As machine embroiderers we have opportunities to use our machines to create and embellish everything from clothing to quilts to home décor and more. Sometimes my motivation to begin a project gets stunted by the fear of failure. That’s right… failure before I’ve even taken the first stitch… or even selected the fabric for the project-to-be.

But one recent afternoon I decided to play with the Calligraphy Project Designer. I like it because it’s simple to use and feeds my need for creativity.

I decided to do an online search for a fun quote. You can easily search key terms like “popular quotations,” “famous quotations,” or even “quotations about <life>,” (you can replace the word “life” with any word you want.)

In my search I came upon a fun quotation from Albert Einstein: “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

What an inspiring quotation!

Before beginning the project, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Select the hoop size. This will give you boundaries to work within.
2. If you are working with a long phrase, break it into several individual designs. It makes it easier to manipulate and rearrange.
3. The <Enter> key is useful. Instead of having one long continuous line of text, break it up by using the <Enter> key.
4. Consider the alignment. I chose to center all my text.
5. You may decide to edit as you go or wait until you have all the text on the screen. I chose to make the more creative edits (enlarging and changing the angle of the letters) at the very end. Decide what works for you.

The point is – you need to experiment with the layout. That is part of the creative process!

Here are the steps I used to put the layout together in software.

1. Open the Calligraphy Project Designer Software.
2. I chose the largest hoop size my machine could handle.
3. Click on the Text tool to add text.Design 1: “A person <Enter key> “who never”I centered the design and chose Old English for the text style.
   
   Design 2: “made a”I centered the design and chose Old English for the text style.
4. 
   
   Design 3: “mistake”I centered the design and chose Jester Pro for the text style.

   Design 4: “never tried”

   I centered the design and chose Old English.

   

   Design 5: “anything”

   I centered the design and chose Old English.

   

   Design 5: “new”

   I centered the design and chose the Diana-Vs text style.

   

   Design 6: “Albert Einstein”

   I centered the design and chose Old English. I placed the text further down on the page as I wanted to add a design later.

   

5. Rearrange the text into a pleasing format.
6. Click the Ink Spots button and select the Ink Blotch design. Arrange the design in a pleasing format. Enlarge the design if necessary, by selecting it then dragging one of the corners to expand the size.
7. I decided to enlarge the first letter “A”. Click on the text icon. Click on Design 1 to select it.
8. Click on the center of the letter “A”. The letter will now be surrounded by a yellow box.
   
   Grab one of the white corner boxes to enlarge the design. Once enlarged, click on the center of the letter and rearrange as needed.
   
9. I wanted to have fun with the word “mistake.” I decided to rotate the letter “t”.
   Click on the Text button. Click on the word “mistake” to select it. Click on the center of the letter “t” to select it. Click the arrow to rotate.
   
   Click on the sizing box to enlarge the letter.
   

Final Tips:

• Rearrange the designs as necessary and experiment with font styles and thread colors.
• Stitch efficiently! Go to Edit. Click on Resequence by Color.
• Save the design as an MHF file. (This format is the native format in the software. It will enable you to make edits in the future.). Then save the design in the format your embroidery machine reads and send to your embroidery machine.