surrender your wallet and valuables. We're putting you in cell 3."

Or

"Where's the striped shirt to go with those convict pants?"

Or

"The black and white forest shirt, found in the temperate regions of Kazakhstand, is known for sending out root tendrils that navigate the length of the pants to sink into the earth, eventually rendering the wearer immobile and planted."

I have memories of a movie usher selling cigarettes and I'm pretty sure he wore pants with a stripe down the front but so far I haven't located any pictures of the guy.  Does the phrase 'Call for Phillip Morris' ring a bell?


No matter how I sliced it I wasn't going to wear these pants in public.

So I removed the stripe. It took less than an hour. That was an hour well spent. I was right about the embroidery, though.

Now, if it were as easy to get the wrinkles out of my neck!

In case you're interested, here's a closeup of the embroidery:

A Ringing Endorsement

Last Friday I decided to make up a new project using the Bell Choir Embroidery Designs. It’s obvious now that what appeared to be a compulsion was an avoidance technique as my to-do list rivals the national census. But that didn’t matter, I wanted, no, needed, to make up a wall hanging using these delicate bells. The seed was planted when I received my copy of the latest "Through The Needle” magazine (Winter 2009) which features my article on the mantel scarf shown here.


The seed germinated when I saw the pictures of those golden bells stitched across those pristine white rectangles. I wanted - no, needed - to use these designs again.

I won’t go through the excruciating details of choosing my fabric.I’ll just mention a trip to a local quilt store and the ravaging of the closets in my ‘internal resource center.’ At one point our house was covered with multiple stacks of fabric, all auditioning a particular color/print combination. No room was left untouched - not the living room, the kitchen or even the downstairs bathroom. After tripping over fabric for two days it became clear to me that the bells wanted to be sewn on my collection of cream and gold silk dupioni silks.

I decided that, like the mantel scarf in the article, this would be another Quilt as You Go project. The Quilt as You Go method is a method of quilting in which you finish individual quilt squares, including batting and backing, then assemble the squares into a quilt that bypasses the free motion quilting step. (I have free Quilt As You Go instructions on my website on the Bell Choir page. They will be there for no charge for a while.) You can use the Quilt as You Go method with the Bell Choir embroidery designs because there is a version of each bell that includes a rectangle of stippling surrounding the bell. It’s easy to make the quilted rectangles. Here's how:

• Hoop your top fabric and batting and stitch out all of the colors of the design the last color (the stipple stitch). Remove the hoop from the machine but DO NOT REMOVE THE FABRIC FROM THE HOOP!
  Turn the hoop over and cover the back of the hoop with a rectangle of fabric.I use masking tape to temporarily attach the edges of the fabric to the edges of the hoop.

• Turn the hoop over so the right side is up again and place the hoop back into the machine and stitch the last color.
  

So I created quilted rectangles, lots of quilted rectangles. I chose a deep gold thread and cream dupioni and stitched 12 of the designs.

I love the contrast of the luscious dupioni and the embroidery. I think its stunning. Nevertheless, after stitching 9 of the suckers boredom set in. Luckily, boredom can breed creativity. The appliqué version of the design, I started changing fabric combinations.

First was the original cream dupioni on a gold silk background. Next, I used the cream again, but this time with a checked gold dupioni as the main fabric. I liked that pretty well so I pulled out another background – a striped textured silk, again with the cream as an appliqué. Then I used a white dupioni with the striped fabric from the last square as the appliqué. I have more; a pale yellow dupioni for the background, a white with a brocade appliqué.

I've begun putting the wall hanging together so I have more fun and games and pictures. Stay tuned!

The Christmas Stocking Chronicles

In theory, making a Christmas stocking is easy. Decorate a piece of material, cut it out in a stocking shape, sew on a back and voila! A fiber art masterpiece. OK, I knew it would be a little more than that but compared with my usual sewing, elaborate garments covered with embroidery, one little stocking should be a cinch.

Well, sometimes theory and reality are not synonymous.

When the folks at Designs in Machine Embroidery asked me if I’d be interested in making a Christmas stocking for the holiday issue I jumped on it. The requirements were simple; make a Christmas stocking using machine embroidery. To spice it up I could add as many other embellishment techniques as I wanted. Oh yes, one more thing, I had to use one of three color combinations: gold and white, silver and light blue, or red and green. Well, it seemed easy. That is till I actually started the project.

Though I am truly the queen of procrastination I had a flash of rational thought and began this project 4 weeks before the deadline.

Getting Started

I began with a search of my internal resource center. Surely with the thousands of yards of fabric tucked into every nook and cranny around my house I would have something that would work for my stocking masterpiece.

I chose to make a gold and white stocking. This was an easy choice for me as I have lots of white fabric, very little red and green and I’m pretty sure there isn’t even a tiny bit of light blue fabric anywhere. To add to the appeal of gold and white, I have a quilt that is all white with gold embroidery that is stunning. Surely I could get the same effect as in the quilt in a Christmas stocking. OK - gold and white it is.

Despite an intensive search I couldn’t find any metallic gold fabric. Yes, I looked under the bed and yes, I looked in all the closets and yes, I did look in the boxes of fabric in the spare bathroom shower. No gold fabric.

But that didn’t stop me. I had something just as good, gold Paintstiks. Paintstiks are crayons made from oil paints pressed into a stick. The metallic Paintstiks can color fabric and add a beautiful sheen. Let's see, gold Paintstiks on white fabric, Voila! gold fabric.

How to use the gold Paintstiks? Hmm... My first thought was to show off some of my rubber stamps by placing a stamp under the fabric and rubbing the Paintstik on top. I loved the way this looks. I pulled out a Christmas-y stamp, a Christmas tree consisting of little gold stars stacked up. Houston, we have lift off.

I spent the next few hours working with stamps and Paintstiks.

I began by practicing the rubbing technique. Great, I haven't lost my touch. Obviously I’m on the right track. The trees are gorgeous.

I carefully marked up a grid and systematically placed trees on a line, and then repeated on multiple lines creating an over all pattern. I didn’t have to make a full rectangle, only enough for the stocking.

The gold was beautiful, the trees interesting, the overall pattern was just what I expected. I covered the space for a stocking and then repeated on some more fabric so I would have extra fabric for experimentation.

I was feeling good. I was on my way to creating a stocking and not even close to the deadline. Who was that person occupying my body?

But where to put the embroidery? I tried appliquéing a Christmas tree design in the middle of the patterned fabric. Hmmm, nice. But ‘nice’ is never the goal for me. Stunning, spectacular, gorgeous, moving… that’s the goal.

Next try. What if I filled the triangles between the trees with embroidery? OK, easy enough. I digitized little textured triangles the right size. I tried a variety of textures.

Again, nice. But nice is not good enough!

Next I digitized a little satin stitch triangle to highlight the space. This worked, but the embroidery was definitely from the minimalist camp. Not exactly showcasing machine embroidery.

So Where Could I Go?

Back to the drawing board, literally the drawing board. I next spent some quality time with a sketch book. I doodled stars and snowflakes and lines and arrows. I tried flowers and swirls and just about everything. What about leopard print and gold silk matke? No, not unless the leopard is white, Nothing struck me as just right for a gold and white stocking.

Days had passed and I was no closer to making a stocking. Maybe I should wait till that deadline pressure kicks in.

Around this time my sister, a wise and wonderful woman, gave me some very sage advice, “Forget the color constraints,” she said. “Think of something beautiful and then worry about the colors.”

Ok, that sounded so good. My next doodles resulted in some beautiful designs. I had several but one of the drawings spoke to me. “Me! Me! Me!” it said. So I decided on the simple design of continuous lines of embroidery pieced between vertical lines of fabric.

The Embroidery

Finally I could begin stitching. I knew just what embroidery designs to use, a lovely line of Asian flowers from my Crested Beaut design set sewn in shades of gold.

I set up the machine and started to go. I sewed one set, then moved the hoop for the next. A beautiful bouquet created itself before my very eyes. Unfortunately my instinctive attraction for color overcame my good sense. A spool of rose pink thread had pushed its way into my hand and onto the machine. What’s a little pink between friends? Surely I could slip that into the embroidery as an accent to the gold and white.

I loved it! The flowers were gorgeous. I laid the completed strip of embroidery on my work table to admire.

I gloried, I gloated, basked in the magnificence of my work. Every time I passed the table I admired these gorgeous flowers.

Then the cold hard truth set in. As much as I wanted this line of flowers to be the centerpiece for the stocking, it would not do. With that much pink the stocking would no longer meet the ‘gold and white’ requirements. *!#*##!

Back to the embroidery machine. I needed a new line of embroidery At least I didn’t have to go back to the drawing board.

I did an instant replay on the stitching—only this time in shades of gold. And what a nice surprise, the gold version was just as pretty as the pink!

Now for the piecing.

Stripes Between the Embroidered Strips

When I laid the embroidered strips on the white fabric I wasn’t overwhelmed. The best way to describe the piece was ‘Blah’. What could I do to perk the thing up? Time to pull out the Paintstiks again.

This time I wanted an over all pattern that wouldn't overwhelm the embroidery. I decided on texture plates.

Texture plates are squares of plastic molded with a texture They’re sold in sets of 5 at your local craft and hobby store.

You use texture plates with Paintstiks the same way I used the Christmas tree stamp. Slip a texture plate under fabric and rub lightly with a Paintstik. After the fabric has cured for 24 hours press it using paper towels over the fabric to protect your iron.

My work with Paintstiks produced lightly spotted fabric which perfectly complimented the embroidered panels.

Trims

That wasn’t the end of my decisions. I pulled out the trim box and found a variety of possibilities to use between the fabrics. That one trim box held a line of gold sequins, a tiny line of white dotted with metallic gold pieces and a wide gold braid.

My final option was fabric I created using the gold Paintstiks, pressed into decorative trim.

Creating a Stocking From the Pieced Fabric

After drawing stocking shapes I liked I created a pattern. Because it was so important that the piecing and embroidery be aligned perfectly relative to the stocking, I cut out the center of the drawing and placed the tissue paper over the fabric, adjusting until I liked the final placement.


I then drew around the edges of the stocking. Removing the paper I cut on my drawn lines.

I repeated the whole process for a stocking back.

I completed the stocking in a traditional manner using some fake fur trim for the cuff.

I did add a finishing touch, Bling! I don’t call myself the Self Proclaimed Queen of Bling for nothing. I added hot-fix crystals, and crystals and more crystals. They did it. They added the perfect finishing touch.

So, am I happy? Yes. I love my finished stocking. Did I meet the deadline? Yes, with two weeks to spare.