Puget Sound Sewing & Craft

Needle Felting Inspiration

I love needle felting - it adds textural interest and is very simple to do.  It's also tremendously versatile and can be used not only as an embellishment tool but also as a construction technique and a way to create 3 dimensional objects such as hats and soft sculpture.

The tools are also very simple.  A needle felting tool and something to 'punch' into, either a brush or piece of foam.  I also like to have a small selection of single needles for detail work.  All of these are available at Pacific Fabrics along with rovings and fabrics that work well for exploring this technique.  The Puyallup Pacific Fabrics even has ready-to-block hat felt that I've been eyeing for some time.

I like the look of needle felted designs made with roving (carded fiber that hasn't been spun yet)  on a background fabric but I must admit that sometimes my creative energy stalls a bit when I'm facing a blank canvas.  So I use a design outline.

My favorite way to create an outline on the fabric is to use machine embroidery.  I simply stitch out a running stitch design and then fill it in with roving - just as if I were coloring in a coloring book.  I like the look and it is very simple. 

In this example, I used an iron-on transfer design from a Dover Publishing book on Art Nouveau embroidery designs.  I scanned in the iron-on transfer and then translated the image into a running stitch embroidery design using 4D.  I stitched it out onto the back piece for a jacket I am constructing and now I'm in the process of 'coloring' the design with wool roving.  I'm having a lot of fun with this project.  I especially like playing with the colors, such as blending two different colors of wool to give a little extra dimension to the rose motifs.  I can't wait to show you the finished product!

p.s. It's Fair Time in Pierce County!  I had the good fortune to be asked to judge the Junior division of the 4-H Fashion Revue.  If you've never seen a 4-H Fashion Revue competition, it is an amazing showcase of youth sewing talent.  Each participant has sewn the garment(s) they are wearing and are judged based on their interview skills (many of the questions relate to sewing and garment construction), the construction of their garment (as it appears when worn) and their ability to present themselves and their outfit.  The kids are just incredible, and the many adult 4-H leaders and volunteers who work with them to teach them how to sew are even more amazing.  I hope you all get the chance to get to the Fair to see all these amazing kids at work and to check out all of the sewing and craft items on display by kids and adults. 

--Katrina

Designer Embroidered Jeans in 4D ~ Part 6 ~ Stitching Out

At last!  We've reached the final stage - stitching out the design.  For me, this is the most nerve wracking part of the process.  After all the work put into setting up a design, it's exciting and often a bit scary when it comes time to actually stitch out the design.

Thankfully, there are some options for stitching out the design.  If you are hesitant about your ability to do multiple hoopings of a design, you can always stitch the design onto a polyester (or similar synthetic) organza and then applique the embroidery onto the garment.  Cut carefully around your embroidery motifs, and give a final touch up to eliminate and stray 'hairs' or similar with a hot knife (it melts any little frayed edges around the design - just be careful not to melt or burn your embroidery threads).  You can then applique the embroidery design onto the garment or object being embellished.  This is a good choice for very dense designs or embroidery for difficult fabrics, such as velvet.  It's also a great way to be able to decide your placement after stitch out, rather than before.

In the case of my jeans, I decided to go ahead and stitch directly onto the jeans themselves.  I opened the inseam (it was not a flat-felled seam which made it easier) prior to embroidery.  Now it was time to choose my stabilizer.  I've had good results with Floriani Wet 'n' Stick for these types of projects, so that is what I chose to hoop.  When I stitched these jeans, I did put another layer of stabilizer - cutaway - under the bottom part of the design.  I accidentally omitted this layer (oops!) when stitching the upper, but luckily I found that my results were just as acceptable.  But if I were stitching out a denser design I would want the support of another layer under the whole design. 

So I dampened my Wet 'n' Stick stabilizer and placed my jeans leg.  I used Precise Positioning to make sure that the bottom of my design was where I wanted it to align with my pant leg hem.  I also checked (using Precise Positioning) to make sure that the strong vertical elements in my design ran parallel to my leg seam.  When I was satisfied that my design was aligned correctly, I stitched out the first hoop of my design.

Now the more delicate step in the process: aligning the two designs.  Thankfully, Design Aligner can and will (if options are selected - see previous posting) provide alignment stitches which help this process a great deal.  In the photo you can see the alignment stitches (they make an 'L' shape) at the corner of the design.  I use these reference marks as well as connecting points on the embroidery (the rose stems and other areas that flow from one hoop of the design into the other)to ensure my designs stitch out accurately.  Many embroiderers use templates instead or in addition to this  - whatever works best for you is the best technique!  Before adhering my second hooping to the stabilizer, I use Precise Positioning to find the corresponding alignment stitches for the new section of embroidery.  I make sure that my hoop is positioned with my needle at the 'intersection' (as shown above) and then sink the needle into my jeans at the intersection of the alignment stitches on the previous stitching as shown.  Leaving the needle sunk into the fabric as a pivot point, I then adhere my project into the hooped stabilizer.  I do my best to align it as straight as possible; any small adjustments to correct rotation can easily be done using Precise Positioning.

I cannot stress the importance of using Precise Positioning enough.  It is a great tool!  It is designed to ensure that your design is aligned perfectly.  It will be your best friend when embroidering; it just takes a bit of practice.  I highly recommend taking a class if you have not learned this tool yet.  I use the magnification on the Precise Positioning screen to check any and all areas of the design to make sure that the needle is going to land where I want it to land.  You can increase the magnification to over 1000% so that you can literally see every stitch.  In this photo you can see the  Precise Positioning screen.  The magnification is set at 1250% so that I can clearly see the ends of the 'stems' in my design where the design will intersect with the previously hooped portion.  You can see from the photo that I am at 'step 1' - determining where the first point of reference will be.  I can move the point of reference (the red +) wherever I want using the stylus or the directional buttons in the big circle.  You can also move your field of view around - that is what is happening in this screen - I can tell because of the 'hand' symbol that appears in the large circle as well as the fact that the hand button (located to the lower left of the big circle) is highlighted.  The best way to learn how to use a tool like Precise Positioning is to simply practice.  That is true of any embroidery technique. 

  And here it is - the finished product.  Overall, I am very happy with my design and stitch out.  The jeans have been through the washer/dryer cycle a few times so they've had a chance to be fully softened up. 

What I've learned from this particular project (I always learn something): I actually like the upper part (where I forgot to put a layer of cutaway stabilizer under the hoop) a little better - it's softer and more flexible and for a pair of jeans I don't really care whether it lies perfectly smooth.  Do I wish I'd done anything differently?  Of course - I don't think I've ever done a project where I don't have a 'learning experience'.  In this case, what I wish I'd done differently was to omit the strong vertical element of my design from the upper half (the gold 'trellis').  While I like the way it looks, I did not realize that my jeans were a bit boot cut, and therefore taper a bit toward the knee.  As a result, when laying flat it looks like my trellis is 'leaning' a bit at the top.  It's not obvious when the jeans are worn, but it's enough to cause me some mental irritation!  If I had omitted the top of the trellis motif, I would have simply had a semi-random pattern of twining roses which would not have obviously been straight or crooked when stitched.

• Hope you enjoyed the series!  It's a time consuming project but one that is a lot of fun to make and especially to wear. 

--Katrina

Designer Embroidered Jeans in 4D ~ Part 5 ~ Splitting Design

Time for the final step before stitch-out - splitting the design!  Remember that you can click on any image to see a bigger picture if needed.

First, I will open up the 4D Design Aligner program - the button looks like a multicolored ball.  That, in turn will launch the Load Design Wizard. 

To the left is the first screen in the Load Design Wizard.  This is where you will select the hoop size you plan to use to stitch your design.

You will also determine the amount of overlap (not available when splitting into a Grand Dream/Majestic Hoop).  The overlap can be up to 100mm in some hoops.  The larger the overlap, the more leeway you have in 'cutting' your design into pieces.

Next are options for alignment stitches (again, not necessary/available for use with the Grand Dream/Majestic Hoops).  Corner alignment stitches are recommended for light to moderate density designs.  Baste alignment stitches are recommended for heavier density designs.

Finally, on this screen we have various compensation stitch options.  I have chosen 'high' because I know that denim can sometimes pull or creep a bit.  The greater the compensation, the more stitch overlap (if any) will be stitched at joining points in the design.

Next you will be prompted to load the design you wish to split.  When the design has loaded, you will see detailed information on the bottom of the window regarding the size and stitch count of the overall design.

Once you have loaded your design in this window, click 'Finish' and you will be ready to set your 'cutting line' for separating the design into multiple hoopings.

Shown below is the design ready to be split.  You can see by the interconnected line of squares that there is only one 'cutting line'.  That means that this design will fit into two hoopings of the hoop size chosen.

The interconnected line of squares are your pivot points for creating the line where you will split the design.  Simply drag each small square point to shape the line around various shapes in the design.
 

Generally speaking, most designs looks best if they are not 'cut' on a straight line.  It makes it too obvious if the stitch transition from one hooping to the next isn't perfect.  It's much better to work with your design to create the most efficient and attractive line.  As you can see in the illustration above, you are given a number of pivot points to work with.  If you need more, click the 'Insert Point' button located on the upper right of your toolbar.  Once this button is selected, you can click on the 'cutting line' to add more pivot points as needed.  Click once with your right mouse button to disengage the Insert Point feature.  (I won't tell you how many times I forget that part!)  Similarly, if you have too many pivot points (perhaps because you forgot how to turn off the Insert Point feature), you can use the 'Delete Point' feature to delete any unwanted points.  Again, click with the right mouse button to disengage the feature.

Here is my 'cutting line' working its way through my big rose design.  You can see I've added several pivot points along the way in order to more carefully work along the lines of the motif.  I try to use natural breaks in the design as much as possible to reduce the amount of precise layout I will need to do to ensure that my design stitches out perfectly (or at least close to perfect!). 

Be sure to use the magnifying tools to make sure the line is where you want it to be.  If you use high magnification of your design, you can make very fine separations in your design that will result in a well-stitched transition.

Once you are satisfied with your design, simply click the 'Split Design' button (located at the very far upper right of the toolbar).  Your design will be cut, and then you will see a pop-up window that previews the various hoopings of the design.

Look carefully!  At this stage it is still possible to go back and change your 'cutting line'.  Simply click 'Cancel' if you want to make any changes.  If you are happy with the way the design has been separated, simply click 'Save' and you will be prompted to save the file.  Select the location where you wish the file to be saved and name it.  You will notice that when the file is saved, it will be numbered in sequence.  So, for instance, this design might save as 01rosetrellis.vp3 and 02rosetrellis.vp3, because there are two hoopings necessary to stitch it out in the hoop I have selected for the design.

Wow!  We've come a long way since we measured our jeans and set up our custom hoop.  I bet you can't wait to stitch this design out!  So stay tuned next week for the stunning conclusion of Designer Embroidered Jeans in 4D!

--Katrina

Designer Embroidered Jeans in 4D ~ Part 4 ~ Optimizing Design

So, to recap: we've determined the size of our overall design and made a custom hoop size, we've selected our embroidery motifs, and we've combined the motifs to create our overall design.  Now we're going to optimize our design for more efficient stitch out.

First of all, I make sure to save my design - this will also combine the designs and remove any overlapping stitches.  Then I Color Sort to combine colors.  Sometimes this works better than others!   In this particular combined design, although I used Color Sort, there are still 53 colors listed - 53 thread changes!  This is because this is a complex design with multiple motifs combined together in a somewhat random order.  So the software thinks that the various designs should be stitched out in the order they were opened.  I'm not that disciplined/organized when I create a large design so I use other tools to make my stitching more efficient.

So my next step is to click on the Edit tab so that I can combine my colors manually.  I do this by selecting the button that looks like a rainbow - this allows me to change the order of and combine my color blocks.  I keep the color blocks in order, but I combine the duplicates in order to eliminate as many thread changes as possible.  As you can see on the right (click on the photo to see a larger image), color/thread #2 is Sulky #1227.  I have gone down the list of thread changes to find all of the #1227 threads.  I used the Move Up button to stack them all (in order).  Now I can use the Merge Colors button to merge them (a set at a time) into one #1227.  NOTE: Because my motifs were placed in random, not sequential order, my colors do not necessarily fall in a logical order.  If I wanted to further optimize my stitch out I would have made note of the best possible order for these color blocks to be in.  But that is a lesson in itself. I am willing to put up with a few more jump stitches!

Once I am finished combining my color blocks, I only have 9 color changes to make. 9 rather than 53 - now that is a savings of time.  As I stated above, you will have increased your number of jump stitches.  You may also have some areas where the embroidery was intended to be stitched on top of another color.  By changing the block order, you may not get quite the same effect.  But I am willing to put up with those possibilities in order to save time overall.  In my experience thus far I have found that any drawbacks were very minor and did not impact the overall effectiveness of the design.

Now is when I would change the colors to my preferred embroidery colors.  I did change the threads in this design to reflect the brands I used (Floriani, Yenmet and Hemingworth) and I used a slightly different color palette.

When I'm happy with my choice of colors, I save the design once again.  I then open it in 4D Stitch Editor (for those of you who have the 4D Suite).  I click on the Modify tab, and under the Modify Design section, I first look at the design with the Density Advisor tool.  This tool enables me to change the density of the design to lighten areas of very high density, if desired.  Then I use the Design Optimizer button to optimize the design for better stitch out.

Next week: the final step before stitch out - splitting the design! 

Designer Embroidered Jeans in 4D ~ Part 3 ~ Combining Designs

I've mentioned in a previous posting how much I enjoy many of the new machine embroidery designs.  There seems to be a trend developing away from 'single motif' embroidery toward more modular designs that can be combined in a number of ways to create many different looks.

It's this 'mix and match' ability that makes the Fashion Roses design set from Anita Goodesign perfect for embellishing clothing, especially a long, narrow design such as a pant leg. 

To begin, I go to the File menu and select 'Open'.  I open the file which contains the designs and, using the Ctrl key, select a number of designs I think I might want to mix and match into my overall design.  Using the custom sized hoop mentioned in Part 1, I begin the process of combining designs.

When combining these design motifs, I like to play around with various combinations.  I use the Rotate, Mirror, and Resize tools quite a bit to try out different combinations.  If I'm doing a lot of resizing or other types of editing of a motif, I will often select the design, copy and paste a duplicate before beginning any major alterations.  That way I have an unaltered copy of the motif on the screen for reference or use without having to use 'Open' to fetch another one.

I also cut designs apart when needed.  Sometimes, such as working with a floral like the Designer Roses, there will be leaf or bud that lands where I don't want it.  When this happens, I simply edit it out.  To do this, I first select the motif that I want to edit.  Then I  go to the Edit tab at the lower right hand of the screen, which gives me a view such as in the illustration.  As shown, I will select (by checking only the boxes containing the colors I am editing) the color(s) of the stitches I want to edit.  In this case, I am only editing out a one-color tendril, which is easy to do.  I use the Lasso tool (Freehand Select, under the Select tools), and circle around the area to be deleted.  Once that is selected, I hit the Delete key and voila, the tendril disappears.

When you are truly happy with your combined design, select 'Combine'. This will merge the designs together and eliminate any overlapping stitches.  Remember that you will not be able to work with individual pieces of the design after this point.  Save the design, and then select ColorSort.  I will go into more detail about optimizing your design in the next part of the series.

Have fun with the design process.  For me, this is definitely 'the fun part'.  When you are combining motifs, consider some of the following:

Does the design have good flow?  Does your eye move around the design easily or does it get 'stuck' in places?  A good design is harmonious and has good 'rhythm'.

Is the design in proportion to the size and scale of the area to be stitched?  When doing jean designs I have a tendency to go a little overboard.  Fortunately, I am 'large scale' myself, but you don't want to overwhelm your garment.

Have fun!  Next week - Optimizing your design for stitch out.

--Katrina