Use a regular sewing machine to embroider letters and words.
While fancy embroidery machines allow you to program patterns into the machine's computer, they often cost a lot and may be out of reach for the average home stitcher. If you want to try your hand at machine embroidery, you can do so on a regular home sewing machine. It's best to start stitching letters and words since you can practice straight lines and curves. Try block letters first, then move on to more complex script letters Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Write your name, favorite saying or whatever you want on the fabric using the marker. Make each letter at least an inch high and an inch wide. Write in block letters, or use script if you want an extra challenge.
2. Take your embroidery hoop apart. Unscrew the small screw on the top of the hoop to loosen the outer hoop. The inner hoop will fall out easily after the screw is loosened.
3. Drape the fabric over the inner hoop. The side with the design should be on the inside of the hoop, the opposite of how you would position it if you were stitching by hand. Pull the fabric tight, then put the upper hoop over it. Pull the fabric as taut as possible as you tighten the screw on the hoop
4. Thread your machine. Set the stitch to zigzag and the stitch length to the shortest possible. Adjust the feed dogs, or the metal teeth found on the needle plate, so they are lowered and you can move the fabric about easily under the needle.
5. Place the fabric under the needle. The pattern you drew on the fabric should face up. Lower the needle into fabric, at the top tip of the first letter of the first word.
6. Stitch slowly. Move the fabric and hoop down, tracing the first letter with your needle. Be careful not to twist or rotate the fabric, even if you are going around a bend or curve on the letter. You risk breaking the needle if you twist. Keep sewing, following the lines of the letters you drew. You can stop after each letter and trim the thread before moving to the next one or stitch so that there is a piece of thread connecting every letter.
7. Keep an eye on the stitches as you sew. If you notice they are uneven or bunching together, adjust the tension of your thread. When embroidering, you may want the top thread, or the thread in the needle, to be more loose than the bobbin thread.
Tags: block letters, each letter, first letter, inner hoop, letters words, Pull fabric
