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Beth’s method for finishing embroidered pictures.

Beth has been so kind and generous to write out directions on how she makes such beautiful finished embroideries that she displays on easels.  You can see some of them here.

Thank you so much Beth!  Download in PDF form:  BethPictureFraming

Procedure steps and tips for creating embroidery pictures using Pellon 71F ultra firm one sided fusible and Pellon 926 extra firm non-fusible stabilizers.

FINISHING EMBROIDERED PICTURES

It is best to use either an 80/12 or 90/14 topsitich needle.

Basic directions
1. In software combine embroidery design and border (frame) design. It does not matter which of the two designs is chosen first.
a) If more than one embroidery design is to be combined before adding the frame design, it is helpful to sequence the order of stitching in the software but moving forward and back through color stops in the embroidery machine to achieve the correct stitching order works as well.
b) It will be necessary to move forward and back through color stops to stitch the frame for the embroidery picture.
c) Edit the size and dimensions of embroidery design and border/frame design independently as necessary before joining them. Once combined as a new design, the dimensions can be adjusted further as desired.

2. Hoop one layer of water- soluble nonwoven fabric- like stabilizer.
a) The best success stitching on fusible pellon is achieved by opening the bottom hoop enough that the stabilizer can be hooped smoothly without pulling it at all. Just smooth it by hand before tightening the frame. The stabilizer should be straight in the hoop, not pulled “tight as a drum,” however, tighten the hoop frame as much as possible. Pulling at the
stabilizer to smooth it after the hoop is tightened only serves to make it crooked. The stabilizer may seem to be too loose, but it will work better stitching on pellon.

3. Stitch the first color stop, used for the border, for the placement of the fabric fused to pellon. a) Cut the pellon, front and back fabrics at least 1.25 inches bigger that the dimensions of the finished border. This will allow a little more than ½ inch to hold on to while trimming the outside away. More allowance may be preferred.
b) Pellon is not 100% uniform. It does have a little loft. This is not usually a big problem. Just be aware that as the design is stitched the pellon will often flex in the hoop. It is a good thing to have the stabilizer a little loose and not stretched tightly in the hoop, especially with densely stitched designs. Ugly creases will be avoided. Let the pellon become wonky. The design has
not been ruined. The action of additional stitching will often smooth everything out. Attaching the back will also help flatten everything. In any case the picture will press flat when completed.
c) Lightly fuse the fabric to pellon. Works better with dense stitching.
d) It is better to use fusible pellon for both the front and back fabrics if the designs are large or
when a very firm picture is preferred. Attaching the back using non-fusible works well for small designs. Quilt blocks using trapunto or quilting stitches look good using non-fusible pellon on the front and fusible on the back. With non-fusible the fabric may noticeably “float” around
stitched designs. Experience and every design will dictate pellon choices.

4. Center the fabric fused pellon in the placement stitching. Stitch the second color stop to tack it down to the stabilizer.

5. Move to the embroidery design and complete the embroidery. Remember that it is better to allow the complete design to stitch without interference. It will probably be wonky, but not to worry. After the stabilizer is washed away and the picture dries, it will iron flat.

6. After the embroidery is completed, remove the hoop from the machine. Turn the hoop over, center the back fabric over the placement stitching and secure it to the stabilizer with pins. If non-fusible pellon is used with the back fabric, it is helpful to pin the two together in the center for a smoother fit.

7. Return the hoop to the machine and stitch the border design color stops one and two to secure the back fabric.

8. Remove the hoop from the machine and on a flat surface trim away the excess fabric/pellon From the front and back.
a) Start with the back.
b) Very sturdy double curved applique scissors are extremely helpful. Pickle Pie Designs sells an excellent pair on their website www.picklepiedesigns .com.
c. Trim carefully as close to the stitching as possible. Avoid cutting the stitching or the stabilizer. If you do cut the stabilizer at bit, pin another piece of stabilizer over the cut to patch the area. The remaining color stops need something to stitch on.

9. Complete the remaining border design color stops.

10. Remove the beautiful, embroidered picture from the hoop. Place it in warm water to dissolve the washaway stabilizer and rinse the excess away. Stand the picture on edge (like in a dish drainer) to allow the water to drain. Do not worry if it is wonky but take care not to bend the wet pellon. After the picture is dry, steam iron it flat using a pressing cloth to avoid damaging the embroidery. Any noticeable wrinkles can also usually be ironed away.

Enjoy many pictures displayed on an easel. Another option is to tack one side of a small metal ring to the back and hang these pictures on the smallest wire “Command hooks”.

 

Jacqueline’s Towel (Pocket ) Topper

From Jacqueline:

My first draft of a kitchen towel using the pocket topper – top is a quilted black, the plaid is cloth, and the backing of the plaid is black terry cloth. The second one will be better – i make something for the Bell Choir at church every year for Christmas

Great idea jacqueline!  I never thought of anything other than pockets. 🙂

BFC31353 Ho-Ho-Ho-OOPS

Linda’s Peacock, Elephant and Unicorn!

Linda has done 3 fantastic projects and shows how a little embellishment can add do much to a finished embroidery!

The first is her Peacock:

from Linda:

I’m sending a photo of my latest finished wall hanging, your art deco peacock.  As you can see, I did a bit of editing and added a double swirl to the inside area of the peacock where there was a large, open space.  I used the same color thread as for the first swirl, Your thread number 2852, Light Green Amber, which looks like a soft, golden beige, and I love how it blends with the background fabric, yet still shows up and doesn’t compete with the Peacock.  Thanks for the lovely design. P.S.  I forgot to say I “crystalized” the peacock, using three colors of Swarovski crystals, Lt. Turquoise, Topaz and Crystal Meridian Blue.  They went so well with the colors of the design.

BFC1476 Large Decorative Peacock

Next her Bull Elephant:

Look what I did with your Indian Elephant design, BFC 1545.  I found a use for all that fancy beaded fringe I bought, on sale, and had no idea what I was going to do with it!  This design was really fun, and only 6 colors were used!  I gave this elephant a name- I call him “Bull-E”, my sad play on words, but it can stand just for bull elephant.  Thank you for the joy.  Laura

BFC1545 Large Decorative Indian Elephant

And her Unicorns:

Just finished this.  It’s for my 10 year old granddaughter for Christmas.  It turned out almost glowing! For whatever reason, using the mottled, royal blue background, seems to make the unicorns almost look 3D.  FYI, when the embroidery was finished, because of my choice of thread colors, there wasn’t as much definition as I wanted.  Guess what!  A number 2 common pencil worked great to get the details to stand out.  Thanks for the great design.

Yep, it is eyelash yarn.  A good number of years ago I found 2 hanks of it in the remnant bin at Walmart.  One was green and the other aqua.  I believe I had one of your mermaid designs I wanted to do and the yarn reminded me of seaweed.  Once I embroidered the design I then couched the yarn on to make an underwater scene.  Since then I have used that yarn a number of different ways and as hangers on 4 different wall hangings.  It adds a bit of unexpected texture.  It also proves there is a reason we are confirmed stash builders! We never know when we will use a treasure we have stashed.

BFC1749 A Mother Unicorn’s Love

Renee’s Rose Window

Renee made the Jumbo size of our Rose Window.  That is an accomplishment!! – especially with 6 Grandkids helping!!!!!! 🙂

From Renee:

I am so happy with it and it is hung up behind my embroidery machine. A new machine Babylock Pathfinder, that really was put through it’s paces.

Feel free to share on your blog, I hope it helps others. I have used the Command hangers in my kitchen to hang items on the tile was hoping they made what I was needing just had to do a search.

I babysit 6 of my Grandkids so was a little slow in getting this done 3 year old triplet boys for one of my daughters, and then a 6 year old granddaughter and her 2 brothers who are 3 and 1 for my other daughter. Life sure is busy 😊

My idea worked! I used a Command hanger and handstitched a thread loop to the back.

Thank you  so much for another beautiful design

Renee

BFC0879 QIH and Regular Rose Window

Beth’s Embroidered Pictures

Beth has developed a wonderful way to finish large picture embroideries!  She has given me permission to include her method and i’m sure a lot of you will appreciate being able to do this too.

From Beth:

I finished the BFC580 design and thought you might like seeing what I did.  I combined the six sections in software, added an  edited design to create the inside window frame to complete the look of a window.  I have a Babylock Destiny and Designer’s Gallery software. This software gives me the ability to combine designs very well.  Also attached is a jpeg of design BFC1601.  Zigzagging the sections together did not appeal to me so I combined them into one design.  Added together there were 305506 stitches and I wasn’t sure it would work, but you can see that it did, and computers didn’t crash.

I am embroidering pictures like this on fusible pellon. For large projects I also fuse the back fabric (usually black) to pellon and then sew the front and back together along the edge to make it very sturdy to put on a table top easel. After the front and back sections are sewn together and trimmed to size, the edge is satin stitched to finish.

I am an experienced embroider and I have made many embroidery designs into pictures to display on an easel. My limitation is only the size of my magnetic 9.5 x 14 hoop.  For the tabletop easel I wouldn’t need something to be any bigger.  I like your designs very much.  I also like the thread you sell so much I bought every color. Your “Blue Study with Birds” would not have been possible without all of your blue threads.

I have not been bored sequestering at home during the pandemic.  I am blessed to be able to enjoy a creative hobby like machine embroidery, and talented people like you are included in the blessings.  I am not talented, but I have learned a skill. I can thread a machine, step on the gas, and thoroughly enjoy being creative.  I retired in 2011 and I don’t think there have been many days that I haven’t spent time at my machine.

It made me smile when I read that you would like to put my embroidery pictures on your blog.  It’s not often that you can show off something creative that you love to do to kindred spirits who would share the same creative interest. This technique for making embroidered pictures to display on an easel began just before the world was told to sequester at home to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Surfing Youtube in December 2019  I came across a New Zealand web site, www.kreativekiwiembroidery.co.nz.  Heather calls herself a machine embroidery addict enabler and she digitizes large ITH table mats and mug rugs using pellon and water soluble stabilizer. I was intrigued, bought a design, and quickly realized that the very sturdy edge she created for these designs would work, with a little editing, to make frames for embroidered pictures.  The sturdy edge would hold up with lots of handling and abuse. and the pellon would be sufficient support on an easel.  I have been collecting designs that would make beautiful pictures for decades and now with a few inches of fabric, pellon and water soluble stabilizer, Heather has enabled me to be able to make many pictures to display and enjoy in my embroidery machine.  At this point I have made over sixty pictures using quilt blocks, applique and embroidery designs.  They don’t take up very much room to store and I can change pictures to display quickly and as often as I want to.  Seasonal designs have become a focus decoration, but I display something all of the time.

For frames I use Heather’s 8X10 ITH rectangular coaster (ITHRC).  I edit out everything but the edge which has a placement stitch thread run, tack down thread run, and a third thread run for extra security that is stitched before the face fabric and back fabric are trimmed away.  Then a zigzag stitch and final satin stitch topped with the decorative stitch is sewn to finish.  The witch and Christmas bird are examples of this framing.

This framing design has rounded corners and being circular is resized easily without distortion.  I have not been able to find a framing design with 90 degree corners that will resize very much without noticeable distortion, meaning the width of the top and bottom of the rectangle may be wider or more narrow than the sides depending on how dimensions are altered.  If a picture requires a square corner I manually stitch the satin stitch edge.  The attached Ladybug design is an example of my manual edge.

In the software the edited frame design is added to a selected embroidery design.  The frame dimensions are adjusted to fit with the embroidery design and the two combined and saved as a new design. Resizing the embroidery design is also works.  I usually use one layer of water soluble stabilizer and I only use the nonwoven fabric like wash- away stabilizer.  I prewash my face fabric and back fabric to avoid possible shrinkage causing problems.  Pellon cut from a bolt will usually need to be ironed flat using a non-stick applique pressing sheet.  I found it’s best to use a light fuse, no steam, to fuse the face fabric to the pellon to avoid hard wrinkles.  Very dense designs can cause distortion if the fabric is bonded too tightly.  Any problems can usually be steam ironed away as the design is pressed flat after drying.

The embroidery is completed before the back fabric is attached.  To make the back of the picture look the best I prefer to pin the back fabric to a piece of non-fusible pellon before securing it to the back of the hoop.  I use 4 flat head pins to secure corners of the back fabric, not tape.

I re-run the placement, tack down and securing thread stops to attach the back fabric.  The hoop is removed from the machine and the back fabric is trimmed away first. After the face fabric is trimmed, the hoop is back on the machine to complete the zigzag stitching and satin stitching. The stabilizer is dissolved and thoroughly rinsed. away and after drying the picture usually requires a little steam ironing to flatten.

Your Stained Glass daisy design was easily adapted for displaying on an easel.  After centering fused fabric with pins all of the colors were sewn except for the black stain glass stitching.  To be able to add the back fabric I just had added a color stop in the software at the point where the black stain glass stitching moved to the edge.  By moving to and repeating the added color stop, the back fabric could to be attached and secured before the fabric was trimmed away and the edge completed. Depending on how designs have been created or combined it is often necessary to move forward and back through color stops as necessary to achieve goals for creating a picture.

I hope this information is helpful and clear.  Please use and edit as much of it as you see fit in your blog.

BFC1204 Ching Chou’s Barn Owl

BFC1567 Ching Chou’s Stained Glass Ladybug

 

BFC1202 Ching

BFC1202 Ching Chou’s Hummingbird

BFC0580 Blue Study with Birds

BFC1005 Fantasy Ladies – Fairy Witchery

 

BFC1481 Stained Glass Floral Squares

 

 

 

Customer Projects from 2004

I’m just going to show the photos in a list with the link to the site and the name of the person who stitched it.  That is if i have the name!  If you spot one of your projects and I don’t have your name posted, please let me know!

Joan Warr

BFC0185 Lace Bowl & Doily – Wild Rose

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Lia’s Wild Rose Bowl

BFC0185 Lace Bowl & Doily – Wild Rose

Nancy’s Scarf

BFC0205 Oh! Those Fifties Ladies

 

 

 

SAVE YOUR DESIGNS!!!!!!

A customer wrote to me today with a heartbreaking story. I will let her tell you:

Dear Suz, I just finished re-downloading ALL my orders since #521. I had a severe power surge here in August that caused me to lose my stove, refrig., furnace, air, PC, water softener and elec. fireplace. I thought I had everything backed up on CDs and memory sticks, BUT Murphys Law was in total control and I had NOTHING. I am SO GLAD that I could salvage my favorite designs and can only say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU that I could. I remain FOREVER a loyal customer,

Suz, feel free to  use  my tale of woe. I thought I  had taken the proper precautions but I  never checked to make sure. I just  assumed that I  had copied everything.  NEVER ASSUME anything.  That’s  my  new motto. I should have known better.  Since the love of my life (husband of 55 years) died of cancer in 2014 it seems like Murphy’s Law has been hanging over me big time. Thank God my 4 daughters have been here to keep me going.  Thanks again for your kindness.

_________________________

Designs represent not only a big monetary investment, but many of us are very attached to our purchased designs  – we plan for them, think about them, and we expect them to be there when we want them.  But unless we take some precautions we can’t be sure this will be the case.  PLEASE make sure all your design are backed up and that the sites you deal with maintain your purchases so you can re-download them.  If you have a lot of designs from many places you might want to consider a cloud service that will back up the files you want them to every night.  I have been doing this for years and I have had to use the backup files often enough to feel the service has been a bargain.