I've been working on embellishing some clothes to wear at Bernina University next week, using some of the new designs from the Studio Bernina Fashion Jewels collection. This one is designed to be stitched with metallic thread for the lace fillwork; I used a light shade of brown instead. I barely had enough of the dark brown to make a pocket; the side seams are only 1/8"! To make it more stable I completely lined the pocket with the same batik I used for the waistband and hem facings.

The second pocket is all one color; I used the same variegated Oliver Twists thread as on my Miranda Bag, mostly brown and green with just a bit of blue & purple. I had another spool in a similar but much lighter colorway, which I used to update one of my favorite linen shirts, made several years ago from McCalls 8740, now out of print.

I used the same design as on the pocket, but added a border design from the Border Embroidery Set; both designs have the same hand-look stitch pattern. The lighter thread matches the color value of the linen, and the slight sheen of the cotton thread plays nicely on the handkerchief linen. I also changed the buttons (having lost four of the nine buttons on the shirt); the replacements are dark mother-of-pearl with just a bit of green & blue that repeats the hues of the stitching.

Last week I posted about using placement lines to embroider perfectly on your projects, and showed you how I embroidered a ribbon bookmark as an example. As promised, here's how to use the Designer Plus V5 software to make the placement lines.

Begin with a new, blank design in the software.  To figure out where to place your lines, you can measure the project carefully and follow the grid in the software as you draw, or you can scan the project and import the image directly into the software to trace around.

In this picture, I am measuring my ribbon with the gridded template for the large oval hoop. The ribbon measures four squares across.

And in this picture,  I scanned the ribbon and imported the image into the software. The ribbon fits into four squares across on the grid.

To draw the placement lines, I select the Open Object tool, making sure that the Single stitch is selected. Then, using left mouse clicks, I draw a line on each side of the ribbon, making sure to stay inside the hoop, and press the Enter key after each line that I draw. Pressing the Enter key is like telling the software, "Okay, I've finished drawing this line, you can turn it into stitches now!" When I've finished drawing, there are stitching outlines on each side of the ribbon inside the hoop.

(You will notice in these pictures that I removed the grid on the screen so you can see better; in the software, right click on the Show Grid button to take the grid away or bring it back.)

Next, I import the other design elements, using the placement lines as a guide to arrange the designs. I make sure that the designs are exactly where I want them inside those placement lines, keeping in mind that they represent my actual project.

The final step in the software is to make sure that the placement lines stitch out very first thing in your design. Use the Slow Redraw tool to watch how the design will stitch out in the software. If your placement lines are not stitching out first, move them to the beginning of the design by selecting the placement lines, and choosing Sequence to Start from the Arrange menu.

And that's all there is too it! Don't forget to use a practice stitch out with your placement lines to see how the design fits within the lines. Also, you can hold your project up to the stitch out to see how your placement lines match up to your project. Make any adjustments needed before stitching out the real thing. Check back with my last post to see how I hooped and stitched out this project with the placement lines.

I've been playing around with embroidery for years, but I keep learning new tricks all the time. And my new favorite trick is using placement lines to help me perfectly place embroidery designs on my projects.

Placement lines are used with the un-hooped method of hooping, and create guide lines to help you in placing your project down in the hoop. I used this method to make this embroidered bookmark.

Here's an example of how it works.  First, only the stabilizer is hooped and set on the machine. The placement line stitches out first, in this case I am embroidering a design on a piece of ribbon, and the lines show me where to line up the ribbon.

Once the placement line has been stitched, I remove the hoop and can easily lay down my project, lining it up exactly with the lines, using either temporary spray adhesive to hold the project down, or OESD's Stabil Stick stabilizer.

The hoop, project and all, goes back into the machine to finish stitching.

And look - it stitched PERFECTLY! Now how cool is that?

Not only does this method work for embroidery on ribbon, but it really helps with things like collars, cuffs, corners, pockets, and anything else that needs perfect placement.

Okay, so you're probably wondering how those placement lines got there, right? It's easier than you might think, and my next blog will have a quick description of making placement lines using the drawing tools in the Designer Plus V5 software.

I am having lots of fun playing with the Mirror-Merge Horizontal & Vertical tool in the Bernina Embroidery Software Version 5 (available in Designer Plus and Editor Plus).  I used Mirror-Merge to put together the embroidery designs in my first quilt.  This cool tool automatically duplicates a design, and mirror-images horizontal and vertical at the same time.  The tool also lets you play with the positioning of the duplicated design, which means the possibilities are endless!  Here is how it works - I have one design open in the software, and it is selected:

Next I select the Mirror-Merge Horizontal & Vertical Tool from the menu located at the bottom left of the screen, and three other outlines of the design appear on the screen.  As I move the cursor around, it changes the position of the three other outllines. 

When I have the outlines positioned EXACTLY where I want them, I can right click the mouse button or hit the enter key, and the designs will appear in place.  Now I have a completely new design! 

Now here's the really cool part; you have the option of creating a little embroidery collage using the Insert Design function before using the Mirror-Merge tool!  I started with several of the Creative Genes designs, then used Mirror-Merge to create this final large design.  I used the Happy machine to stitch it out in the 12" x 12" hoop, and turned the final product into a tote bag.

Keep your eyes out for the next issue of Through The Needle magazine for more information on this project!