How to convert the Brother Dreamweaver XE into an embroidery machine

This week on QUILTsocial I’m making a Christmas present for one of my ‘Fiber Friends’ using the Brother Dreamweaver XE. This might be something you’d like to do too, for yourself or for a friend!

I bet you’re wondering what a ‘Fiber Friend’ is!

Well, I’m very lucky to belong to a small group of friends that calls itself the Fiber Friends. We’ve been meeting at each other’s house once a month for SEVENTEEN years!! We have lunch, do some handwork, exchange gossip and catch each other up on our family news.

These women are some of my closest friends and I cherish them all! Every Christmas we have a gift exchange. We draw a name out of a hat and make our friend a quilted item. We started out with lap quilts (and sometimes bigger!), but for the last few years we’ve scaled it down to wallhangings, taberunners and tote bags. Here’s a photo from last year’s Christmas quilt exchange.

For this year’s exchange, I’ve decided to make my friend a wire-framed tote using this pattern from Fat Quarter Gypsy. I saw the samples in her booth at Quilt Market and thought they were so cute! I’ve been wanting to use the pattern for awhile now and thought that this would be a perfect project for my Fiber Friend.

The bag has a square pocket on one side which I thought would be the perfect use for this Batik art panel from Turtle Hand Batiks! I’ll use the fabrics on the left for the outside of the bag and the one on the right for the lining.

I also decided that I want to personalize the bag by embroidering her name on the side that doesn’t have the pocket. So I guess it’s time to break out the embroidery unit for the Dreamweaver XE!

I removed the extension table that I’ve been using for all of my sewing and free motion work so far. The embroidery unit of the Brother Dreamweaver XE is easily attached by sliding it onto the free arm of the sewing machine until the latch underneath catches.

The Dreamweaver XE now has its embroidery unit installed and I’m a step closer to my machine embroidery adventure.

Now that the embroidery unit is attached, every time you turn the machine on, this warning will appear on the screen. No worries – just press OK and keep your hands (and other materials) out of the way of the carriage.

Now that I know what project I’m working on this week and the embroidery unit is attached to the machine, tomorrow I can get the Dreamweaver XE ready for machine embroidery. See you then!