My favorite thread colors!

Posted by on March 11, 2011

Here is a birthday gift I did for one of G’s friends. Might as well utilize my talents! This is a beach towel from Target ($6.99) and a little pool toy to go along with it (because let’s face it, a 5 year old is NOT going to get too excited about a monogrammed beach towel). These are great little beach towels and I love the orange on the lime & white stripes!

Happy Spring to me! A week or so ago I asked Jeff to vacuum our nasty den rug. He then asked me when the last time I used our vacuum cleaner was. I couldn’t remember, so I gave it a whirl. I could barely push it! Our poor poor cleaning lady!! She’s been schlepping that thing around for who knows how long and you could seriously barely push it! So, I took a poll on Facebook and most recommended Oreck or Dyson in the realm of vacuum cleaners. We have an Oreck store near my house (2 doors down from Tips, our fave mexican restaurant) so we ended up with the Oreck. Who knew a new vacuum cleaner could be so exciting? Oreck’s selling point is that they are SIMPLE and lightweight! Sold!! Jeff asked me last night if I was going to store it in our garage like we did the other old vacuum. I thought Browder’s bed might be a better choice based on what we paid for it! But, it’ll be well worth it and should last forever!

And now to the embroidery part of this post. THREAD COLORS! Did you know that some stores sell ACTUAL thread charts (with real life thread samples)? I got the Isacord chart from www.sewingmachine.com (West Point store) when I was there in October. I got the Exquisite (formerly Poly-X) from www.kenssewingcenter.com (may not be listed on their site but call and see if they have any). They also sell (or give away?) printed thread charts, but ask for a REAL thread chart!

As you can see the samples are real pieces and the red * means they are available in 5000M spools (versus 1000M spools or the regular size spools). Again, Exquisite is the new name for Poly-X and the thread numbers are the same. The spool is still green; the only difference is the sticker on top is white now and says Exquisite.

My boys assisted me (on this windy day) of showing you the whole chart! The Isacord chart looks the same! I use and love both of these brands and highly recommend them! A lot of my 1000M spools are Poly-X and most of my 5000M spools are Isacord. Again, I love both!

Here are some of my favorite colors! The left is a celery green and I use it all the time! It DOES NOT come in the 5000M spool, so last time I reordered it I got 5 X 1000M spools. That’s how much I use it! I would call it a pea or celery green. The middle is that watermelon-y pink color – it goes great with the Riley Blake Quite Contrary fabrics. I also use the ES983 with the Quite Contrary green fabrics. The right is a good darker lime?? green.

These are all Isacord. Lime green (dark), turquoise and a butter yellow (not bright yellow).

Pinks are HARD! 2520 is a great HOT PINK, 2530 is a good BUBBLEGUM PINK, 2560 – a little lighter bubble gum pink and lastly, 2155 is a light pink but has some yellow in it. The middle 2 have some blue in them I would say. I use them all quite a bit! Again, all ISACORD below…

Lastly, more ISACORD. The left lime is my FAVORITE! Unfortunately it’s one of those that doesn’t come in a 5000M spool and I buy it locally at Kudzu Quilt (Bernina dealership/quilt shop). Middle – that great light turquoise/tealish color. We all know I love orange and this is the orange I used on the beach towel above.

We are now officially off for SPRING BREAK! We celebrated after school at Nancy’s Italian Ice. If you look at her website that is my oldest front & center. He ended his 7th birthday party at Nancy’s last May and we frequent there at least once a week. I go hang out there with the kids when my house shows and have been known to plug my phone in the wall and sit for a while. We love some Nancy’s!

I have one more shirt to do for the day so back to work… hope the thread post helps! I will touch on some other colors another day!

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Stabilizer 101

Posted by on February 21, 2011

Disclaimer: The following are stabilizers that I (Rosemary) use. There are GOBS of stabilizers out there and lots of different brands, types, shapes, sizes, colors, weights, etc…. These are the ones I like to buy so I’m posting about them!

For those of you who have been doing embroidery forever, you might find this post boring! But, for those of you who are looking to get in to embroidery or are just starting out and learning, then this post is for you. As I’ve said before, I taught myself machine embroidery and “figured” stabilizers out mostly with trial and error (and messing up a time or two). I get lots of questions about stabilizer and see it a lot on Facebook, so here goes!!

#1. Sticky Back Stabilizer. I’m not going to elaborate too much on this one since I just did a post on this stabilizer and it’s use with Fast Frames ~ https://www.appliquecafeblog.com/fast-frames/. Basically it is used for any item you can’t hoop. Examples would be: backpacks, lunch boxes, ribbon, market totes, etc. Some people use it for everything but I only use it for the mentioned items – basically things that you a) can’t hoop and b) you do not want stabilizer left on when you’re done (it peels away). You typically hoop the sticky with the paper still on (or stick it to your fast frames) and then stick your item to the sticky (score the paper and peel it away) and pin it in place. Again, see the fast frames post for more details. I buy mine from Sewingmachine.com. This is a commercial roll and very affordable.

#2. Medium Cutaway ~ This is Sulky Brand (Medium Cutaway) Cutaway Plus. I usually buy it with 50% off coupons from Joann. I like the commercial cutaway from Sewingmachine.com, but I sometimes use Sulky for Applique Cafe samples (with a layer of commercial underneath) because it’s a brighter white and makes a good white background for my sample pictures. I’ve used Sulky since I first started doing embroidery so that’s also why I like to keep it around! I also like Sulky because I can buy it locally from Hancocks or Joann and I can usually buy it with a coupon or on sale!

#3. Medium Cutaway ~ this is the commercial roll from Sewingmachine.com. It’s very affordable and this size is great for your 5×7 or 9×9 hoop (see this post on the 9×9 hoop). I buy the 2.2 oz and it is medium cutaway. You won’t believe the great prices on the commercial stabilizer!!

#4. Medium Cutaway ~ Precut Squares from Sewingmachine.com. I believe these are 2.5 oz and I also have the 2.2 oz which is a little lighter. These are great for your 4×4 hoop! They also sell other sizes and weights in precut. Just search “precut” for all of the precut stabilizer options (no show mesh, light tearaway, etc.) As you can see below, 250 pieces for $16.95 – great price! That’s like 7 cents a shirt ~ 250 shirts!!

MORE ON CUTAWAY ~ I use cutaway on all of my tshirts. I am a “hooper” so I hoop all shirts and use medium cutaway. (See this post on hooping). Basically you would use cutaway on anything you don’t mind leaving stabilizer on, because you do “cut it away” from around the applique or monogram! You would not use cutaway on a bib or towel, because you would not want it left on there when you’re done! I find that cutaway gives you great support too.

#5. Iron on Tearaway Stabilizer ~ It is what it says.. You iron it on, then tear it away once you’re done! I use iron on tearaway on towels, blankets, plush items, lovies, bibs, burp cloths, etc. It’s basically like paper and once side is shiny. You iron on the paper side and it sticks to your item. When you’re done, you just pull it off. I don’t use it a whole lot, so I usually buy this Sulky brand from Joann with my 50% off coupon.

#6. Solvy ~ Solvy is the stuff that is a “topper” stabilizer for plush items such as towels, blankets, terry bibs, minky dot anything, etc. When I use iron on tearaway, it’s typically something I’d need Solvy for too. It acts as a topper so that your monogram (thread) will not sink in to the item. I learned this by monogramming a plush baby blanket and did not use anything on top. The monogram got lost down in the fluff! It feels sort of like a textured saran wrap. Solvy is water soluble too and the instructions state that it can be removed by submerging in water. However, like the tearaway I just peel/pull it off when I’m done. Like the tearaway, I don’t use a ton of it so I typically buy a roll or two of Sulky brand with my 50% off Joann coupon. You can use solvy several different ways – you can hoop it with your item or you can lay it on top of your embroidery area and pin it in place.

I monogrammed several towels today so here are a few pictures using the iron on tearaway and Solvy. First I’m doing a kitchen towel. I don’t want stabilizer left on the back of the towel when I’m done so I’m using an iron on tearaway stabilizer. I cut a piece the size of my hoop and iron it on the back where the monogram will go.

This kitchen towel is pretty flat (not fluffy), but it was a tad bumpy and “waffle weave” so I decided a layer of solvy would not hurt! As you can see the monogram is sewing on top of the solvy. I hooped the solvy too.

Now I’m doing a bath hand towel, so again I’m using the iron on tearaway because I do not want stabilizer left on the back of my towel. I iron it on the back the size of my hoop over the area that will be monogrammed.

If I were to monogram this without solvy, the thread would get lost and buried down in the loops.

As you can see below the monogram is sewing on top of the solvy, therefore on top of the loops of the towel. Note: I like to use a fill stitch monogram when doing towels versus a satin stitch. That’s just my personal preference!

Other than Heat N Bond Lite (see this post) and Sulky KK5000 Spray Adhesive (see Hooping 101 post ~ I use it to stick my cutaway to my shirt before hooping) and a lint brush, these are the only “products” I typically use. I post last week about needles and other than scissors, measuring tape and my iron, that’s about it! I can do another post soon on embroidery thread and bobbins! FYI – I use Fil-Tec’s Magnetic Core Bobbins from Sewingmachine.com. You can buy a box of 100 for like $28.00. 100 bobbins lasts me a long time!

I hope this helps those of you who are thinking about embroidery or just starting out. Like I said, there are TONS of stabilizers out there and there are several that I simply don’t use. You kind of have to figure out what you need and like and stick with them. The commercial stabilizers are priced so great so I buy them on the stabilizers I use the most. I also did a post last week on Comfort Cover  (see the post here). It’s not really a stabilizer, but more an “extra” thing you can add to your finished product!

If you have any other post ideas for “beginners”, please let me know!

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Needles and Irons. What?

Posted by on February 17, 2011

I see a lot of questions on Facebook and had the question posed to me after a previous post. It sounds like people switch out their needles depending on what they are embroidering. I have to say I use SCHMETZ EMBROIDERY NEEDLES. PERIOD. 75/11‘s as you can see below. Steve at Sewingmachine.com recommended them and last time Joann had a sale on them I stocked up. Since my machine has 6 needles I go through 6 at a time and I try to change them every 2-3 weeks depending on how much I’m sewing. I THINK he recommended every 5 hours of SEWING time, so not prep time and trimming fabric time, but machine-is-running time. I may be wrong, but I think that’s about right? I try to oil my needle shafts once a week and I oil the hook every time I turn the machine on.

When I got my 2 single needle Brother machines (PE700 and PE750D), they came with a pack of Organ needles, so that’s what I always used. I think when I got this Machine Steve gave me a pack of the Schmetz, so that’s what I use. I’m sure there are all kinds of embroidery machine needles out there, but to lessen my confusion I just stick with what I started out with! I don’t embroider on canvas much or leather or heavy items, so I see no need in changing out my needle to a different kind for different projects. I mostly do cotton/t-shirts and the like, so this is what I use. I hear a lot of people say they use ball point, and I have no knowledge of them or what they are best suited for.

So there you go ~ whoever asked what needles I used!

I got this TRAVEL IRON in the luggage (travel stuff) section at Target. I had heard of people having craft irons so I picked this up several months ago. I have to say I don’t use it very often, but today I was appliqueing a burp cloth and I felt the need to plug her in.

Here I am putting a petal patch on a Gerber type burp cloth. The middle is several layers of (gauze? = thick) so I felt like the fabric of the applique was a little puffy. So… I plugged in my travel iron and let it get hot and ironed the petal patch fabric really well before the satin stitch. This was not an absolute necessity, but anytime I feel the applique fabric is puffier than I’d like, I feel like the ironing ‘in the hoop’ might help out a little. I think it helps the fabric not to get any puffier, if that makes sense?

This is a 4×4 hoop, so you can see how tiny this iron is!

Another instance where I might use the travel iron is an applique or applique font with lots of tackdown stitches. I did an applique font on something this week and it had several tackdown stitches. It kept tacking and tacking and tacking and tacking before the satin stitch. By the time the satin stitch came around I felt like the fabric was a little puffy! It was too late for the iron, but next time I use that font I’ll know to plug in the travel iron and go over it before the satin stitch. Like I said, I don’t use it for every single applique (and some people do), but there are times where I want to go ahead and fuse the fabric to the garment before the satin stitch.

I mention Sewingmachine.com a lot! They are GREAT! I got my PR600 and my PR650 from them and I get a lot of my supplies from them. They have awesome prices on commercial embroidery supplies (stabilizers, etc). They are also my go-to people for machine service or if I simply have a question. Check out the video section of their website ~ http://www.sewingmachine.com/info/Videos. Steve has done some great videos regarding Brother machines (oiling the hook properly, figuring out your tension or how to do a tension test, etc.). If you have questions regarding your 6 needle machine it’s likely he has a video for you!

What would you like to see a post on next? I’m trying to address a lot of the questions I’ve gotten recently in comments following posts. I’m loving my new blog in that I’m able to reply to the comments! I have some ideas, but if you’d like to see a particular post then let me know!

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