Exploring the mySewnet Ecosystem for machine embroidery

I’m so excited to be back to share more of my adventures with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby 90. There are so many projects I want to sew and embroider with this fantastic machine that sometimes it’s hard to know which project to pick!

If you want to explore my previous fun with the Designer Ruby 90, check out Tension perfection is a breeze with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby 90. There are five blog posts; the link will take you to the first day.

Today, we’ll gather all the supplies, prepare the pieces for sewing, explore some of the features of the mySewnet Ecosystem, and choose an embroidery design. Phew – that’s a lot!

Let’s get started.

I had a pile of projects I wanted to work on this week. But I needed to make a tote bag for the weekend, and I decided to make that a priority. It’s all about priorities – how I wish I had another three hours in each day!

This tote bag is an excellent place to add some embroidery, decorative stitches and show off the capabilities of the Designer Ruby 90.

All the fabric requirements, dimensions, and a full tutorial are available at this Quilted tote bag tutorial post – if you want to make a tote bag. This bag pattern is so versatile that you can make it many times, and each time will be different. Use decorative stitches or machine embroidery to personalize or embellish the tote bag.

Typically, I use Inspira Fusible Fleece in my projects. But I found a high loft, non-fusible fleece in my stash, and I chose to use it instead. Both of those factors made it harder to work with and created more work. In the future, I’ll be selecting the Inspira Fusible Fleece for my projects. Lesson learned! But here’s the thing – we do end up with some weird stuff in our stashes, and well, using this high loft fleece made me realize how much I love the fusible fleece.

I deviated from the tutorial a wee bit in how I prepared the two outer pieces of the bag. Because I chose the high-loft fleece, I decided to quilt the outer pieces before I cut them apart. I placed the focus fabric on the fleece, leaving enough room at the top to add the border where the machine embroidery will go.

Once the stitching was complete, I trimmed the pieces down according to the instructions in the tutorial. I got the same result, just in a different way.

Then I cut the remainder of the pieces – the pockets, the handles, the lining, interlinings, etc. There are loads of products or combinations of products one can use to get a professional looking tote. My preferred favorite is fusible fleece for the outer parts of the bag and Décor Bond to stabilize the lining, pockets, and handles.

Some of these bag pieces are large, and it can be a challenge to cut them to the correct size. What’s the best way to do this? Why with the Omnigrip 20½” square ruler, of course! It’s not a ruler I use every day, but when I need it, I love it!

Take care where you store the ruler so it doesn’t get broken. I like to tuck it between two cabinets beneath my cutting table. It’s a safe place, always handy, and it works like a charm. I do tuck it a bit deeper into the cabinets so my foot doesn’t accidentally catch it.

With the aid of the large ruler, all the pieces are accurately cut for the tote bag.

Sometimes, assembling the supplies and cutting the pieces takes longer than it does to put the bag together!

The next step is to attach all the fusible interlinings to the appropriate pieces of the bag. I used to hate this task. It didn’t matter how hot the iron was or how much steam you used; fusing the large pieces of fusible fleece and interfacing to the fabric was a chore. However, there’s a great tool I wouldn’t be without these days. That’s the Singer 20 Steam Garment Press. It comes in three different sizes, so you’re sure to find one appropriate for your most stitched projects.

The Singer 20 Steam Garment Press is excellent for adhering large pieces of fusible products in place. The first thing to do is place your fusible product with the fusible side (usually the shiny or pebbly side) on the wrong side of the fabric.

You may have to trim a few errant edges, and it’s best to do that before you fuse so you don’t get fusible product on the surface of the steam press.

Carefully lay the fabric and the fusible on the bed of the steam press. Close the lid, and use steam if you want.

Within mere seconds, the fusible product has securely adhered to the fabric. I swear, it’s magic!

And the best part? It’s adhered everywhere – on all corners, along the edges, and in the middle. The Singer 20 Steam Garment Press is a game-changer if you make bags or any other project requiring fusible products. It cuts the prep time significantly, which is very important to me.

If your piece is larger than the bed of the steam press, as were most of the bag components I worked with, fuse one area, reposition the fabric, and fuse again. It’s so simple, it’s crazy! If you want to make sure things have adhered to each other, you can fuse the piece with the fabric face down, then flip it over and fuse it again. Be careful you don’t overheat the item and melt away the fusible. Oh yes – it can happen, so be sure to test and read the instructions for all the products.

Before I knew it, the pieces were prepped and ready to be assembled. Thank goodness for the steam press. I’d probably still be there attempting to get all the edges fused if I used an iron.

As I said, the Singer 20 Steam Garment Press is a game-changer. As much as I love my iron, I will never use it again to adhere fusible products to fabric, especially when we’re talking big pieces. The steam press is super-fast, and it works brilliantly. And it doesn’t take long to heat up! Start cutting your fusible products, and by the time you’ve finished cutting, the steam press is ready!

My initial thought for the band of the tote bag was to stitch lines of decorative stitching on it. That’s why the outer pieces weren’t cut apart – it would mean fewer stops and starts for the decorative stitching, as well as the quilting.

Then I had a brilliant idea – the Designer Ruby 90 is an embroidery machine. Why don’t I embroider something on the band? Hey – I could use an endless design!

What’s even better is that the Designer Ruby 90 is a Wi-Fi-enabled embroidery machine. I can send designs directly to it from the mySewnet embroidery library of over 7,000 embroidery designs (available with subscription) or send the design to mySewnet embroidery software to make any changes or save it in the mySewnet cloud and retrieve it through the Designer Ruby 90.

Wow! Options! And no USB stick is required! You have to love this technology.

Now, here’s a word about searching on the mySewnet embroidery library. I typed in “endless” to search for endless designs. Hmm – I got 996 which is a bit much to search through.

The next time, I used the search box to refine the search. This time, I searched for Endless and Outline Embroideries, using the Techniques and Categories options.

After my refined search, I found 72 designs that fit my search parameters, and 72 is much easier to search through than close to 1,000. Why did I choose an Outline embroidery design? The finished width of the band is 3”, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for the motif, and the high-loft fleece was also an issue.

When I started this project, my initial thought was to decorate the band with decorative stitches, not embroidery. Because I had quilted the main body to the high-loft, non-fusible fleece first, I added a bit of extra width to the band fabric to accommodate the high-loft fleece.

So the band was wide enough to do machine embroidery, but just! Next time, I need to think the project through before I start to cut. Oh – we know that won’t happen. I love having to solve a problem as it arises.

I searched through the search results and found one that would work for my tote bag. It was a simple matter of sending it directly to the Designer Ruby 90 embroidery machine. I swear this is one of the best features of this embroidery machine. No USB, no cables – just hit Send!

When I started this project, my initial thought was to decorate the band with decorative stitches, not embroidery. Because I had quilted the main body to the high-loft, non-fusible fleece first, I added a bit of extra width to the band fabric to accommodate the high-loft fleece.

So the band was wide enough to do machine embroidery, but just! Next time, I need to think the project through before I start to cut. Oh – we know that won’t happen. I love having to solve a problem as it arises.

I searched through the search results and found one that would work for my tote bag. It was a simple matter of sending it directly to the Designer Ruby 90 embroidery machine. I swear this is one of the best features of this embroidery machine. No USB, no cables – just hit Send!

Every time I hit send for a design, it makes my heart sing at how easy it is. Now one must remember that you need a free mySewnet account, and you need to be logged in on the WiFi-enabled Designer Ruby 90. If you wish to send designs to the mySewnet embroidery software on your computer, you need to be logged in to your mySewnet account there as well. And remember, the mySewnet embroidery library is a subscription-based service, although you can purchase single designs if you wish. I love having access to all 7,000+ designs.

That may sound complex, but it isn’t. Be sure to stop by your local Husqvarna Viking dealer for a demo so you appreciate how easy it is to move things between the cloud, the embroidery machine, and your computer. You can even create designs with an app (QuickDesign) on your cell phone, which also connects to your mySewnet account.

Wow!!! I love technology, and I love how it’s taking over the sewing and embroidery industry!

Okay – so we’ve done enough work for today. Our tote bag is pretty much ready to start the assembly; the embroidery design is waiting in the Embroidery Edit screen of the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby 90. Be sure to come back tomorrow to see how I make out with stitching out an endless design.

Have a super day!

Ciao!

This is part 1 of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: 8 clever tips for stitching an endless embroidery design