Sunday, August 24, 2014

Embroidery Class Two

The second class on how to do machine embroidery got more into the interface. I had a question on a function button that wasn't mentioned in the manual. But, it still boiled down to the instructor had many different types of machines to cover and could not go into detail for my machine. The students also had a very wide range of skill levels.

I made a mistake with endless embroidery and tried something too fancy. I duplicated the pattern, so the machine thought two repeats were what I really wanted. I only wanted one repeat at a time, but what did I know?
The two "arrows" are the marks, similar to a tailor's tack, that the machine will baste in. They show you where to align the hoop in the machine. I hooped the fabric using the center crease as my center line. The machine started at the left, stitched two repeats and then put in the tailor's tacks. I took the fabric out of the hoop, moved the hoop and then lined up my stitching for the next repeat  using the tailor's tacks. My problem was that all the motifs started at the right side and stitched over to the left. I couldn't tell where I was really going to be using the handwheel and testing the needle position. I just had to trust. It isn't perfect, but it isn't bad either.

But! I did get more actual embroidery completed during this class. I learned how to use a basting box for alignment checks. I learned where to adjust to use Puffy Foam (details to follow in a different post), I learned that Floriani thread and my 830 might not get along. I got a sample of embroidery stabilizer that I'd never seen before. I also got my sample book of fabrics and stabilizers used for embroidery up to date. It wasn't a wasted class.  

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Machine Embroidery Class

The class for embroidery has been divided into two parts. If one class covered everything, the students would be completely overloaded. At the first class, I practiced and got better at doing things I already knew how to do.

I learned about the screens:
I got more comfortable flipping back and forth between screens. I learned that it is worth while to use the zoom function on the screen. I learned the technical names for the buttons and that helps me remember what each button does.

I learned about hooping my fabric:
505 spray adhesive will hold my stabilizer and fabric together before I put them into the hoop. Too much spray will gum up my needle. 505 is fast and I can reposition my fabric, if I need to. The funky gray doo-dads are handles for the template that fits inside the hoop. I don't need to pick at the edge to pick up the template any more, I've got handles! Me like handles!

I still have two things that I'd like to have the instructor help me get firmly under control.
First, I'm not successful when I need to navigate to a specific location in the design. My move slowly function does not work. The enter the location by stitch number does not work. I can only make large jumps. That's not right.
Second, I want to learn how to do endless embroidery. That's where I put marker stitches in when I complete a design, re hoop the fabric, and use the marker stitches to line up the next repetition. The result is a design that looks like I didn't stop and start a zillion times, but embroidered it all in one go.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

The Backlash Spring

Aha! I adore YouTube in small doses. I was looking for information on Endless Embroidery and I found an incredible video from Bernina Tampa on how to manage that spring in the bobbin case that gave me so much trouble.

The trick isn't just to pop it into place. I'd been lucky with that. When I removed it to photograph the darned thing, I found that I also had to press the spring into place all around the edge of the spring. I used the tip of my Purple Thang and it worked perfectly. It still didn't take lots of pressure. About what I'd use when writing with a pencil was good. The test is to pull on the thread and feel that the tension is steady and doesn't get tight and then loose again or that it isn't horribly tight and doesn't get loose at all. If the spring is really out of place, you can't load the bobbin into the case in the first place.

If you look through the videos that are listed off to the right, you can find quite a few videos on Bernina mechanical and digital functions. I am NOT suggesting that you follow the directions and attempt to become your own Bernina tech. But knowing what's going on inside your machine never hurts.

I continue to learn, a little bit at a time, about this machine. Later today, I'm off to another class on Embroidery with Big Mama B. Details to follow!