playful stitches

Last week I started playing around with some of the embroidery stitches on my sewing machine.  It has only taken me three and a half years to get around to doing so.  I bought my machine - a pfaff quilt expression 4.0 - primarily for quilting purposes but the pretty possibilities offered by the 150 enticing machine embroidery stitches also are what lured me in its direction.  

I'm having a lovely time sat here at my machine today just playing around and seeing what's on offer - tortoises, houses and broccoli-esque trees amongst others.

A few things I've learned -

1.  You can use ordinary quilting cotton as long as you iron interfacing to the back for fairly decent results.  However I find some stitches give fairly inconsistent results (see tortoises with fairly squashed backsides above).  I found some thicker cotton fabric in my scrap stash which is almost canvas like in texture and I found this gave fine results for all stitches (I still ironed interfacing to the back of this too).

2.  Go Slow!  I've found it better to go at a more leisurely pace to get good results, taking around 1-2 minutes to completes a row of stitches roughly 7" in length.

3.  I've been using 12 weight Aurifil thread for my top thread with a 30 weight for the bobbin.  The 12 wt is a wool/acrylic mix and gives a much prettier homespun-y look than using cotton thread.

OK, back to the machine - the cat shaped stitches are calling my name :)

Comments

[Pippa]

ohhh Im going to try some of the 12wt Aurifil in my Janome later then

[Shontelle]

Cute! I know what you mean about the consistency - the other day I was trying out the fonts and programmed it to write my daughter's name and was a bit disappointed at the uneven spacing.

[Beth]

These look great - thanks for the tips. I definitely find that the thicker the fabric, the better the decorative stitches look but I hadn't thought about trying interfacing and the thicker thread. Great ideas.

[PennyDog]

Oh wow I love the turtles!

[Charlotte]

eeeep! those are ridiculously cute!!!

[Mary ann]

Adorable. I love the idea of doing a practice piece to really see how the stitch works. I can see a fun kind of sampler quilt with lots of decorative stitching in the blocks.....maybe a fun print alternating block.....gosh I am off to play with my machine too! Thanks for the inspiration.

[Anna]

Great tips! I don't often use my decorative stitches, but your photos are inspiring me!

[Dianne]

THANKS for sharing tips on using your Pfaff Expressions 4.0. I bought an identical machine 1.5 years ago and I totally love it!!! To date, I've only used the machine for piecing quilt tops. Mainly because I am a bit intimidated by it. You are giving me the confidence to experiment.

THANKS!!!!!
Dianne

[Jenn Hoff]

You know what, I think the turtles look darling like that! It makes them each look a little different, which seems more whimsical and less manufactured.

[Jeni]

Ahhhhh! The turtles! So adorable! Must check my own machine now!

[Lynn]

Using spray starch until the fabric is stiff (like cardboard) also works well. Then you can rinse it out and just have the stitches on the fabric.

[Sally]

I am terribly jealous that your machine stitches tortoises! If I didn't have a new machine, I would be tempted to buy one like yours just for that stitch alone.

[Katie Fleming]

This is great! Thanks for hte post!

- Katie Fleming
Katie Michelle Designs

[Jacklynn Grimm]

I am in the same boat as you! Got my Husqvarna Viking for Christmas last year and have yet to try any of the 150+ stitches -a bit intimidating! But with your tips I will try a few - it has a snowflake stitch I want to see! Thanks for the help and the push!

[Jeanell]

I have found inconsistant stitching on my Pfaff also. I have a 2134

[Mieke Duyck]

What a great idea....you could easely use these "samplers" in between some of your beautiful patchwork fabrics....I see a quilt already!
Mieke aka creatieveblogger

[Flying Blind]

The tortoises are fantastic, squashed bums or not!

[Tanya]

They look fabulous! I'm off to try some out on my machine now...I can only vaguely hope I have something as ace as tortoises!

[Bethany]

What a great sampler!

[Hope]

How cute! I want a tortoise stitch on my machine now. :(

[marg]

I also have the same machine and found the same results when I tried the stitches, but was very happy once I worked it out. My problem is getting the quilting stitches right. Would you be able to give me any hints on tension and stitch size using the Pfaff for quilting.I would really appreciate it. I'm like Dianne, a bit intimidated by the machine as it and quilting are all new to me.

[sweet emmelie]

good tips, can't wait to see what you are going to do with them!

[Kim Renna]

I bought my Viking SE about 8 years ago and I finally finished stitches out all the decorative stitches. It was fun to watch them stitch. I put them in a photo album and labeled each one of them so now I can reference them when I want to use one of them.

[Kim Renna]

I also used different colored thread for each set of stitches. The album I made looks really pretty with all the different colored thread.

[Jenny]

Thank you for sharing the results of your embroidery experiment.

Interfacing the fabric is a good idea, and also try stitching with a double layer of fabric ... these pretty little designs make a nice trim on a pocket hem, or wrist band, when they are stitched on a double layer of fabric.

Cotton Mako' 12 will also give a neat result as well, similar to the Lana wool but with a pretty sheen.

[Archie the wonder dog]

I love the squashed bum tortoises!!

[Ivy]

I love your stitch sampler :) I have a Baby Lock Sofia2, which is an embroidery/sewing machine. I specifically asked Baby Lock about using different threads in the top and they don't recommend anything under 20 wt, so the thickest I could safely go is 28 wt, not 12. Oh well ...