Current Mood : Happy with Self
Current Image Notes : Here's the mystery snowflake. You can hardly tell I ran out of bobbin thread twice, top thread once, used two colors on the top and two on the bottom, removed the embroidery platform and replaced it, and restarted it from an erased-from-stitching-memory reboot !
Stitched up the free-standing lace book clip today - you get that photo soon. Eventually, the photos will catch up, and I'll be able to show you stuff the day I do it !
My first FSL did not go well. Last month, I purchased the ultimate in water soluble stabilizer (WSS), UltraSolvy. The strongest WSS out there, it said. What the heck, it was on sale. Huh. Too bad it wouldn't hold two stitches in a row ! I tried three times, and the thread skipped all over the place. Even doubled the UltraSolvy, and that was even worse. Adding a layer of tulle and adjusting the tension didn't work either.
So I dumped the USolvy and stitched the same design on two layers of cheap stabilizer (used dryer sheets), and it stitched out near perfectly. There was a thread tangle, somehow the thread looped around the needle, but I simply stopped the design, removed the hoop, cut and picked out the small thread nest, reinstalled the hoop, backed the needle to about where the snarl started, and started it up again. From the finished item, you can't tell there was a single problem.
Cut it free from the dryer sheets, and touched up the edges with a Sharpie magic marker, and it looks fabulous. Can't even tell there's supposed to be an elephant there. I lucked out, one of the SiCK forum habitués recommended that I download Ambassador for those mystery designs - and it's wonderful. Shows the complete thread path of the whole design, where it stops, where to cut threads, how many stitches it is, where it stops and starts, the overall size - pretty much exactly what you wanna know before you stitch something out, especially if there's no stitch chart included. And it even showed me that the stitching was solid, there'd be no blank space for the elephant if I decided to omit him. Love it !
I guessed that maybe I should have used a smaller needle, and as it turned out, I was. The holes were too big from the 14 to hold the thread, which is why most FSL projects call for an 11. Just wish that'd been in the directions - I'm very literal the first time I attempt a craft project. Live and learn.
From there, I decided to cross ‘try something from a purchased design' and loaded a dress form I liked. It stitched out great. Unfortunately, I went to touch a bit of it up with the Sharpie... and it blotted onto the adjoining fabric. Shoot. So I cut it close to the design, treated the edges with FrayCheck, and super-glued a magnet to the back. Now I have a neat fridge magnet that looks great with the vintage-style ones Joanne sent me. And I wrote ‘fine point Sharpie or felt tip pens' on the grocery list.
Got a note from the library - the book on digitizing I requested is back in, and will be held for me until Wednesday. I'm hoping I can pick it up Monday, in Molly-car. Beloved Hubby says he's working on her this weekend, and think she should be back up Sunday - I'm sure hoping so. I'd be so nice to have a car again...
Can't wait to see the elephant one. I've been trying to picture in my head what it looks like. I know it will be minus the elephant, but I can't really picture in my head what the rest looks like.
