© Copyright 2009 - 2010 sewinspiredbybonnie.com
Join the Sew Inspired By Bonnie mailing list and get the latest news on updates to my website (enter your e-mail address below)
Talk n’ Tips
Hooping Tip
I’m often asked, “How do you keep designs from puckering?” Proper stabilizer and hooping techniques is the simple answer. For example, I always use a cut away stabilizer on knit fabrics. However, let’s discuss hooping for a moment. My favorite hooping method is to lightly spray the stabilizer with temporary spray adhesive, lay the fabric on the stabilizer, and hoop both stabilizer and fabric together in the hoop. Make sure your fabric is drum tight. Then, and here’s the best part of my tip (thanks to my friend Vivian from www.sewingworldinc.com), I use a basting stitch to secure everything together. Some machines have a basting stitch function on them and some software programs have the feature built in. I’ve included some free basting files for those of you that don’t have either of the options listed above. It’s best to use a basting stitch that’s the same size or slightly larger than your design, however, the basting files I’ve made available for free download work well too!
Click on the “play” button to watch a free basting video for DG Studio+ or DG Studio III
These free basting videos are an excellent example of the easy to follow tutorials Bonnie offers. Visit the Tutorials page to see what’s available!
DG+ Baste Video
DGIII Baste Video
Click on the link below that matches your
format to download your free basting files:
Hot off the Press!
The latest (Vol. 16 No. 8) Creative Machine Embroiery & Textile Art features one of Bonnie’s projects. Titled “Pretty as a Princess”, you’ll find complete instructions for creating a beautiful pillow!
“How do I pick what colors to use? This is especially confusing if the thread colors listed in the color chart are not the same brand I have in my stash.”
If you want to convert the colors from one brand to another you have a couple of good options. Designer’s Gallery III has a great color converter for designs with just the click of a button. There’s also a program called “My Thread Box” which will convert colors for you too. However, I’m more adventuresome and tend not to stick by what colors are listed in the color chart by the designer. I encourage you to experiment and try different color combinations as well, as we all tend to have our favorite colors we lean toward and you may come up with some wonderful surprises.
One of my personal favorite methods for choosing colors is to actually pick my fabrics first. It’s much easier to match thread to fabric than fabric to a design already stitched out. The color chart may call for a real bright apple red, however, my fabrics may lean more toward the burgundy tones. I’ll pick a light, medium and dark burgundy for shading (if 3 colors are needed of course).
Another tip is always select your shading colors to be at least 2 shades apart from each other so the actual shading will show. When I first started out with embroidery, I thought my shading would look best if I picked one color shade off from each other. I quickly found out that they blended too well and I couldn’t see the shading as well as I liked.
One of Bonnie’s projects was featured in the 2009 holiday issue of “Sew News.
