Projects ho!

[amethyst73]

I'm probably being too ambitious, as usual.

It turns out my real first embroidery project is going to be a bunch of tote bags, some of which are going to turn into hostess presents for folks we're staying with in November.  Hence, so as not to spoil the surprise for Some People, I'm going be rather vague about what I'm actually doing.

I found a design online that I really like.  Thing is, it's big and it's solid; it's something like 48,000 stitches, and close to 6"x7".  Which is fantastic for the front of a tote bag.  But it's also about a zillion times bigger than anything else I've embroidered thus far.  It's a simple design: 6 colors, with switchings back and forth for a total of 9 spools used, with huge swaths of one color or another.  It looks rather like a large patch in terms of its makeup, actually.

I've got the fabric for My Very First Bag (tm) cut out, and done the various measurements to get the design centered.  (Much more work than I expected, but I took notes so that hopefully it'll go faster next time!)  I've got some medium-weight cutaway stabilizer for it, which is what the design company recommends, and which they say is excellent for the light canvas/duck that I'm putting it on.  I'm not actually trying to stitch the design today/tonight, because I need to pack for our trip tomorrow, and because the machine says it'll take 77 minutes (!) to do.  If that's just stitch time, it'll probably be more like 1.5-1.75 hours, and I want to have plenty of time when I do it.

Anyway.  Exciting!

Comments

[onyoukai.livejournal.com]

Yeah, big or complex designs take a long time. The hooping process, as you've now experienced, is also time-consuming - for smaller designs, hooping may take longer than the actual stitching.

Some people buy extra hoops for dealing with situations like your bag project. They can hoop the next project while the machine is still running instead of having to do everything in serial (hoop, start the machine, wait for a stitch out to finish, hoop again, repeat), and it ends up saving a lot of time.

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

That's a really interesting thought. Given that I've got four of these bags with a hard due date of early November, I may end up doing just that.

Have you bought any of the "compatible with Brother but cheaper" hoops and do they work okay?

[onyoukai.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends. If we're talking about the actual hoops that come with the machine, but off-brand, those should be fine. I have bought a Brother branded hoop and used it fine on my Baby Lock; the two machine brands use accessories from the same factory but slap a different brand on.

If you mean third party products, well, I bought a Snap-Hoop once and it was kind of a waste. The whole "embroider without stabilizer" claim is a lie. I got it to see if it could be a less expensive, wider alternative to an endless hoop, but I had trouble with it. I might experiment with it again later, with stabilizer, once I can find it again. (It got hidden during the move to La Jolla and I don't know where it got stashed.)

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Duly noted; I figured the off-brand ones might not be good ideas.

Depending on how pressed I get for time, I might end up being grateful for the old Singer in addition to the Esante. As you noted before, if you're embroidering, you can't sew. But I should be able to get the Singer to go through at least two layers of the canvas with a good denim needle, so I can at least start construction on that while the other machine is doing the *next* embroidery, if I have to. And I can do everything straight-stitch if I have to.

(And to think I used to wonder why people had multiple sewing machines! Silly me.)

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Also, congrats again on everything good that's going on in your life!

[onyoukai.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Four days left of the current job, and still moving
...