Hear Ye’ Hear Ye’ …STOP the PRESS …. The ULTIMATE Beginner’s Project is………….. LACE!!
HH ( Hello Hello ) all you fellow ME’ers!!!
I have been shopping up a storm!... and MEing too….
Speaking of shopping, Ann’s store has some good specials right now!!!!! Have you gone to her ‘shop' lately? (….& no, they aren’t paying me to plug their site, I’m just grateful to them for my beautiful new machine I won & I like to acknowledge those who have helped me along my way. So thanks AnnTheGran!!!
Update…
I’ve tried 5 (I think???) NEW TYPES of machine embroidering projects now, but by far I L-O-V-E L-A-C-E the most!!!! And while thinking about lace, the thought just hit me…..Those of you who love to do lace and to quilt, etc are leaving a legacy each time you give something away!!!! How wonderful that you are giving something tangible, something they can keep …It’s a labor of love that will last & last! (I hope you are signing & dating them!!! ) I just bet there are a gazillion cute 'machine embroidery label designs' you can make to attach to your gifts. (Oh I am so not there yet….Boy this M.E. world can keep you busy forever trying new things!!! What will they think of NEXT??)
More Stuff?
In the meantime, I am trying to SLOWLY (yah, sure) learn something new and ENJOY the process. It’s kinda easy to start overloading the circuits….trying to do too much too soon etc. It’s ok to be a beginner and be in that stage for as long as YOU want. It’s your time etc etc and there are many lovely lovely things can be made with a skeleton amount of items…REALLY!!! I just happen to love ‘gadgets.’ IF I have a place to put it and if I can pay for it free and clear…then I get it. So far I have not gotten into over buying ‘fabric’ & I want to keep it that way! ( but I’m not a sewer or a quilter.)
Question: Just curious what do you like to listen to when you M-E…or do you like it quiet???? TV/news???
Why I Love Lace
OK back to lace. Oh my goodness…. Can there be anything more beautiful in the machine embroidery world than lace… I ask you???? Experienced ME’ers….do you agree?????
I have done some CUTE, NICE, and SIMPLE things just starting out here so far, but I am totally totally in love with lace!!! Can you tell???? Let’s see if I can inspire you to try lace especially if you have not ever done it before or thought it was WAY too HARD……It’s NOT-------- It’s:
1. SIMPLE
2. INEXPENSIVE (well kind of)
3. BEAUTIFUL
4. QUICK
5. Deeply satisfying …
6. EASY to HOOP!!!
Oh my goodness, I can’t tell you enough times….START w/ LACE if you are NEW to embroidery!!!!!
YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!! TRUST ME!!!!! And then when you do, please write me back and tell us how it went for you.! I can HARDLY wait to hear from you!!!!
Fair warning…it can be extremely addictive and you MAY lose sleep!!!!.
Getting Started with Lace
OK beginners here we go…..
Supplies needed: Only 4 items (well, besides your machine) Thread, bobbin, stabilizer & LACE design!!!!
1. THREAD -- I used Madeira, Yenmet and Isacord. I like SHINY poly thread &/or metallic. Tip: Be sure to REMOVE the sticky label off the spool of thread. (I stick it inside a clear ziplock “ project” bag along with gathered strands of the color.)
2 . BOBBINS -- One or more FULL bobbins dedicated for this project alone- You use the SAME thread as your top stitch thread!!!! Yes, you read it correctly, USE the SAME thread. RAHOO!!!! SOOOO simple!!! It is used on BOTH TOP & BOTTOM!!! ) Don’t you just love this project already!!!!????.
TIP: Just make sure you have enough bobbin thread ready to go in advance - so you don’t have to try and restart your project in the middle of it. Some machines will keep track of where you stitched last…not sure if mine does, not there yet, but who wants to start and stop in the middle of a project anyway??? Right???…..It’s bad enough when the top thread breaks that you CAN get to….The bobbin that’s buried is not good. Nope, not good at all….
So you might do what I did….I bought several bobbins that will fit my Brother machine…(boy one DOES need to be VERY specific and it helps store owners out if you know the MAKE and MODEl , but better yet…TIP: Take the ORIGINAL BOBBIN (that came with the machine) INTO the store to buy more.
***I also bought Ann’s SideWinder to wind a bunch of bobbins in a hurry and not tie up my machine. That’s just me…but I love it, and am glad I have it. I’d buy it again in a flash because, to my way of thinking…. it causes ‘less wear and tear ‘ on my BROTHER PE 700. …so the extra gadget was worth it to me. (Good price too I thought.) It’s very light and hardly takes up any space. The best part is you can be winding away on the SideWinder and your embroidery machine can be doing its thing …. ALL at the SAME TIME!!!! I love it. (plus I am right by my machine, doing something productive & keeping my eye on the machine to make sure everything is going smoothly.) Marriage made in heaven - especially for us ‘lacers” don’t you think.
I’m CALLING on all “LACERS” (which you will be affectionately called from now on ) to contribute ideas to us newbies as to what to do with all the lace we make!!! Thanks!!!
3. STABILIZER -- The most famous & critical question, …. right ???? …Which stabilizer to use? Well PAT, the guru of ANY topic that has come up yet so far as I can tell, has done an ENTIRE post on that subject alone!!!!! It contains a WEALTH of information on stabilizers!!!! Thank YOU Pat!!!!! We needed that!!!!
Someone asked me about Badge Master in a forum. I think...Well, I used it during my lesson at The Sewing Room in Beaverton, Oregon. It’s THICK, CLEAR and it only took 1 layer to do ANY lace I have done so far. I love it. TIP: Remember to put the stabilizer back INTO the container so that it doesn’t get moisture etc. (It’s made to disintegrate easily.) Tip 2 : Remember to cut a piece large enough to have a little extra hanging out on each side of the hoop. (E turned the roll sideways to cut it in order to reduce waste.)
Manly Embroidery?
Speaking of Ethan ……….Tonight E is going to help contribute to my blog by doing a lace design…..as a BEGINNER - MAN !!!! What a guy!!!! …….SO if there are any MEN out there who might think it is not a manly enough thing to do (lace embroidery) I want you to have total confidence that it is & give it a try!!! (He IS a ‘he man’ too - a full fledged fire fighter & has been “Mr. July” 2 years running in the American Red Cross calendar for our area - of course they had him pose fully clothed and it was taken in the museum, but….that’s another story!!! LOL)
He is looking at thread colors right now as I am writing this….I wonder what color thread he’ll pick and which design…??? Hmmmmm If he chooses black out of all the choices..I am going to crack up…. !!!!) I guess that makes perfect sense to a man though- - black lace …..Hmmmmmmm, I wonder if he thinks I am going to wear it tonight??? How big is the design???…The hoop is only 5X7!!!! (I should not joke about my size. I was thin once and even modeled…but I was stunned at my ‘size’ when the photos of me winning the machine were posted. My round face is attached automatically each time I write something.) When I get some weight off I am having them retrofitted…OK???!!!
But back to business... he chose a butterfly and DID choose black initially (lol) but has changed it to yellow to put on a card for his g-daughter’s HS graduation next week. He is using Sulky’s Ultra Solve for the stabilizer that he’ll wash it out….TIP: Oh, & thanks to one of our readers for the tip about NOT having the stabilizer residue go down the drain -- we‘ll do it in our greenhouse instead of inside our home to keep from having the drain clog. E used the alphabet in the PE700 to spell out Alicia and chose the ‘outline’ alphabet one and stitched it on the Ultra Solve. There was one glitch on the middle letter with the thread accumulating, not sure why but we just snipped it out the excess once the hoop was removed.
4. DESIGN pattern - My 1st lace design was a SHELL (oesd Lace Shell #NX230 ) - for my beach house. OK Ann don’t flip…and go ahead and let me crack you up again….I just left the design in it’s stabilizer!!!! I love it just the way it is!!!! & I don’t want to wreck it!!!
Too Nice to Use...
Well, now that I do think about it….It IS ME’d on water soluable stabilizer and it IS going to be at the beach which tends to be ‘water prone’….Hmmmmm...I still don’t want to touch it further.
I could actually put a frame around it ( in glass ) and leave it as is and it would be SOOOOOO pretty. (I love to design homes, flowers, gardens, cards etc…. even went to school and earned a certificate in interior decorating not so long ago….I am use to ‘thinking outside the box’ a bit and it is SO fun…anyway… don’t give me TOO hard of a time, OK??!!! Some of you may think I have gone completely off my rocker....but think back to when you were BRAND NEW to machine embroidery and when you actually made something beautiful….Didn’t you want to keep it at a stage that it still ‘looked good’….not wanting to ‘go on’ and add something more…just so it didn’t get messed up??? Hmm??? Well, That’s where I’m at.
So the next question is….Now what to do with all the lace after they’ve been stitched???!!!!!…
That will be another thing to blog about but hopefully MANY of you readers will contribute ideas, thoughts and projects. I LOVE your input! I REALLY want to hear what you experienced “lacers” have done with your finished lace designs!!!!
Please Share Your Lace Projects!
Seriously, I could stop right now with all lessons and stay home with my Brother PE700 , thread and stabilizer and be happy stitching out every single lace design I can get my hands on…..I am not kidding! If you have favorite designs….please, please please share them!!!! I’m just getting started!!! Let me know what you have done. Maybe you could post them in the Project Gallery.
I haven’t done Eileen Roche’s Little Black Tee yet that I bought it in Orlando the day before I won my machine. I knew that if I ever DID do embroidery…that would be something I would LOVE to do!!!! ( I thought lace would be HARD….it’s NOT!!!!!) ( Little black lace!!!..Hmmm & I was giving my husband a hard time earlier…that’s funny!!! )
One last thing --- under the “DESIGN patterns.” I looked online at Ann’s site and she had DARLING beautiful HEART lace patterns that I am going to do as soon as I can figure out how to download them. Sigh……I am such a beginner on SO many levels…but I am making some progress slowly but surely….& am having a GOOD time in the process and that is what counts!!!