FREE Quilting Patterns, Tutorials, Magazine

3 reasons why embroidering text has become an obsession for me

3 reasons why embroidering text has become an obsession for me

by Claire Haillot

It’s so important to prepare your fabric, stitches and stabilizer for successful machine embroidery, as I explained yesterday. Pretty quickly, these 6 steps I talked about become second nature and machine embroidery becomes a cinch.

When it comes to text, I never thought I would ever need to embroider text until I had the PFAFF creative icon! Here are 3 reasons why embroidering text has become a bit of an obsession.

Experimenting using embroidery text to add flair to my projects

Experimenting using embroidery text to add flair to my projects

I went crazy embroidering designs to make cushions using solid fabrics yesterday. But then I looked at all my stash of printed fabrics and wondered how I could use them up making cushions. I began experimenting using embroidery text to add flair to my projects. And that’s when all the ideas just kept on coming! Here’s why I love to embroider texts.

1. Making quilt labels

I love my labels now that I make them using the PFAFF creative icon

I love my labels now that I make them using the PFAFF creative icon

I always hated making my quilt labels because I don’t like my handwriting, especially using a pencil on a quilt backing. Now I simply take a piece of fabric and place it in the small hoop and I can use one of the 8 built-in embroidery fonts to write my text and have it embroidered in no time.  All fonts are available in multiple sizes including upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. I can also embroider the text directly onto the quilt backing, before sandwiching my layers.

2. Personalizing clothing

I know… Absolutely not quilting related! But think of all the possibilities when you can personalize your kid’s clothing or pencil case! I remember sending my kids to school in first grade with the name embroidered on T-shirts to help the teachers remember their names.

Now I don’t have to send it out for someone else to do it for me! I can do it in the comfort of my home and bonus: my kids think that I’m pretty cool for doing it.

One of my accomplishments for this week's posts: traveling pouches!

One of my accomplishments for this week’s posts: traveling pouches!

One of my accomplishments for this week’s posts was preparing traveling pouches for my son and his friends who are going on a school trip abroad, I was able to personalize their pouch using various leftover fabrics on one side but keeping them ‘united’ with the name of their traveling group on the front side. I used skin tone solids as the pouch is meant to be worn inside their clothing to hide their passport and money.

3. Personalizing cushions

Yes! That was my breakthrough for this week. I had great fabrics that I really loved but wasn’t quite sure how I could use them. I really loved the Destination collection from Northcott but I didn’t want it to turn them into a quilt. So I decided to make personalized cushions. As I didn’t have the width necessary to make a full 16” square cushion, I had to be creative.

I added a strip of red solid fabric which was a bit too much on its own. I embroidered “Bon Voyage” on that red section and all of a sudden the cushion is worthy of ohs and ahs from my family!

First of all the big screen really helps you SEE what you want to do.

First of all the big screen really helps you SEE what you want to do.

Best of all, it wasn’t complicated to add the text onto the project thanks to the PFAFF creative icon. First of all the big screen really helps you SEE what you want to do. It was easy to pick the font and increase the size of my font so that it would fill the length on the hoop.

Placing the project correctly in the hoop, with the hook on the bottom right!

Placing the project correctly in the hoop, with the hook on the bottom right!

Now for the best part! Once I had hooped my project, after having used starch and added a stabilizer, it was a breeze to position the text in the right location on the project. Here are the steps:

The precise positioning tool enables you to set your embroidery exactly where you want it in just 5 simple steps.

The precise positioning tool enables you to set your embroidery exactly where you want it in just 5 simple steps.

  1. Ensure that the machine is calibrated and place the hooped project in the arm.

  2. Press the Precise Positioning button, a new window will open.

  3. Press on the butterfly (1) and pick the top left part of the B by simply pressing that section on the screen with your finger. This tells the machine that I want to position that exact point onto the hoop. (Sets matching point on screen). If you really want an exact position, you can press the third magnifying glass with the + inside, it will zoom in right to the cursor so you can touch the screen to place it in the exact location you want on the text.

  4. Press the second button (2), just on the right-hand side of the butterfly. This will lock the embroidery block and will move it as you indicate on the screen. Touch and move with your finger on the screen and your hoop will move to position your embroidery exactly where you will want it. For this cushion, I wanted the top of the B to be about half an inch below the seam.

  5. Once satisfied with the placement, touch OK to close the precise positioning and begin your embroidery stitch-out.

That’s how I positioned my Bon Voyage, but you can also go to the end of the sentence and use the button 3 and 4 to move it vertically. This will pivot your sentence. Which is kind of cool too.

I’m now trying to come up with another project just to be able to use these tools.

Inserting a cushion form to finish the project

Inserting a cushion form to finish the project

All that was left to do was finish the cushion with a zipper, which you’ll see how easy it is using the creative icon, in Friday’s post. I’m using FAIRFIELD Crafter’s Choice® Pillow Form -16″ x 16″ for the cushion form, they are soft, have some support and are economically priced.

Bon Voyage cushions make great gifts and are easy to make

Bon Voyage cushions make great gifts and are easy to make

I hope you can relate to at least one of my 3 reasons why I love to embroider texts using the PFAFF creative icon and that it will help you get started on great holiday gifts. I’ll be back tomorrow to show you how to make mitered corners in 2 simple steps.

This is part 3 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 2: 6 essential steps for successful machine embroidery using the creative icon

Go to part 4: 8 easy steps to perfect mitered corners

[shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”23735596″]

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...

2 comments

Laura Sloan November 10, 2018 - 9:04 am

I text embroider all my quilt labels. I just like the way it comes out so neatly (as opposed to writing in pen) and it gives my quilts such a nice finished look.

Reply
Claire Haillot November 11, 2018 - 12:04 pm

Thanks Laura! Yes it’s definetly better!

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.