Swirl Designs.
All the embroidery featured here was designed and digitized by CM using SophieSew ver 1.13
An integrated free embroidery
software design package.
Design Sizes
All the six swirl patterns featured here are just under 15 x 15 cm and were designed for a husqvarna 150 x 240 mm Hoop.
File Formats included
- Brother .PES
- Viking Husqvarna .HUS
- Pfaff .VIP
- Tajima .DST
- SophieSew Designer .SSD
- Zip Format .ZIP ( all Designs )
Embroidery machine used to test the design
My Viking Husqvarna Designer 1 using the 150 x 240 mm Hoop.
Threads
Madeira Rayon classic 40 weight embroidery.
Design Stitches
The first four designs use curved and tapered zigzag stitches arranged in a repeating pattern. Stitch coverage is at 38 lines per cm.
The fifth design is a reverse of the first one and showcases SophieSew's ability to use complex fills ( holes ). It uses a standard tatami horizontal stitch at 45 lines per cm with a zigzag under stitch at 16 lines per cm ( using a 0.5 mm margin ).
The sixth design is a celtic star in three colors. It has lots of jump stitches that periodically need trimming as the design sew's out. You have been warned ! Note the snake skin type overlay that has been curved round the main loops.
Underlay
The last two above embroidery patterns incorporates extensive under stitching. this gives support to main design while reducing puckering and material movement during stitching. It does however add considerably to the time taken to stitch out the design.
Bobbin Thread
I use standard polyester sewing thread ( weighted at 120 ) for all my under threads It
comes in a full range of colours from most sewing shops. Roughly match it up to the embroidery
threads you wish to use in a design. When you change the embroidery colour change the under
thread as well. This is especially useful with darker embroidery threads as there is no standard
white bobbin thread showing through and spoiling the design.
Material and Stabilizer
I've stitched these designs out on satin,Crepe ( shiny side see images above ), "good quality" cotton polo shirts and low cost cotton T- shirts. You can use stitch and tear stabilizer with the satin but I strongly suggest you use a reasonably stiff cotton cutaway stabilizer with the springy t-shirt type material. This helps support and stop the embroidery threads sinking into the material and so reduces puckering almost to zero. It really does give much better results. You should also consider using a light embroidery adhesive glue ( 505 ) sprayed onto the shirt and the stabilizer to give a bit of extra bonding.
Needles
I generally use shmetz or standard blue tip Janome machine needles ( 75/11 ) for all my embroidery. I have found these tend to give the best results overall.
Machine Speed
I would also recommend turning the embroidery machines stitch speed down a couple of notches ( if it is possible ). I usually have mine running at half speed. It does take twice as long to stitch a design but I do seem to get much better embroidery results in the process.
Notes
The first five designs featured have very few if any jump stitches to contend with and you can just let the machine get on with it but the sixth is not a design that you can set away stitching and come back after a cup of coffee. The design by its nature has a lot of jump stitches to trim. I have tried to keep these threads to a reasonable size and position but my advice would be to periodically stop the embroidery machine and trim them ( especially with the smaller more closely packed embroidery elements ).
Any Questions ? Contact me :- CarlosMandell@SophieSew.com