How to use an LED pointer to perfectly place your embroidery design

Yesterday on QUILTsocial I set up the lettering and fixed the size so that it would fit in my Dreamweaver XE large hoop. Today I’m stitching and I’ll show you how you can easily ensure that your design will fit on your ribbon. Are you following along?

For these embroidered ribbons I’m using a 75/11 embroidery needle, so go ahead and change the needle in your machine if you need to.

After the embroidery frame is attached, press the LED pointer key in the embroidery screen. This will turn on the LED pointer which will indicate where the needle will puncture the fabric (the needle drop position). Also, when the LED pointer is turned on, the presser foot height is automatically adjusted according to the fabric thickness. If it’s pressed again, the height will be adjusted again. The light turns off automatically when the presser foot is lowered.

This LED light corresponds to the green cross on the LCD display, which is the center of my embroidery design. As you can see, the light looks like it is almost at the center point of the ribbon.

If your LED pointer is NOT centered on your ribbon, use the arrows on the LCD screen of the Dreamweaver XE to move the design on the screen. This will also make the embroidery hoop move, so keep adjusting the design (and hoop) until the illuminated needle drop position is centered on the ribbon.

To check the outer limits of the pattern, press the Trial key on the embroidery screen.

Select the desired position on the arrow chart and the embroidery frame of the Dreamweaver XE moves to that spot. Look at the LED pointer to check that it’s still on the ribbon, and that there’s enough space to sew the pattern. Press all 4 corners on the grid on the screen to ensure that your entire pattern will fit on the ribbon.

The LED pointer shows that the bottom right corner of the design will fit on the ribbon.

After the first ribbon is stitched, use the LED pointer and the arrow buttons to move the design up or down into position on one of the other ribbons. After stitching the first ribbon, I decided to change the wording so that my letters weren’t so squished together. Here are the three ribbons I embroidered using the Dreamweaver XE from Brother.

Pull the embroidered ribbon off of the stabilizer sheet and remove the excess stabilizer from the back of the ribbon.

Use small, sharp scissors to trim any excess threads between the letters.

The scissors that come with the Dreamweaver XE are especially good for this little job!

As you can see, practice made perfect as my third ribbon (the pink with black lettering) turned out the best. I can see all sorts of ways that these ribbons could be used!

Tomorrow I’ll design a badge that I’ll stitch on felted wool using the Brother Dreamweaver XE. I’ve been wanting to try this for a long time, so I can’t wait!