Alphabet Reference Sheets--Samples Stitched!

Monogram w/o stabilizer

The other day I had sewing time with Julie, Pat, Laura and Carol. I got to see Laura's new home and I received a personal tour of her studio--wow! What a large and organized space she has for creating.

I enjoyed seeing what everyone was stitching. I am inspired by both the projects and the processes used. Mainly, the positive energy was extremely helpful as I brought an embroidery project that I wasn't enthused about doing.

I brought my laptop with the Bernina V-8 software on it. I wrote the reference sheets for the alphabets to the machine to a USB stick. I selected a couple fonts that I thought might work for the project that Miss J and I started together. I created a few words using those fonts. My plan was to stitch the reference sheets on felt so that when I want to embroider words or letters, I have a sample I can review. I chose felt because everything is suppose to look good on it and I had a supply of it on hand.

Font samples in software

The following day, I began the stitching. In stitching the reference sheets, I was able to use bobbins of my embroidery thread. Sometimes, I have bits of bobbins that won't be enough for a design; but, there is too much thread to pull off to waste. This is the perfect place to use them. Besides, I needed the practice to build my confidence with embroidery. Being able to have empty bobbins for the next quilting or stitching related project is a total win!

The first sample I stitched was a cross stitch alphabet. I think that this is a cool idea and could see it on a baby quilt, on an apron or on a pillow. Unfortunately, there is a lot of tweaking needed for this alphabet as it stitched poorly on the felt. Why one letter would actually look like cross stitch and the others not so much is beyond my skill level right now.

The second sample I stitched was a flower alphabet. I could see this used on a towel and again, I saw similar challenges with the second sample as I saw with the first.

More font samples

The third sample was a monogram. I could see this on a shirt pocket or a cuff. It might work into a towel design or a napkin. For some reason, in one area of the design, the machine continually created a thread nest. I rethreaded the machine, I used a different thread color, I inserted a different needle. Finally, I advanced the stitching three stitches and it stitched. What was consistent with each sample was each looked awful!

For the fourth sample, I stitched the name of the font as the sample. I liked the idea of stitching the name of the font as the sample. This time, I also hooped a piece of cutaway stabilizer with the felt. The results were much better. I was told that felt doesn't need stabilizer. With this test, I learned that most fabrics need stabilizer. I will start with a piece and add more if needed!

Next week, I will print a portion of the reference guide for the software. Next month, I will print another portion. I figure in about three months, I will have printed the entire reference manual. (We opted to buy our ink through a company that monitors the number of pages we print and we purchased printing 100 pages a month. The reference manual is about 440 pages in length hence the number of months it will take to print it without having to pay an additional fee for the ink!)

I used 1 1/2 yards of felt. This year, I have used 37 1/2 yards of fabric from my stash and have 12 1/2 yards to go to meet my goal of using 50 yards of fabrics from my stash!

The next task with the embroidery, is to work out the words to use to use in the project that Josette and I started together. In between, I'll continue working on several projects. I'm making progress; but, no where close to a finish yet!!!