Embroidered tale

In preparation for the second embroidered/appliqued bed runner class this coming Tuesday, I needed to  set up the sewing machine to cut out the final piece of the first flower applique. I've had a month to do it, but simply haven't had the time.

As long as the machine was set up and the embroidery module attached, I thought I'd play a bit.

This is upside down, but you get the idea

This is the very first true embroidery I've done the 830 - one of the preloaded designs, just to test it out.

It's a bit strange to just sit there and watch the machine go. There is a note on the screen that tells you not only how long it will take to stitch out the design, but the total number of stitches in the design along with a counter of stitches as they are sewn. If the design takes more than one color, they are counted out by color, with a nice beep to remind you to change thread.

There are some designs that are just outlines, which can be used for things other than straight embroidery. One of the dandy things you can do with outline designs is ... quilt.

Feather outline pattern - perfect for quilting.

The outline stitching works the same was as regular machine quilting to hold the three layers of the quilt together. Only this way, every feather will match the next one exactly. The design can be scaled up or down (this one was done at 50%) and turned in 1 degree increments. Handy - you don't have to rehoop the quilt sandwich in order to sew out the design in a different alignment.

All in all, it's a lot of fun. Visions of monogrammed towels, white work on bedsheets and personalized baby bibs are running through my head.

Given the time it takes for the machine to complete the embroidery, though, I can see I'm going to get a lot of reading done during my sewing time.