OESD has just released a brand new collection available at your local Embroidery TakeOut Dealer. It is #12288 - Cutwork Bouquet. Bunny Gates, a BERNINA Educator, recently used a design from this collection to embellish a collar. She used an Isacord Embroidery Thread in a very similar shade to the blouse for a tone-on-tone effect and it turned out gorgeous!

Stitching cutwork designs with the embroidery machine is so much faster than the traditional cutwork technique. First, hoop a water-soluble stabilizer such as AquaMesh Plus (just stabilizer, no fabric). Score just the paper and peel away the paper backing to reveal the sticky surface. Attach the garment to the stabilizer and smooth in place. Attach the hoop to the embroidery machine and sew the guideline stitches. Remove the hoop from the machine and very carefully trim away the fabric from the area inside the stitches. Return the hoop to the machine and finish stitching out the design.

All of the cutwork designs in the Cutwork Bouquet collection come in two versions - one for cutting away the open areas with scissors as described above, and another for trimming away the fabric with the new BERNINA CutWork Accessory and Software. The CutWork tool does the cutting for you!

Here's another way to make the circles that I used to embellish my "Bubbles" jacket in Through the Needle Issue #33: Use DesignerPlus BERNINA Embroidery Software!

Use the Circle tool to draw a circle.

Choose a decorative stitch from the wide variety found in the software - including many that are not on the sewing machine.

One advantage of using the BERNINA Embroidery Software is that each circle is outlined with complete stitch patterns (no partial patterns or overlaps) and the layout for each piece of the jacket can be designed prior to stitching. (For instructions on planning embroidery for each section, see Judy Hahner's version of the jacket, also in Through the Needle #33.)

Hoop a layer of wash-away stabilizer such as OESD BadgeMaster in your largest hoop and use a spray adhesive such as 101 Quilt Basting Spray to hold the linen and stabilizer layers together during the embroidery process.

Create a shamrock using your BERNINA Embroidery Software - EditorPlus or DesignerPlus.

Open Art Canvas, select Basic Vector Shapes, and draw a "long" heart shape. Change the Fill Color to green and the Outline to "none."

Copy the heart and Paste to create a second heart shape. Change the angle to 90 degrees. Move this heart into place beneath and to the left of the first heart.

Copy and Paste another heart shape and change the angle to 270 degrees. Move this herat into place beneath and to the right of the first heart.

Select Basic Vector Shapes and add a trapezoid shape for the shamrock stem.

Select Arrange > Shaping, and the "weld" option. Select Convert to Embroidery.

Change fills and outline stitches to create your own unique shamrocks!

I recently was working on a project that involved embroidering on leather. I used designs from OESD's Flourishing Appliques Embroidery Collection #12205. It was necessary to alter the stitch properties of the design, as leather might perforate with dense designs or too small stitches, You must be careful when you sew on leather as stitches can't be ripped out as the needle penetrations will show. This was a fun project because it was a quick project to stitch out!

Be sure and save all your leather scraps since you can always use the small scraps to make small purses or accessory totes. I think that I might make a patchwork tote and use some of my decorative stitches to piece the patches together. Do you have other ideas for projects with leather scraps?

Ed: For even more tips on sewing leather, see Debbi's article - "Embroidered Leather Vest" in issue #33 of BERNINA of America's Through the Needle magazine.

"Assignments" - the word we all look forward to, and the word we all dread at some point or another! I was recently given an "assignment" of creating four table runners using an Embroidery Take-Out Collection for BERNINA's 2010 T-n-T program. I loved the design collection already (Reeds & Grasses #12233), so I was looking forward to stitching the designs. But I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed the stitching process itself!

I used a stabilizer relatively new to OESD's lineup - AquaTear. This product is a biodegradable tear-away stabilizer, so it gives lots of support to the stitches during the embroidery process. But when you get through, drop it in the washer and all the little bits and pieces rinse away!

I used a product from Designs in Machine Embroidery called MagnaQuilts and Borders, and boy, was I amazed at how easy "endless" embroidery is with this hoop! I had used the hoop before, but I was using it to hold the quilt layers as I stitched the embroidery designs to quilt the three layers together.

I used the BERNINA 830 to create the Endless Embroidery design. The last color change stitches two "X" marks. All I had to do was lift up the top part of the hoop, slide the fabric up, and place the upper portion of the hoop in place. The first color change of the next set of designs sews the first two "X" marks. The machine prompts you to adjust the needle position as necessary to align this set of "X" marks with those previously stitched. With this hoop, you can adjust the fabric instead of moving the design itself. It is soooo easy!

Ed - This project - Nancy Bednar's Reeds & Grasses Tablerunner - first appeared in our blog on June 16, 2009. Kay's assignment was to create four copies that will travel with our T-n-T programs throughout 2010. We all loved Nancy's project so much that we decided to take it on the road! For complete instructions for making your own Reeds & Grasses Tablerunner visit www.berninausa.com.