Use built-in decorative stitches to create faux applique on your quilt

Yesterday I showed you how a few favorite built-in stitches on THE Dream Machine 2 have the power to make simple seamed strips of fabric look like applique stitches by actually stitching over the seams of pieced strips, aka faux applique.

Over the next couple of days I’ll be exploring some of the 726 built-in stitches on THE Dream Machine 2 as I continue to enhance the faux applique look to my table runner.

I love this feeling of exploring decorative stitches in the evening, the house is quiet and I can let my mind wander in as many creative avenues as I like. Brother’s largest 9½” x 14″ embroidery area is illuminated with their brightest lighting system, the dark doesn’t bother my sewing this late at night at all, actually it encourages me to keep sewing until the wee hours of the night…

I love this feeling of exploring decorative stitches in the evening, the house is quiet and I can have my mind wander in as many creative ways as I like.

Browsing the stitches on the display screen I came across a unique stitch. Check out the screen in the photo below, selected from the Utility Stitch program, file 3 stitch 3-08, and I’m adjusting the size to width 4.5 and the length 3.5.

Stitch 3-08 on the display screen

Take a look in the upper left hand corner of the display screen, THE Dream Machine will also tell you the foot required for this stitch, how smart is that? One doesn’t even need to think any more when working on this machine…it’s all pre-programmed.

All along the left hand side of the screen, there is my selected stitch in one continuous stream so I can see what it’s going to look like. I love this feature on THE Dream Machine 2!

Here’s a video I found about stacking decorative stitches on THE Dream Machine 2!

Brother Dream Machine 2 -Stacking Decorative Stitches in the Hoop – YouTube

Walking you through how to stack the decorative stitches on THE Dream Machine 2

I positioned the needle over the seam.

My needle is in the down position directly in the seam at the beginning of the seam

For this stitch, there’s quite a bit of movement to the foot because of the details in the stitch, so I want to slow down the speed of the machine. It’s important that I try to maneuver my table runner so that the seam is always in line with my needle keeping the stitching centered over the seam.

A busy stitch like this one shines most when sewn on a solid color fabric or plain fabric. If you’re going to use this stitch over a busy print, a contrasting thread color is best so the stitches have a chance to shine.

Stitch 3-08 has been completed along the 3rd seam

So far, I used 3 decorative stitches on this table runner, I’m looking forward to moving along to the next seams. My table runner is definitely taking on a bit more of that applique appearance with these unique stitches.

It’s a real cinch to select stitches and machine applique using THE Dream Machine 2; really it’s one of the basic features of this machine as it can do sew much more. Join me tomorrow for more stitching fun!

This is part 3 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 2: Built-in decorative stitches add a lot of punch to seamed strips of fabric

Go to part 4: Utility Stitches vs Character/Decorative Stitches, what’s the difference?

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