I am (not so) patiently waiting for new digitizing software to arrive (never
been so excited for a Monday to get here) and while I wait I thought I would
share some of my digitizing history with you…so here are a few things I have
learned along this journey…
There is a ton of information “out there”. From yahoo groups, to FB
pages, to YouTube tutorials, etc. there is more information than is
possible to sort through. So many embroiderers are generous with their
time and expertise and offer invaluable tidbits of information about how to
embroider/appliqué.
At the same time…there is very little relevant information “out
there”. I have lost countless hours searching for the answer to an issue
or topic without being able to find exactly what I am looking for. I have
especially found this to be true when it comes to exploring software options
for digitizing. Makes sense…who wants to share their secret? Their magic
formula for making their business work? Well, that is what I am going to
do today…or at least I am going to tell you all of the “magic formulas” I have
tried:
I started with Embird; I recently tried Bernina Designer Plus; and I
am now waiting for my Wilcom software to arrive. Hence the time to blog.
Embird served me well for several years. I started with Editor when I
was selling physical items. I upgraded to Studio a few months before I
launched All Things Applique. I added Font Engine at some point along the
way too. In my opinion it is a great digitizing platform for beginners and
has great value for the price. I won’t lie…I was ready to throw my
computer out the window a couple of times when I was learning to use it…but can
now digitize with almost every keyboard shortcut in the book.
As All Things Applique has grown, I have felt constrained by Embird. I
also wanted to be able to offer .art format, so I visited a Bernina dealer, had
a demo of the software, asked lots of questions, thought about it for weeks,
asked more questions, and then decided to give it a shot. After
experimenting with this software during my “return” window I came to the tough
conclusion that this was not the right “next step” software for me. I
loved some of the features…but then other areas slowed me down. Lessons
learned…1) make a list of every question you can think of and don’t be afraid
to ask them 2) ask about a return policy (there is only so much you can see
during a demo…sometimes you just need to drive the software yourself to be able
to see if it can do what you want it to do). 3) ask the dealer to
digitize a design you would do 4) weigh the pros and cons and make a decision.
I have now decided to purchase Wilcom. It is quite an investment for
me. I am hoping you guys decide to stick around and enjoy All Things
Applique as much as I do because after this purchase I plan to be digitizing
for a long while. J
Is it Monday yet? I can’t wait to start creating new designs
again…until then…I will be sketching, blogging, and plan to spend a lot of the
weekend at the soccer fields and in the garden with my boys!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Hooping at the Bottom
For those of you that don't know...I have a niece that is almost 9 months old. Up until this sweet girl was born...all the kids in our extended family have been boys so I have been thrilled to make some frilly and pink things for my sweet niece!
For her Christmas shirts, my sister-in-law requested that the designs be at the bottom of the shirt because Camille is always wearing a bib. She is a drooler. So the top of her shirts are ALWAYS covered up!
Up until now I had only hooped shirts to stitch at the top and center. I have a single needle machine and am sometimes intimidated by unusual hoop positions. Well, I tried it twice this week and I think hooping at the bottom is so much easier than hooping at the top and centered!
I took a few pictures of my process and thought I would share them with you in hopes that those of you with a single needle machine might want to try a different hoop option for a shirt too!
First, I should mention the shirts. I found these adorable blanks at Carter's on the clearance rack. They were less than $5, I think. I loved how they had ruffles and buttons at the top...so if Camille does happen to be without bib, the top of the shirt would have some visual interest to balance the applique design at the bottom.
When it was time to hoop the shirt, I put it on a flat desk with plenty of working room. Next I put my hoop in the shirt and then started to push it over to the right as far as possible. I wanted to stitch as close to the side seam as possible, so I even rolled the shirt a bit to the left so the right side seam was just inside the hoop. I had to be careful to keep my hoop straight vertically. It was easy for the hoop to become slanted while trying to position in this different spot...so be sure to check that you are parallel with the bottom of the shirt before you actually hoop. I hope the below pictures helps explain a little bit more...
One thing I did find with hooping at the bottom of the shirt is that the shirt was not quite as secure as when you hoop at the top. I decided to add a layer of tearaway stabilizer before stitching.
After the shirt was hooped and stabilized, I attached it to the machine and was ready to stitch. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make sure the excess shirt fabric and sleeves were out of the way. When you hoop at the top/center of a shirt for a single needle machine, I am always afraid a piece of the shirt will end up under the needle! This was so much easier!
I did use my Layout buttons on my machine a good bit before I started stitching. Every machine is different, but you should be able to test to see the farthest right your needle will go and the farthest to the bottom your needle will go and so on. If you aren't pleased with the positions, use your Layout arrows to shift the design up/down/right/left until it is placed where you want it to be on your shirt. In this case, I made sure that the bottom-most point was just above the bottom hem of the shirt and that the farthest right point was just inside the side seam of the shirt.
Here is one picture from the second shirt I did. I stitched our Raggy Christmas Tree design on this shirt.
On this shirt I decided to do all of the fabric cutting when the shirt was completely done. I always like to wait as long as possible to trim because I feel it keeps the shirt as secure as possible when hooped. For raggy designs I almost always wait until the shirt is completely done and cut once it is out of the hoop. I also feel I can cut better when it is out of the hoop. When stitching raggy designs, I usually use flannel or felt as my base layer to add some depth and additional fray...but in this example I used fleece! I think it really made the raggy stitches stand out at the rest of the design have a nice puffy feel.
So there you have it...my tips on how to hoop at the bottom! Hope it helps!
For her Christmas shirts, my sister-in-law requested that the designs be at the bottom of the shirt because Camille is always wearing a bib. She is a drooler. So the top of her shirts are ALWAYS covered up!
Up until now I had only hooped shirts to stitch at the top and center. I have a single needle machine and am sometimes intimidated by unusual hoop positions. Well, I tried it twice this week and I think hooping at the bottom is so much easier than hooping at the top and centered!
I took a few pictures of my process and thought I would share them with you in hopes that those of you with a single needle machine might want to try a different hoop option for a shirt too!
First, I should mention the shirts. I found these adorable blanks at Carter's on the clearance rack. They were less than $5, I think. I loved how they had ruffles and buttons at the top...so if Camille does happen to be without bib, the top of the shirt would have some visual interest to balance the applique design at the bottom.
When it was time to hoop the shirt, I put it on a flat desk with plenty of working room. Next I put my hoop in the shirt and then started to push it over to the right as far as possible. I wanted to stitch as close to the side seam as possible, so I even rolled the shirt a bit to the left so the right side seam was just inside the hoop. I had to be careful to keep my hoop straight vertically. It was easy for the hoop to become slanted while trying to position in this different spot...so be sure to check that you are parallel with the bottom of the shirt before you actually hoop. I hope the below pictures helps explain a little bit more...
One thing I did find with hooping at the bottom of the shirt is that the shirt was not quite as secure as when you hoop at the top. I decided to add a layer of tearaway stabilizer before stitching.
After the shirt was hooped and stabilized, I attached it to the machine and was ready to stitch. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make sure the excess shirt fabric and sleeves were out of the way. When you hoop at the top/center of a shirt for a single needle machine, I am always afraid a piece of the shirt will end up under the needle! This was so much easier!
I did use my Layout buttons on my machine a good bit before I started stitching. Every machine is different, but you should be able to test to see the farthest right your needle will go and the farthest to the bottom your needle will go and so on. If you aren't pleased with the positions, use your Layout arrows to shift the design up/down/right/left until it is placed where you want it to be on your shirt. In this case, I made sure that the bottom-most point was just above the bottom hem of the shirt and that the farthest right point was just inside the side seam of the shirt.
Here is one picture from the second shirt I did. I stitched our Raggy Christmas Tree design on this shirt.
On this shirt I decided to do all of the fabric cutting when the shirt was completely done. I always like to wait as long as possible to trim because I feel it keeps the shirt as secure as possible when hooped. For raggy designs I almost always wait until the shirt is completely done and cut once it is out of the hoop. I also feel I can cut better when it is out of the hoop. When stitching raggy designs, I usually use flannel or felt as my base layer to add some depth and additional fray...but in this example I used fleece! I think it really made the raggy stitches stand out at the rest of the design have a nice puffy feel.
So there you have it...my tips on how to hoop at the bottom! Hope it helps!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Chalkboard Wall, Painting, Gifting, and Designing
We have been busy, busy, busy designing and listing just as many Thanksgiving and Christmas designs as we possibly can for you guys! Have you seen them all? Take a look...
Do you have a favorite? I think I like the Dinosaur with the Santa Hat...because that one was a special request from my 4-year old. :)
You can find ALL of these designs and MORE at either www.allthingsapplique.com or www.allthingsapplique.etsy.com
Here are a few baby gifts that I FINALLY mailed this week. I stitched all of these bibs when we were in our temporary apartment this summer. Talk about belated gift giving! Thankfully babies need bibs for a long time and I hope they can still use these.
Now...it is time to work on the 10+ other new baby gifts I am still behind on. So many new precious gifts to be thankful for this year!
I recently tackled a couple of Pinterest ideas...and I must admit...they were both very fun and easy!
First up...a BIG, GIANT, chalkboard wall!
For those of you that remember our housing saga as we relocated to North Carolina, there was a room in the house we first had a contract on that was going to be PERFECT for it to be painted 1/3 chalkboard, 1/3 stainless steel (magnet) and 1/3 cork board. I had my heart set on it and it was going to be one of the first projects we tackled.
You can see the idea here...
While I do LOVE the house we are now in, there just wasn't a good wall for that type of project. But, as we have gotten settled, I have been inspired by a maps/solar system theme for the boys' playroom. I will share more as it changes (very slow progress around here)but for now we have one giant solar system wall that is chalkboard paint! The idea is for the bottom half to be all kids...and I am going to sketch the solar system at the top...
The boys have LOVED it and it is fun to see the creations they come up with.
The other Pinterest inspired project was for Halloween...a little late in sharing...sorry!
The boys painted canvases...
We added footprint ghosts and handprint spiders...
And then they wanted to keep painting! It was great and I LOVE their creations. Look forward to hanging these for years to come!
I will start switching design gears to Valentine's soon...if you have any design requests or ideas...please e-mail me at allthingsapplique (at) gmail (dot) com.
Do you have a favorite? I think I like the Dinosaur with the Santa Hat...because that one was a special request from my 4-year old. :)
You can find ALL of these designs and MORE at either www.allthingsapplique.com or www.allthingsapplique.etsy.com
Here are a few baby gifts that I FINALLY mailed this week. I stitched all of these bibs when we were in our temporary apartment this summer. Talk about belated gift giving! Thankfully babies need bibs for a long time and I hope they can still use these.
Now...it is time to work on the 10+ other new baby gifts I am still behind on. So many new precious gifts to be thankful for this year!
I recently tackled a couple of Pinterest ideas...and I must admit...they were both very fun and easy!
First up...a BIG, GIANT, chalkboard wall!
For those of you that remember our housing saga as we relocated to North Carolina, there was a room in the house we first had a contract on that was going to be PERFECT for it to be painted 1/3 chalkboard, 1/3 stainless steel (magnet) and 1/3 cork board. I had my heart set on it and it was going to be one of the first projects we tackled.
You can see the idea here...
While I do LOVE the house we are now in, there just wasn't a good wall for that type of project. But, as we have gotten settled, I have been inspired by a maps/solar system theme for the boys' playroom. I will share more as it changes (very slow progress around here)but for now we have one giant solar system wall that is chalkboard paint! The idea is for the bottom half to be all kids...and I am going to sketch the solar system at the top...
The boys have LOVED it and it is fun to see the creations they come up with.
The other Pinterest inspired project was for Halloween...a little late in sharing...sorry!
The boys painted canvases...
We added footprint ghosts and handprint spiders...
And then they wanted to keep painting! It was great and I LOVE their creations. Look forward to hanging these for years to come!
I will start switching design gears to Valentine's soon...if you have any design requests or ideas...please e-mail me at allthingsapplique (at) gmail (dot) com.
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