I’m up to something. It involves free standing lace butterflies.
And sister-in-law, if you’re reading this, it does have to do with your missing shower gift, so decide whether you want to read on or not.
Hubby got me an embroidery machine for Christmas this year. There are some machines that both embroider and sew, some that just sew, and some that just embroider. Since my trusty Singer 503 still works fine, I decided to get an embroidery only machine, which is cheaper than a combo machine. I chose a Brother PE770. She looks like this:
An embroidery machine or a sewing machine that also embroiders has an attachment (on the left in the picture) that attaches to an embroidery hoop and a computer in it that controls the needle and the hoop movements so that it can sew your design. Most come with some pre-programmed designs and they all have some method of transferring newly purchased designs. Mine does this through a USB flash drive, which is great, because I can download whatever designs I want and start sewing them in a few seconds.
Here’s what the machine looks like in action:
Once you load up your design, you literally just press a button and watch the machine sew it for you! Although I have found out it’s good to stay within hearing of the machine in case it breaks a thread or otherwise needs your assistance. Since mine lives on my dining room table, right next to my serger, and since my dining room table doubles as my cutting table, I can usually find a lot to do nearby while she sews.
Free standing lace is a certain type of design that is magic! OK, it’s not magic, but like all of the things I’ve done with this machine, I think it’s really cool. Basically, it’s a special type of design meant to be embroidered on water soluble stabilizer.
So my embroidered butterflies look like this when I take them out of the hoop:
And then you cut off the excess stabilizer (the white stuff that looks like interfacing, but it’s not) and put the embroidery in cold water
And the stabilizer starts to melt and just leaves you with the embroidery
You rinse it off, and when it’s done drying it looks like the picture at the top of the post. And if you make a whole flock of them, they look like this
Want to see what I made with these? Click here
Shannon
Those are so cute- I’d love to use some embroideries like that as embellishments to add dimension to a quilt top or something. Can’t wait to see what you’re planning with them.
Deborah March
Oooohhhh, they’re GORGEOUS!!! Looking forward to seeing what they’ll BE when they’re finished!!
Deborah (happily visiting from
http://upcyclingmylife.blogspot.com)
lovecrafts
Great tutorial, Love it, thanks for sharing
Emily S
WOW! That’s so neat!!
Jessica
These are fantastic!! Can you use any embroidery pattern or need a certain type to be free standing?
Thanks!
Melissa
Freestanding lace patterns are designed with a lot of extra understitching for support and very tight satin stitching on top to make sure the pattern doesn’t unravel when the stabilizer is removed. Not all embroidery patterns have this. So while you could stitch out anything on water soluble stabilizer, I’m not sure I’d recommend it.
Claire de Rivoyre
hello I’m looking for butterfly freestanding design and I have seen your work.
Can you say me where you’ve found this design please.
Excuse for my english I’m french…
KIm
Love this idea! I have a new embroidery machine and can’t wait to try making those butterflies….thanks for the info, and congrats on your new niece!