Machine embroidery

Today I embroidered a putto on felt and framed it with rhinestones; I’ll be giving it as a Christmas gift just as it is—one of my daughters desperately needs a guardian angel to help her get through this difficult time.

My embroidery machine at work—it’s currently embroidering the Holy Family.

Dear Akela, I see the embroidery design is mounted in an embroidery hoop. It looks great. The putto design—which you designed yourself—also looks fantastic. Your daughter will surely be well protected with this.

I think your technique is really amazing! And what’s even better is that you’ve mastered the machine(s). Just owning them doesn’t do any good. I find your sewing and embroidery skills very impressive. Thank you so much for consistently sharing samples of your talent with us.

Best regards—Ina

Thanks, Ina.
So, my Holy Family is embroidered too.

Wow

Angel No. 2 is also embroidered.

Angel No. 3 is finished too

You’re just unstoppable. But I actually like the Holy Family better than the angels—probably because their faces are embroidered, too. The little angels look more like a “negative.”

So, the other two are embroidered as well. Now I’ve finished what I had in mind for my daughters, since the Holy Family takes about 85 minutes to embroider.

Wow, I’m just amazed. It already looks great.
Do you design the motifs yourself, or how should I imagine it—how does your machine embroider them? I’m not familiar with that.

I digitize these designs myself. Whenever I embroider and showcase someone else’s design, I make sure to mention it—I don’t take credit for other people’s work. To digitize these designs, you need software; there are several options out there. I use Embird and taught myself through trial and error—there were plenty of failures and botched attempts :-)—but you eventually get the hang of it.

So I embroidered that quote about life again—these are for my adult grandchildren, whose parents have just separated. I think it fits quite well, because no matter what, life goes on. I found the quote as a freebie online, and at the time I thought it fit quite well with these crazy pandemic times.

Today I embroidered some Christmas bells again and a portrait of St. Nicholas—both of which I made myself.

So I reworked the Christmas bells again—I didn’t like them at all the way they were, but now they’re much better.

Akela, I’ve been interested in the embroidery machine for a long time. But I always thought I wouldn’t need it for anything other than baby names on pillows. It’s not cheap, after all—a machine like that costs quite a bit.

But when I see your work, I’m blown away and admire the many possibilities you’re showing us.

Your bells turned out so beautifully. And your St. Nicholas is great, too. How big is he, by the way? Just so I can get an idea.

I could also imagine using embroidery like this for fabric gift wrap. For example, something like this—I’ve sewn little pouches here for my knitting needles, but I’ve also used them as gift wrapping. I always do appliqué, after all.

I feel the same way as Petra—I’m constantly amazed by all the beautiful things you can create with your embroidery machine. Everyone’s familiar with names on pillows and such, but such wonderful embroidered designs—they really look very special. That would give me lots of ideas, too.

Dear Akela, I really like the redesigned bells, especially the different “shades of yellow and gold,” which look like light and shadow on the design.

Dear Petra, I also think the idea of your gift bags with the appliqués is great. If only you could have them embroidered now… :-)

Love, Ina

Thanks, WollwunderPetra—I’ve also made little gift bags like that for my grandchildren, and an embroidery machine is more versatile than people generally think.
The St. Nicholas head is about 10 cm x 10 cm.

I sewed a shopping bag from the embroidery of the first bells—that’s going to one of my daughters soon—and the portrait of St. Nicholas became a St. Nicholas bag for my youngest grandchild, because at 10 years old, you’re still looking forward to that :-)