Happy Fall Friends! I can’t believe it’s almost November. Where do the time go y’all? We all know that time does not stand still (even though moms like to hash tag that on every.single.photo of their kids), and weeks turn in to months since my last post….

Anyway… The question was asked the other day by M. Jennings in a Facebook group I’m in (and I edited it slightly)… “Ok multineedle friends. I skipped the fast frames and plan to get magnetic {hoops} soon, but in the meantime, does anyone have any tricks for when doing little people’s shirts to keep the tail out of the way?” By tail she means the back bottom of the shirt.

Low and behold, I did 4 sz 2T shirts yesterday. As you can see below, I used my 5×7 hoop and everything looks normal. By the way…. I also get asked a lot about design size vs shirt size. For all of the 2T shirts I did (and I did not take a single picture of them), I used the 5×7 size design, BUT…. when I put the design on my machine, I shrunk the design down as much as my machine would allow. It seemed to be the perfect size after that. I did the Dog Truck, Tractor Patch, Frame Patch 2 and Basketball Patch – sorry no pictures. They were cute I promise! Most machines, if not all, have a re-size feature and will enlarge or shrink your design/monogram up or down 10-20%. You can also chose 4×4 and enlarge it as much as possible!

What she was asking is: how do you keep the bottom of the shirt {as seen below} from possibly getting caught up on top of the machine arm. As you can see there’s not a lot of room and it could get tangled up and your shirt could get sewn together. In the pic below, you can’t see the arm of the machine!

Before this post and discussion on Facebook, I’ve always held my hand there and kept the bottom/back of the shirt held down so there is no chance of it getting caught. Not a bad thing, but, M. Jackson threw out a suggestion for us and we were all pretty much blown away at the geniusness of her trick!

Her suggestion was to place a CD case, or a small thin children’s book, below the arm of the machine between the arm and the shirt. This keeps enough space between the shirt and the arm that no accidents are likely to happen! I used the sleeve of one of my Monogram Wizard Plus cd’s, but anything small, thin, lightweight and about that size will do. I DID kind of keep an eye on things to make sure the CD case didn’t shift or cause my machine to mess up or get caught on anything. However, it seemed to stay in place AND even when I took the shirt off the machine to trim applique fabric, it stayed in place. It really worked well for me AND I was hands-free to cut fabric and do other things.

Thank you thank you thank you M. Jennings for the question and M. Jackson for this suggestion!! I love a good trick! 😉 If you have a great trick to share, please email me at rosemarygulledge@appliquecafe.com. I’m always looking for blog material!

These new designs will be listed soon at Applique Cafe, along with a SALE – you heard it here!