Current Mood : Slightly piqued.
Finished both of these yesterday, about three hours apart. They went pretty well, stitching only took a bit over an hour for each, but they both had the same error - the bottom fender outline stitching doesn't quite meet the bottom fender. First one wasn't too bad, so I simply didn't wash out the UltraSolvy stabilizer. Second one was so bad, it ripped out the USolvy, so I glued it together. Had to keep from fussing with it all night, so I weighted it down. I'm the worst for fussing with a craft when it's supposed to be drying or somesuch.
But I learned a lot. Since I decided to stitch these with the overall orange color in the bobbin, and switch it over to black when the top thread switched to black, too, I discovered that I can fill up a bobbin in between colors without removing the embroidery deck. Before, I thought I had to, but I did it twice today -those bobbins emptied quickly ! Luckily for me, Brody's bobbin case is see-through if the fabric is, and a small flashlight helps keep track of darker thread usage.
And, in keeping with bobbins, I also discovered that I have to leave the needle up when winding ‘em. Or else, they don't wind right, and the thread bunches up in a pile at the bottom. The manual doesn't specify up or down, had to learn it the hard way.
Emptied my first spool of embroidery thread - a Mettler one of white - on this project. Couple months back, I emptied my first spool of bobbin thread. Pretty soon, those things will be more of an annoyance ("Blast it, now I gotta buy more - and there's no sales this week !") than an achievement. But for now, I'm enjoying having and using so many great supplies.
I also neglected to put my cutting mat back on my cutting table when I finally cleaned it off last week. So, when it came time to hoop up the UltraSolvy, I naturally went right for the cutting table. Hmf. A cutting table with the cutting mat removed and stored nearby is good for much more than just cutting fabric !
And finally, the ongoing fear of the Solvy or other water-soluble stabilizer tearing while it's being stitched on is often interpreted as excitement in machine embroidery. It's also a good creative thinking and problem-solving exercise when it does start to pull a bit. I came up with about 30 ways to try to fix the bus fender separation problem before I just decided to Gorilla Glue it. It may turn out that glue was a bad idea. But ya never know ‘til you try.
It's been a day, and you can tell where the glue is on the second one. (sigh) I colored it in with Sharpies, but it still shows. I may add a bit to the other, so it doesn't look as bad. It's separated on the first one too, just not as badly.
I also played with some designs, including one I bought this weekend. The Barbie-like silhouette appliqué one had l-o-o-o-o-ng eyelashes. A bit too long for my taste. So I removed them, and now it really looks like Barbie -with bangs and a crown. I like it ! Maybe later, I'll see if I can remove the crown. And, since the owner/moderator of In The Pink is still ill, I tweaked it to include the site's name, and saved it as a separate version. After I do a test stitch-out, I'll make up a nice one for her, and mail it off. I wanted to modify my older Barbie silhouette for that, but I like this one better. Just wish I'd already had the design in time for the big group box going off this week, but that's life !
