How to create embroidery designs using Premier+ 2 software

Isn’t it great fun to create projects using machine embroidery? Have you noticed that I haven’t used a single purchased embroidery design?

Yesterday, I talked about using magnetic hoops and how useful they are when embroidering garments or felt. Today, I’m using the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2 and the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop to create an embroidery design. This time, I’ll be heading to the Premier+ 2 software to put the design together.

Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2 with the embroidery unit attached

I love inspirational quotes, and I wanted to find one to create a wall hanging that I could enjoy every day. There are loads of crazy things happening globally, so when I happened upon this quote by Groucho Marx, I knew I had found the perfect one. I also wanted a lengthy quote to show how you can use fonts in the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop.

I opened the Premier+ 2 Software and loaded the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop into my workspace. I changed the hoop’s orientation on the screen so that the lettering would be parallel to the split (shown in white). The DESIGNER Majestic Hoop is a ‘turnable’ hoop, so once one half of the design is stitched out, the hoop must be turned so you can stitch out the other half.

The DESIGNER Majestic Hoop in the Premier+ 2 software

There are many fonts, and it was hard to decide which one to use. I selected the Story Font to give me some flexibility with the font size as the quote is lengthy.

The font menu in the Premier+ 2 software

I used two text boxes to enter the quote onto the screen. The word “I” was in a separate text box to make the font larger. A larger text box contains the remainder of the quote. I played with the font size, and in the end, I used 13 mm for the lettering. You can see in the toolbar that I have a lot of options to play with the lettering, but I wanted to keep it simple. All the lines of text were center justified.

Did you read the quote? Doesn’t it make sense these days?

The quote placement in the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop in the PREMIER+ 2 software

I entered the text, except the first word, into the same text box. It’s much faster than creating separate lines of text, as shown below. If I wanted each line to have a different font or a different size, breaking the quote into separate lines would be the way to go, but not for this project. OH – I did add the author’s name (Groucho Marx) in a separate text box to change the font size and move it to the bottom right.

Creating the quote with separate lines of text; DESIGNER Majestic Hoop in the PREMIER+ 2 software

I wanted to frame the lettering, so I popped into the SuperDesign tab in the Premier+ 2 software to find something suitable. There are loads of different images in the SuperDesigns from which to choose.

The SuperDesign menu in the Premier+ 2 software

I chose a small floral design from one of the border menus. It’s small, yet it’s bright and cheery. The Encore tool made is easy to use the floral design to create the border. I thought of adding something else but decided that some negative space is good.

The inspirational quote as an embroidery design in the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop

I’m thrilled with this design, and now it’s time to stitch it out. I saved the design file, and then I sent the file to the DESIGNER EPIC 2 through the mySewnet link. I didn’t need to find a USB to make that happen.

Every time I do that, I get excited!

Sending the embroidery file through the mySewnet Ecosystem

Here’s how the design looks on the Embroidery Edit Screen

The inspirational quote in Embroidery Edit on the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2

It’s time to get the fabric hooped and start stitching. I used an Inspira Tear-A-Way stabilizer. It comes in various widths, and it’s so much easier to use one piece instead of trying to hoop two separate pieces. I used the 20″ wide.

A roll of Inspira Tear-A-Way stabilizer with the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop

Be mindful when using the DESIGNER Majestic hoop that the spring area’s distance on both Quick Release clips is the same. If one side is tighter than the other, the design will not match correctly along the center of the design. If your design is dense, this can be obvious. Checking this small detail can save a lot of time and thread.

The Quick Release clip on the right-hand side of the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop

The Quick Release clip on the left-hand side of the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop

As I move into Embroidery Stitch Out, I need to make some choices about how the design gets stitched out. Notice in the bottom right-hand corner, there is an option for Turnable Hoop – Side Sort. This feature ensures that all the stitches on the same side of the hoop stitch out before rotating the hoop and stitching the other side. Can you imagine not only having to change thread colors but rotating the hoop? I don’t think so.

I also used the Color Block Sort and Color Block Merge to group the colors and make few thread changes. I chose to use the Automatic Thread Cutter and Automatic Jump Stitch feature.

The Embroidery Stitch Out menu options on the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2

I’m ready to hit the START button. Notice the number of stitches – almost 90,000. The first section alone will take over one hour to stitch. Imagine if I were using a slower embroidery machine! I’m good with this as I can let the DESIGNER EPIC 2 work away as I putter around and get some other things done. If I need to leave, I can monitor the progress on the mySewMonitor app on my phone.

The Embroidery Stitch Out mode on the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2

The design is stitching out very nicely, and I’m happy with the lettering. You’ll notice that I used clips when I hooped the fabric. I like to use those clips to help secure the large surface within the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop. I also slipped a second layer of Tear-A-Way stabilizer beneath the hoop just before hitting START. The extra layer of stabilizer will help to stabilize the many stitches in this design.

Making progress in the embroidery stitch out; DESIGNER Majestic Hoop in the PREMIER+ 2 software on the HV DESIGNER EPIC 2

I used a 40wt thread, and the lettering looks great. If I found that the lettering was too thick, I could use a thinner thread weight.

Lettering on green fabric
Using 40wt thread for the lettering

After the lettering and the border is stitched on one half of the hoop, I got a pop-up message to rotate the hoop and change the thread.

I don’t have to guess what to do; the DESIGNER EPIC 2 gives me all the detailed steps to complete this design. Yep – it doesn’t get any easier than that.

The pop-up message to rotate the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop on the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2

Notice that the embroidery design is now rotated 180 degrees in the Embroidery Stitch Out screen.

The embroidery design in the opposite direction for the next step; DESIGNER Majestic Hoop in the PREMIER+ 2 software

I’ve rotated the hoop and changed the thread back to that used for the lettering. I’m ready to hit Start and let it start stitching again.

The DESIGNER Majestic Hoop in position for the next step in embroidering the large design

There’s my final design. I’m so excited – it looks incredible. And I didn’t have to look for an embroidered inspirational quote that someone else created. I was able to create my own using the Premier +2 software. And the best part? It was EASY.

I know that many people think that using embroidery software is challenging to learn. However, the Wizards in the software and playing around a wee bit to understand what command does what didn’t take me long to create this embroidery design.

The completed inspirational quote in the DESIGNER Majestic Hoop

Wow! Can you imagine using this large hoop and recreating a favorite saying, poem, or song lyric that would make the perfect gift or something for yourself? Make sure you provide the author’s name on your piece to respect copyright.

I haven’t decided if I’ll stretch this over a stretcher frame or whether I’ll quilt it and create a wall hanging. But I have options, and I can’t wait to make more!

And that ends another great week of working with the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2. I hope you got some inspiration for creating your own projects and using some of the specialty hoops. I hope you got some ideas about combining and using embroidery designs from various sources.

Be sure to stop by your Husqvarna Viking Dealer and ask about these fantastic tools to make your machine embroidered projects sparkle.

Thanks for joining me this week.

Have a great day!

Ciao!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: The reason for using metal hoops with your machine embroidery

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