Embroidery Machine Advice Archives - Top Embroidery Machines

5 Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Posted on December 10, 2016 Written by admin

If you have been embroidering for quite some time, you may have already discovered some embroidery tips and techniques yourself. I have also been embroidering for two decades now, and have been teaching my kids how to enjoy this activity. Here are some ‘hacks’ that I have discovered myself and love – hopefully they are useful for you too.

Prepare some color cover-ups

When I was still starting, and even for several times recently, I find myself facing some malfunctions in my patterns. At times, it can be an obvious tearaway stabilizer along the edges, or a simple malfunction that reveals too much background.

Most of the time, these malfunctions happen when I am about to finish. During my earlier days of embroidery, I find these things annoying, and would always end up throwing the project and starting all over again. I was that impatient back then.

However, through the years, I have learned a vital trick. I learned that it pays to prepare permanent markets with the stash. In one particular project, I slid the edge of a blue market on the edge of a heart design. After that, the tearaway stabilizer just disappeared.

In other patterns I made, I just color the splotchy areas. This does not mean that the mistake has already gone away, but they were just less noticeable. You may also want to invest in actual textile markers, though permanent, office markers would work just fine for any project.

Create a ‘bandage’

This happened to me a lot of times already. I have finished working on an embroidery design on a fabric, say a shirt, just working on clipping the excess stabilizer away, when suddenly, I accidentally clipped the shirt, leaving a hole.

Again, the perfectionist side of me wanted to just throw the project right away, but discovered that the project can still be saved. I tried using my editing software in order to copy a different pompom, stitching it on the cut area. I was amazed with the output because I did not expect that it would actually turn out fine.

Make an organza window

While cutwork is a standard technique which is often used in decorative stitching, it can also prove to be quite valuable when used with sheer organza. For example, if you are creating a gift bag using the cutwork technique, you can use a piece of organza, putting it on top, running the cutwork stitches again.

Afterwards, you can cut the fabric away, similar to that when doing applique, and trip your organza near the stitch line. You can then finish this using satin stitches in order to create a glistening, sheer window.

Create some reminders

When I say reminders, these are actual reminders that I put in my editing software pattern. One time when I was stitching a zippered bag in a hoop, it was unfortunate enough that I forgot to move the zipper tab towards the middle before I attached the other side of the bag.

As it turned out, when I turned the bag with the right side out, its zipper is located in its seam allowance, thus the bag cannot be unzipped. I know this can be redone, but it can take time on my end. As such, I inputted the words “open the zipper” to my pattern using the editing software as a reminder for me.

Cleaning up the sticky hoops

Sticky hoops seemed to be a part of some patterns. In order to avoid them, I have learned not spraying adhesive on the hoop, rather spraying on the fabric back. Yet, they can still be gummed up when using stick adhesives and adhesive stabilizers. If this is the case, a good solution that you can use is a non-acetone based nail polish remover. Make sure that it is non-acetone based so that it will
not discolor the plastic hoops.

Bottom Line

Whether embroidered by hand or by a machine, there is no doubt that embroidery is an amazing way of incorporating interesting details to any fabric. With the abovementioned 5 embroidery tips and techniques at hand, you can bring your embroidery project to the next level.

The tips and techniques mentioned are basically to save any project from getting thrown away. Beginners, most of the time, would want to achieve a perfect output. However, starting over again can prove not just time consuming, but a test of patience which could otherwise be controlled using the right techniques. Check out this video for more tips and techniques:

Most especially if you are not after commercial selling of your products, you can simply get away with some minor mistakes using the techniques mentioned above. As you hone your skills further, you learn more and more techniques along the way as well.

Embroidery Machine Terms You Need to Know First

Posted on October 21, 2016 Written by Aleks Stanic

An embroidery machine can impart lots of charm, beauty, flair, and character on anything you create with cloth. These days it is the machine to go to if you want to create designs in a fast and convenient fashion.

This is why plenty of fledgling designers who take on embellished and embroidered designs make use of an embroidery machine.

The price rates for models vary from three hundred, up to thousands of dollars. Prices are often based on the model’s available features and options, the size of embroidery that the model can manage, and the software that it will work with.

There are models that combine both sewing and stitching or embroidery functions, and there are some which can only tackle stitching designs. Usually, embroidery machine brands with models that provide sewing capabilities are priced higher. They often include a detachable stitching part so the machine will suit any kind of sewing that is required.

Whether you are tackling sewing and embroidery as a recreational activity, or plan to use it for business, you have to familiarize yourself with the whole pursuit first. Here are some of the terms you need to know before getting into an embroidery project with such a machine.

Hooping

Embroidery machines include hoops that seamstresses or tailors can connect to the machine. Hooping means placing the fabric into the machine’s hoop.

Tautness and stabilization are two crucial factors while working on this kind of machine. It differs from doing stitches by hand because the fabric should remain in the same position over the course of the embroidery.

Once the fabric slips out, the design will not be employed correctly, ruining it. To check if the fabric moved, look at the borders; if the border does not line up with the complete design, the fabric moved out of place.

Stabilizer

Embroidery machines employ the use of a darning foot that, in reality, does not work with the fabric. It also lacks a feed dog beneath the fabric to keep it positioned where it belongs. The stabilizer is capable of making the fabric rigid enough as the machine gets to work on it.

There are actually a range of stabilizers with a variety of uses. Several stabilizers are employed beneath the fabric that a seamstress is working on while some are employed on top of the fabric.

Certain fabrics, like terry cloth, require the help of a stabilizer on top to affix them and keep the fabric from prodding throughout the design.

Stabilizers that are water-soluble melt away in water while stabilizes that use heat get changed into ash once an iron is applied on them. Those stabilizers will leave tracks on the fabric, but will help position the material in its place.

Digitizing

Digitizing is a procedure which involves getting any kind of image and transforming it into a language that the machine will be able to comprehend by means of appropriate software.

As soon as the picture or image has undergone the digitizing process, the machine will then know what it is supposed to do so it can embroider the image.

This is a fairly easy process, provided you know how to work with computer graphics and are persistent enough to know what it takes to grasp the procedure.

Free Motion Embroidery

Free motion embroidery is actually a fun process. Although it does not need the help of an embroidery machine, users will get to produce their own design by means of a sewing machine to draw and fill their designs in by hand.

The darning foot is used while the feed dog of the sewing machine is let go. The test here is to maintain movement of the hands in complete harmony with the sewing machine to produce smooth, level stitches.

To make freehand embroidery easier, there are now several sewing machine companies who provide stitch regulators.

Sewing Machines and Embroidery Machines: The Differences

Posted on October 21, 2016 Written by Aleks Stanic

Embroidery machines are named as such because the mechanism only permits stitching, while sewing machines let users perform construction stitching—the most basic form of stitching.

The styles that both kinds of machines provide do not look that different. The distinction, though, can be seen by way of the kind of attachments used that allows the machine to perform embroidery stitching.

Current sewing machines arrange for plenty of stitches ranging in the hundreds. Any model may include embroidery in its collection, or it may not.

A full-featured embroidery machine operates with a computer and it has the capability to offer intricate, preprogrammed embroidery designs. It also provides options for seamstresses to provide extra patterns that have been scanned or downloaded.

This kind of embroidery machine actually makes use of a hooping system that grips the fabric in place as the device works on the design.

The industrial-type embroidery machine, meanwhile, includes numerous needles that operate as one, and it is capable of changing thread colors and trimming the thread mechanically. Furthermore, there are also sewing machine brands that provide digital and industrial versions of their products.

If you want to comprehend the whole embroidery machine vs. sewing machine deal, you need to take note of the disparities between aspects like embroidery, basic sewing, and construction sewing.

There are some machines which can only perform construction stitching while there are certain models which can perform both embroidery and construction styles by making use of an embroidery attachment. There are also models which will only allow for embroidery stitching.

Construction sewing typically translates to merging two portions of cloth together. It can be done by working on the drape of a fabric by way of darts or pleats, or working on the edge of an individual portion of cloth or material.

Construction stitching might also present an ornamental element to it if the stitch is aimed to be noticeable, like a zigzag or a straight stitch. However the main objective of construction sewing will always be function.

Embroidery, meanwhile, is chiefly meant for decorative purposes. Sewn embellishments, like the intricate designs of animals, flowers, or monograms, are embroidered into pillow sheets, table linens, or quilts.

Embroidery engages 30- or 40-gauge embroidery thread and a cyclic stitching method to contour patterns and load them with color. By making use of a device built for embroidery stitching, users can acquire uniform stitches, and it will save them plenty of time as well.

Embroidery can be performed by means of a particular embroidery machine. It can also be done by way of thorough, manual or hand stitching, or by employing a method called free-motion embroidery with the help of a standard sewing machine.

Manual embroidery can be a lot of work, so if you want to build a business concerning this kind of art, you will benefit more from an embroidery machine.

Making use of such a device will save you plenty of grueling hours and painful fingers. At this time, computerized embroidery is in demand because it can accomplish faster operations compared to sewing machines and manual embroidery. You can finish more products by using a machine that can easily tackle the procedure.

Digitized embroidery involves picking computerized embroidery patterns with software that is placed inside the memory banks of the machine. The user only has to load the device with appropriate colored threads, and following this, they can wait and observe as the device does its job in a minute’s time.

An embroidery machine as mentioned above will help you acquire perfect items with even stitches. It will never miss a stitch. If you want to cover more embroidery jobs, go for an embroidery machine to help save you time and effort.

If you want to buy one, it is good to test the machine first before buying it. You can also attend demos or classes to further understand how it works. But if you cannot try out a machine in person, you can opt for unbiased reviews online and see what customers have to say about the model they have purchased.