By Amanda Whitlatch, BERNINA Educator:

When I was in Cotton Pickins' in Stanwood, Washington, Bobbie had the most wonderful idea for doing silhouettes with the BERNINA CutWork Tool and Software! This beautiful silhouette of one of her grandchildren was cut out of black felt with the CutWork Tool.

To create one for yourself, just take a silhouette photograph against a white background. You can even do silhouettes of your pets!

Open your BERNINA CutWork software, select From File, and browse to find your photograph.

Select the Trace option, change the color limit to 2, then select Trace.

Select Cutwork rom the Outline Properties Menu select Cutwork. Export your design, and then send it to your embroidery machine for cutting!

By Debbi Lashbrook, BERNINA Educator

Here's a tee shirt idea which can be done using the tunic or default length of the Tee Shirt in My Label 3D Fashion Pattern Software.

Altering Style Properties: Decide on the length for your ruched tee shirt; change the Style Properties for the My Label T-Shirt so that the finished length from center back equals this amount. I used 33.5" for the finished length in the sample shown here.

Add ease at the hips by increasing the hip circumference Style Property by 1.5". If you wish to scoop the neckline, draw a new neckline using the Pencil tool. On the sample I scooped the neckline 1" at center front and 1/2" at the shoulder seams. If you change the neckline of the tee shirt front, make a corresponding change to the back neckline so the shoulder seams will sew together properly.

Use the Pencil tool to draw a seam on the left side of the tee shirt front. Draw this line about 1" from the left neck/shoulder seam point to the hem, parallel to the grainline.

You may shorten the sleeve in Style Properies if desired. The sleeve in the sample was shortened to 18".

Print the pattern pieces.

Preparing the Pattern Pieces: If you scooped the neckline, cut the pattern along the new neckline seam on both the front and the back pattern pieces. Cut along the vertical seam line to split the front into two pieces. Add a seam allowance to the right front, then draw a facing for the right front by tracing the shoulder seam, the seam allowance, and the hemline. Make the facing 1 3/4" wide.

Make a fold-back facing for the left front. Extend the edge of the left front 2 1/4"; this will allow for a 3/4" underlap and a 1 1/2" facing. Tape a piece of tissue paper to the left front to draw this extension. Mark the underlap line. Fold the facing to the wrong side of the pattern along the underlap line. While it is folded, cut along the pattern neckline to properly shape the facing so that it exactly matches the left front.

Using a ruler, draw eight slash lines from the vertical seamline upwards on the right front pattern piece. Begin the slash lines about 8" from the shoulder and end them about 11 1/2" from the hem. The lines do not have to be parallel, but they should be equidistant at the vertical edge. On the sample the slash lines were placed 1 3/4" apart. (The blue arrow indicates the cutting direction for the next step.)

Cut along the slash lines from the vertical seam to the stitching line of the right front; this point will be used as a pivot point. Place tissue paper under the pattern and tape the split pattern to the tissue so that it is flat and the distance between the ends of the slashed lines measures 1 1/2". You will need to create a pleat in the seam allowance at the opposite side of the slashes. Mark the top and bottom edges of each of the tucks.

Fold the slash lines from the bottom line to the top line, matching the original cut lines. Pin in place. While they are folded, cut across the cutting lines. This will establish the correct shape of the seamline.

Constructing the Top: Cut the pattern pieces from knit fabric. Be sure to mark the top and bottom edges of each of the tucks.

Fold the tucks in the right front by matching the lower marks to the upper marks. Baste in place. Attach the facing, then understitch the seam. Fold the facing along the foldline of the left front and press in place.

With both pieces right side up, lay the right front over the left front, matching the original vertical cut lines. Stitch in place through all layers, creating a faux placket. Sew two buttons between each set of tucks and sew four buttons in the tucked area. Eighteen 1/2" buttons were used on the sample.

Continue to construct your ruched top according to the T-Shirt directions in the My Label software. If changes were made to the original neckline, cut a new bias neckline strip, making the length of the strip 3/4 the measurement of the new neckline.

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.

A note from Lezette Thomason, Children's Corner patterns:

Once again my sister and I are chairmen of our Christmas Bazaar at St. David's Episcopal Church in Nashville. One item that I am making this year are Bags for Baking Potatoes. I drew a little design, scanned it into my BERNINA DesignerPlus Software, and Presto!! I digitized it! So easy! Then using the Lettering tool wrote "Potato Girl" beneath the design. Hope you enjoy it!

Click HERE for the free ART and EXP+ embroidery designs.

Click HERE for the project instructions.