Some people might still be using the hoop, needle, and thread to embroider for themselves. Little do they know that sewing machines are capable of embroidery too. The sewing machines will have the software and pre-installed embroidery designs to make a pro design on the desired clothing. To understand more, read this blog and know how to embroider with a sewing machine.
What is Machine Embroidery?
Machine embroidery is a form of craft, that is, embroidery with Sewing Machine, where pre-designed patterns in colors and with different stitch types get stitched out on clothing or a piece of fabric by a particular embroidery machine. Embroidery helps decorate household items and garments such as worn out discarded clothes, pillowcases, and tablecloths. Embroiderers also create items using hoops that are completely sewn on the embroidery machine. A kind of machine embroidery technique is Free-style embroidery.
Types of machine embroidery:
Freestyle Machine Embroidery
In free-Style Machine Embroidery (Free motion embroidery), you can do any kind of embroidery work with your regular sewing machine with straight or zig-zag stitches. The feed dogs are reduced to prevent the embroidered fabric from getting distorted, and the presser foot is removed. The fabric is retained on a hoop, and you can control the movement of the fabric while the free-style stitching is done. To do this work, you need a machine using a plate that has the feed dogs set.
Specialized Machine Embroidery
There are many types of technical sewing machines for embroidery today. An embroidery machine and another thing that is needed for effective embroidery is the stabilizer; a stabilizer is used as a backing for the cloth, needle, thread tension, bobbin that can be inappropriate. It is mainly used to keep the cloth flat.
What kind of machine helps to embroider?
You’ll require a machine that could do machine embroidery or one that can do both machine embroidery and sewing. You cannot use a regular sewing machine. Significant brands like Brother, Janome, Bernina, Husqvarna, Elna, and Singer manufacture great machines. Read on to know the use of Sewing Machine for easy embroidery and find the best sewing machine for embroidery.
Essential needed to start:
Fabric
The effect of an embroidery design will depend a lot on the fabric. Some of the most commonly embroidered fabrics, such as knits, wedding fabrics like the organza, taffeta, crepe, metallic fabrics, are quite challenging. But there are some roundabouts to these issues because people are always embroidering on a different fabric.
Needle
You may use embroidery needles for embroidering on fabrics specified for embroidery or ballpoint needles. Your needle should be changing after every 8 hours of sewing. You will have to get a metallic thread needle if you are using a metallic thread.
Embroidery Thread
The bobbin thread in sewing machines is preferably used for lighter weight fabrics. So, selecting the thread depends on the fabric and your sewing machine you’re embroidering on. You require a thread that can withstand many washing sessions without damage to stitches or color, be colorfast and will resist high-speed stitching without fraying or breaking and give fabric coverage.
Stabilizer
When you do machine embroidery, the stabilizer is a must. In case there is nothing else to use as a stabilizer, use a regular copy paper or butter paper. The commonly used stabilizers are cut off and tear away. A stabilizer is used with even a slightest of stretch for fabric. For all others, a tear-away stabilizer may be used as well as cut away. After the job is done, the stabilizer is cut away from the back of the design.
Tension
Maintaining the correct pressure while embroidering with your sewing machine means to stitch designs such that the bobbin thread doesn’t show through the embroidery’s surface.
Hoop
Use a hoop that is the size of your design. Embroiderers hoop the fabric and stabilizer. The hooping is completed in such a way that the fabric is flat and tight. You don’t have to stretch the fabric from its grain.
Using the sewing machine
- Attach the embroidery foot to your machine. Replace the standard needle with a sharper one.
- You must lower the feed dogs under the needle to make the material free to move around. You can place some metal plates over the feed dogs.
- Turn on your machine and thread its needle. Make sure you use the embroidery thread instead of a regular one.
- Both the length and width of the stitch should be at zero.
- Place the fabric under the needle and lower the presser foot so that it touches the material.
- Now stitch around the outline on the fabric. Start from a point and then move the hoop gradually with your hands. Don’t move the fabric too fast as this will make the stitches loose and wide.
- After filling this outline, start filling space inside the outline.
- Remove the fabric from your machine and the hoop.
Take Away:
Choose from a variety of embroidery machines available in the market, and they will have various embroidery designs. Computerized machinery will have inbuilt designs that will enable you to make pro designs on the desirable fabric. The sewing machine manual is a fantastic guide to know how to use the basic sewing machine.