Placement Lines are a Girl's Best Friend
March 19, 2008
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.
Posted by: Erika Mulvenna at 7:42am
6 Comments
Topic: Embroidery
Tags:
embroidery
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bernina
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placement lines
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erika mulvenna
6 Comments
Erika, nicely done! But what hoop and machine is that? Definitely no Bernina! LOL
CJ - I used the Happy machine for this project with the 320 X 320 tubular hoop, but this method will work with ANY Bernina machine and any sized hoop!
What kind of stabilizer did you use. It's kind of a shame to have to "wash" the ribbon after as they are so smooth and crisp when they are new - and after washing would not be quite the same - but also you wouldn't want to see any stabilizer remnants on the back.
Hi Pam - for my bookmark, I actually used one layer of OESD Polymesh Cut-Away stabilizer with one layer of OESD Ultra Clean & Tear. I left enough extra ribbon to fold over the back of the embroidered ribbon, and stitched around the sides. This also gave some extra body to the bookmark.
I know what you mean about washing the ribbon. But, if you did want to use OESD Aqua Film Backing or Aqua Mesh in the hoop and wash with water, I would try a heavier ribbon or trim - like a heavy grossgrain ribbon. And, this method would look really cool if you used the same thread in the bobbin as in the needle, since you will see both sides.
Happy embroidering!
-Erika
Is there a tutorial that will show us how to make the placement lines? I have Editor Vs 4. Nice job!!
Hi Cheryl - I don't think there are currently any tutorials on creating placement lines, which is why I dedided to post some information about the technique. Manual digitizing tools, including the Open Object tool that I used to draw the placement lines, are only available in the Designer Plus level of the software. You can ask your local dealer about upgrading to the Designer Plus V5 level, so that you can have the ability to draw placement lines.
-Erika
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