Decorative stitches in Embroidery Mode

It’s the end of the week, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of all the fantastic features and benefits of the Husqvarna Viking Designer Sapphire™ 85. Aren’t those dimensional applique stitches gorgeous? Well, today, we’ll play with the decorative stitches once again. This time, we’re moving over to embroidery mode! What? Can I use the decorative stitches in embroidery mode? Oh yes! So, let’s get started!

I don’t have time to stitch out what I have in mind, but I’ll walk through the steps in prepping and saving the file. Then I can stitch it whenever I have a moment.

Bringing decorative stitches and the exclusive stitch techniques (yes – even the exclusive stitch techniques) into embroidery mode means those 680 decorative stitches just got even more versatile. Wait until you see what you can do with them!

We were playing with the Applique Stitches, but now I want to start something new. How do I get out of this mode?

It’s super easy. Touch the JoyOS Advisor™ function at the top of the screen. Notice at the bottom you get a Start New icon. If I made a mistake and don’t want to be here, I can touch the Continue Applique Stitches icon to go back. It’s so easy to maneuver around the screen.

Touch the Start New icon and you’re now at the Sewing Mode screen. No excuses for getting lost, and we’re ready to start another adventure with the Designer Sapphire™ 85. Remember, if you’re curious about any of those buttons on the screen, use the Quick Help (the question mark) in the top right corner of the screen. Now go to Embroidery Edit. See the little embroidery hoop icon in the top right-hand corner? That’s how you switch between Embroidery Mode and Sewing Mode.

Here we are in Embroidery Edit with one of the many built-in embroidery design menus open on the screen. Notice in the bottom left-hand corner that my hoop size is 360 x 200 mm, the largest hoop included with the Designer Sapphire™ 85. See the tabs in the top right? Those are all the sources from which I can select a file(s) to incorporate into my custom embroidery design.

I can load one of the over 620 built-in embroidery designs, most of the 680 stitches, or an alphabet or embroidery font. I can also choose from the mySewnet™ library (remember – the Designer Sapphire™ 85 is Wi-Fi enabled!), and let’s not forget that I can bring in files I’ve purchased or created. You can create embroidery designs in the Embroidery Edit screen, the mySewnet™ software, or a purchased design. They could be sitting on a USB stick, or they could be in the mySewnet™ Cloud. And let’s not forget you may have a file from mySewnet™ Project Creator! Oh – and I almost forgot the QuickDesign™ app.

So yes, I can combine elements from everywhere to make unique designs. I can be as creative as I want, or I can load one file and work with that. The other thing to remember is the Embroidery Edit has some handy editing tools at the bottom of the screen. They are currently not available as I don’t have a design on the screen.

Remember, we’ll be working with decorative stitches in Embroidery Edit today, so I choose the tab with the Zigzag icon on it, and now I have access to all the stitch menus. As I mentioned, almost all 680 stitches are available for use in Embroidery Edit. You’ll get a pop-up message if the stitch can’t be embroidered.

To give you an idea, I brought in a zigzag stitch. When you look at the screen, you may be thinking it doesn’t look like a zigzag stitch. And you’re right – it doesn’t. Selecting the stitches this way brings in one stitch sequence. And notice the hoop size switched to 80 x 80 mm.

You’ll see the editing tools at the bottom are now available. You can mirror side to side and end to end, incorporate a grid in the background, change the screen color, duplicate the design, rotate, scale, position, and well, there are many editing tools. Remember, I’m doing this editing right on the screen – I do not need to have access to embroidery software.

I want to work with something more interesting than the zigzag, so I deleted the zigzag stitch and moved to the K Menu – the Omnimotion stitches. Remember playing with those yesterday? I found an exciting stitch and brought it into Embroidery Edit. Okay – so I brought in one stitch sequence. Now what? If I want a row of stitches, I’ll have to replicate the stitch sequence and then position them one by one. Yikes, that could take me forever. There must be a better way. And you’re right – there is!!

I select the Program icon (A with the zigzag) from the bottom of the screen to create a design with multiple stitches. Programming allows me to bring in all kinds of stitches, alter their appearance, multiply stitches, and a whole lot more. Again, the tools are grayed out because I don’t have a stitch selected.

I’ve chosen a lovely Omnimotion stitch that I can mirror end to end and side to side. I can add more stitch sequences, alter the length and width, add CUT, STOP and FIX commands, and I can also see the program length, which is very important.

I can add more of the same stitch by using the Duplicate function on the left-hand side. Or if I touch and hold the function, I get a number pad that allows me to enter a specific number of repeats. So, it’s super easy to add more stitches. Should I want to incorporate a different stitch into this sequence, I’ll select another menu and add the appropriate stitches. The flexibility and the possibilities are endless.

If the programmed stitch sequence is for embroidery, it’s important to remember one thing – the size of the hoop you’ll be using. My hoop is 360 x 200 mm, so the program length can’t exceed 360 mm, or the sequence won’t fit in the hoop. That’s the beauty of the Program function – the length of my stitch sequence is calculated automatically, and I can see the program length at the top of the screen. I can play around with the stitches and add and subtract until I know the sequence will fit in the hoop. I can also play with the length of the stitch sequence if I want to.

Once I’m happy, I can save the stitch sequence. Where does it save? Why, in the mySewnet™ Cloud, of course! But I could also save it to a USB stick. You can create folders in your mySewnet™ Cloud just like you would on your computer.

Now I’m going back to Embroidery Edit, where I’ll load the newly created stitch. The beauty of the mySewnet™ Cloud is that I can log into mySewnet™ on any Wi-Fi enabled sewing/embroidery machine and retrieve the file. Now, that’s awesome!

Here’s a note about keeping things tidy. I’m very good at creating new stitches and never using them more than once. I’m not good at deleting what I no longer need. I must be more conscientious of this, or one day, I’ll run out of room and then have to go back and do a major clean-up. If you think the stitch sequence you created will only get used once, use it and delete it. It takes mere seconds to recreate the file should you need it again. But if plan to stitch multiples of the sequence, or if you like the sequence, give it a name you’ll recognize and create an appropriate folder for it.

Here’s my stitch sequence in the 360 x 200 mm hoop and the length of the design does not exceed the hoop. How easy was that?

Notice the Paper Airplane icon at the bottom of the screen? If I wanted, I could send this file to the mySewnet™ Embroidery Software to do more modifications or apply a technique. Perhaps I want to make this an endless design. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!

I duplicated the line of stitching and positioned them side by side. I could make a beautiful lattice effect by adding more rows of that programmed stitch sequence. Wouldn’t it be gorgeous as the background for a large floral applique? And what could you do with embroidery thread colors to make this subtle and the flower pop out? Oh wow, I could play with this one design for a long time! But I have a specific plan in mind.

Well, I had a specific plan in mind, but now that I see the lattice in the background, my mind is turning with more possibilities.

I went back to Program and created a new stitch sequence using one of the Dimensional Applique Stitches. Using the positioning tools, I inserted the row of Applique Stitches between the two rows of Onmistitches. I can ensure the rows are the same distance apart by using the same positioning numbers on the left and right sides of the center row of applique stitches.

Oh, shoot – I want to see what this looks like stitched out. And then I had another great idea, which I’ll save for another post. Yes, I’ll be back with more great ideas.

Now here’s the beauty of bringing the decorative stitches into embroidery mode. If you tried to do this same design in sewing mode, you could, but you’d have to be very careful to keep those lines of stitching straight. It’s not hard, but you do have to pay attention. However, if you bring them into embroidery mode, they’ll always be straight! And when I’m embroidering, I don’t have to be sitting at the machine. I love that.

Okay, I’m off to stitch the design. I’ll be right back.

Isn’t it gorgeous? I’ve got something else in mind to make with these stitch sequences, which I’ll save for another day. I can’t get over how easy it was to create this design, and well – I can do anything!!! I still need to trim a couple of the Applique Stitches, but you get the idea.

And now for the chair caddy. Remember, I said I had one more thing to add. Well, how many times do you sit down to rip something out, or you have ends of thread, and the darn threads are sticking to your fingers because of static, or they stick to your chair or fall on the floor. So, I added a piece of batting. I can stick my needles or pins into the batting, so they don’t get lost. The beauty is that the batting is flat, so it’s easy to store away—no bulky pincushion. I basted the batting in place so if it starts to look bad; I can easily replace it.

Here’s what it looks like on the arm of the chair. I LOVE it.

My original intention was to make one pocket, but why make one when you can make two? As I was working on the chair caddy, a thought came to me. The pocket is the perfect size to hold my favorite chocolate, and no one will know it’s there! Bonus!!!! The fancy pocket goes on the outside so people can see the gorgeous embroidery I created, and the inside pocket is big enough for my scissors, which will never get lost in the chair cushions again!

And that’s it for the week! I hope you enjoyed my adventures with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Sapphire™ 85. It was a great week, and I learned so much, but I know there’s so much more to learn and explore.

On that note, I’m out of here to play with those stitch sequences I created and see what else I can make.

Have a great day!!

Ciao!!!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: Beautiful decorative stitches in sewing mode