Does the thought of embroidering continuous designs all
lined up perfectly make you borderline crazy? I know. Hooping is perhaps one of
the hardest parts of embroidery. There are about a million hoop aid things etc.
floating around in the great embroidery ’sphere, and some of them are quite
awesome. However you probably have everything you need to create beautiful
borders and perfectly placed arrangements of designs at your fingertips already.
You have a hoop, check. You have a hoop grid. That’s the
clear plastic sheet that is printed with a grid and fits into the inner hoop. (Or
as I like to call it, my personal paradise fan – those of you of a certain age
will appreciate THAT, ha!) Got it? Check. You have a printer attached to your
computer? Check. The only thing you might not have, but can easily get, is the
software you need to print paper templates of your designs. Actually, you may
already have embroidery software that can do that and you just don't know it can. Ask your dealer. They can
tell you if your software will allow you to print actual sized templates and
how to use it. If you don’t have software that will do that, there are many software
selections variously priced to choose from. (Write me and I’ll be glad to tell
you more about some good programs I use, I won’t use up your time here listing
them all.) Also, some designers are more than happy to provide you with PDF
design templates that you can print of any designs they sell. Just ask! (FYI – the PDF templates of these feather designs are included with the designs.)
Start with something simple like this feather border pillow.
This is a great project to begin on as the layout is easy and uncomplicated. I’m
sure you have designs in your stash that you can use to create something
similar. Pick out your designs and print enough paper templates to cover your
entire border design area. It took four 6x10 feather border design templates to
make the center box embroidery on my sample pillow. The templates should print
out with centering lines crossed in the middle of each design. If not, there
should be marks on the edges of the designs from which you can draw the
horizontal and vertical lines.
Stabilize the fabric before you begin. I simply stabilized
the entire pillow top using iron on tear-away. Iron-on stabilizer also keeps
you from stretching the fabric as you fiddle with hooping. Audition the templates
on your project fabric.
Mark the centering lines for each template on the fabric.
I ended up with a box marking the vertical position lines
intersected with the horizontal position lines. If your templates are of
different designs or are turned a certain way, then place them in a safe, quiet
spot on your work surface in the position and order they should go once you
remove them to finish drawing the lines.
Stick the first design template back on the fabric using
either a light coat of temporary spray adhesive or cellophane tape. Line up the
placement lines on the paper template with the placement lines you drew on the
fabric.
Place the hoop grid inside the inner hoop. Make sure it is correctly
positioned! Baby Lock hoop grids have a very helpful “ABC” on the bottom right
corner – if you can read it, it’s in right. Place the bottom part of the hoop
on your work table, hoop screw loosened. Line up the inner hoop and grid on top
of the fabric aligning the grid with the crossed placement lines on the printed
template. Hold the hoop (with grid) and the fabric all together as you
carefully move them into the outer hoop. Check to be sure nothing has shifted. Once
you are happy with the placement, tighten the hoop screw and remove the plastic
grid but not the paper template. Put the hoop in the machine and load the
design.
Most embroidery machines have an onboard design placement
tool that will allow you to find the corners and center of an imported design. Here
is the “trial key” that my Baby Lock machine has on the home embroidery screen.
(I absolutely LOVE this awesome little key!)
Once you click that key it brings you to a screen that will
show you the design perimeter choices, like this:
Default is the center position. Press the needle down
button. If you got everything lined up correctly the needle should hit the bull’s
eye like this:
(Best to do this with an un-threaded needle.) What if the
needle is off? That’s easy. Close out of the trial key window and locate your
design positioning keys. On my Baby Lock machine that’s on the very first
window, or embroidery home screen, and looks like this:
You can touch the arrows to move the design up, down, right
or left as needed and as allowed by how much room you have to maneuver in the
hoop. If you just need a click or two you should be able to move the design
without re-hooping. Once you have moved the design check the placement again by
going back to the trial key function and drop the needle in the center again to
see. When you are satisfied with the placement remove the paper template and
embroider the design.
Choose the next template and hoop the fabric exactly as you
did for the first using the printed paper template and hoop grid to correctly
align the design in the hoop. Once again, check your work by using the trial
key to find the center and in this case also the bottom center of the design.
Drop the needle and check that position.
You’ll want to return the machine to the center position
once you have finished checking that bottom point.
Finish that design and move on to the next,
And the next,
Roll up and secure the fabric with Wonder Clips or pins to
keep it from being trapped under the hoop. (Oh woe is me when that happens!) As
you know, when working on big things that tend to flop around it’s best to stay
right there with your machine. Go get a cup of tea and sit and watch her
stitch!
See how easy that was? Happy Bordering to you too!
Evy