The tablecloth – This is the first thing I thought of doing with the beautiful borders in this collection. Those large, beautiful borders on that bolt of fabric are just calling for mitered corners!
The red background with the holly on it will be on the outside and probably on the other side as well that joins the border to the rest of the tablecloth.

The edge is figured out, so now it’s time to make a decision as to what’s in the middle. Here’s some of the images I played with in BQ and I think the choice is pretty obvious. I put the placemat with red borders on top to see the results. The red version also has the placemat with green borders on it because the red borders just get lost.

What do you think?

ivory center

red center

gold center

green center

Something else I’ve been thinking about is how to finish the tablecloth. Here are my choices I’ve been considering as I stitch the borders to the center and miter the corners:

1. Stitch 1/4″ seams and serge the seam allowances. It will be on the back, so it shouldn’t show, except for perhaps the corners where the fabric drapes off the table.

2. Stitch the seams in a french seam so the seam is completely enclosed. It would just make for a nicer finish if the back did flip up. Or I could do a stitch and serges seam on the sides and just do a french seam on the mitered corners.

3. Line the tablecloth, so then the seams would be inside and enclosed and the back would look nice. But if I do that, I need to do some stitching in the ditch and other stitching in the center to hold the layers together and keep them laying flat on the table.

Then for finishing the edge, I also have a couple of choices:

1. Roll hem the edge. This is quick and easy and I really like a rolled hem edge, but it’s not quite as durable as a turned under and under hem.

2. Turn the edge under and under in a 1/4″ seam and straight stitch.

3. If I line it, I can stitch the edges together with right sides together and then turn it to the outside for a finished edge.

4. Or if I line it, I could also stitch a binding around the edge. This would add another fabric into the mix and would add a little weight to the edge to hold the tablecloth down which wouldn’t be a bad idea. Of course, this would also be the most time consuming.

Hmm…..choices, decisions….I’m going to start cutting the fabric on these next week, so I still have a little time to make a decision.

A well digitized design, correct stabilizer, proper stabilizing methods and quality fabric and thread are all keys to a great stitched embroidery design. But there is one very important factor that often gets overlooked – the hoop screw and nut. If all the above are achieved, but the screw or nut in your hoop is stripped or close to it, your design is not going to meet your expectations or meet disaster before it’s finished stitching.

Like mine did last week.

With the constant tightening and loosening of that little hoop screw, it will get striped over time. If you reach a point where you tighten your hoop, but the screw keeps slipping or the inner hoop just never seems to tighten enough to keep your stabilizer taunt, check the screw and nut.

Many times either the screw or nut will be stripped, not both. Most commonly it is the nut. Slip a new nut on the screw, checking to be sure the threads are not stripped. If it is still slipping, then check the old nut with a new screw. Put the new screw or nut into the hoop and tighten with stabilizer to be sure your hoop is ready for stitching.

If you start stitching a design with a stripped screw or nut, the stabilizer and fabric is not going to be held tightly as the design is stitching. Not only will you end up with puckers galore in your fabric, you run the risk of the inner hoop popping out of the outer hoop and therefore – disaster!

Keep an eye on your hoop screw and nut. If you do lots of machine embroidery, you will need to change it every 6 months to 1 year. I keep extra screws and nuts on hand so when I notice my hoop not tightening my stabilizer as it should, I can insert a new set. With my hoops, I usually have to change my nut or screw (most often it is the nut) every 6 months. Ask your machine dealer for extra screws and nuts.

You may not have to change yours that often, but you will notice when your hoop starts to lose its tension. If your inner hoop is not securely inside the outer hoop, the best digitized designs, perfect stabilizers, greatest stabilizing methods and quality fabric and threads won’t do you a bit of good!

I hooped my stabilizer, noticing slightly that my hoop screw was starting get stripped and my stabilizer was not as quite as taunt as I like it, but deciding it would be ok to stitch one more design. I stuck my fabric down and started stitching my rose design.

The first couple of thread colors stitched and I noticed more puckers than normal in the fabric. I smoothed down the fabric eliminating a few puckers, saying to myself that it will be ok and I can press out those puckers that are there.

I’m on the 9th color and there are more and more puckers and ripples in the fabric. I’m now thinking, “It will be ok. I just have to make it to the end of this design.” Here’s a glimpse of the puckers and they are 10 times worse seeing the actual fabric verses a photo.

With each stitch the machine is taking, the inner hoop is getting looser and looser inside the outer hoop. I know what could happen and keep hoping it won’t: the inner hoop popping out of the outer hoop right in the middle of stitching!

Just completely ignore the fact that my sticky, dirty hoop
is in desperate need of cleaning. I can’t believe
I’m actually posting this photo!

I’m keeping an eye on it, checking it every few minutes and finally breath a sigh of relief when it’s on the final color. The last color outline starts on one rose and as it moves to the opposite end of the hoop it happens…

…the inner hoop slides right out of the outer hoop and the machine just keeps on stitching…

I should interject at this point and mention that this is the 9th design on this one panel of fabric that it has a total of 10 designs, so I’m almost done. And each design has over 30,000 stitches and takes over an hour to stitch. Ummm….there is no way I want to start over with this piece of fabric….

As soon as I saw it, I stopped the machine and knew at this point, it was not going to be ok. I had to do something. Ever so carefully I shoved the inner hoop with stabilizer/fabric back into the outer hoop ring, hoping it would somehow, be somewhat close to where it should be.

See where is started stitching before I
snapped the fabric back into place?

I was more than relieved to finally have the design finished, but knew some massive pressing would be needed to get the fabric to lay flat with all those puckers. As I started pressing, I soon discovered that I hadn’t cleaned my iron from my last project and now I not only have puckers in my panel of fabric, but also little brown marks – disaster #2.

Having pressed the puckers and taken care of the brown marks, I decided that the worst was over and I could stitch the 10th and final design on this panel. I changed my hoop nut which was stripped and keeping the hoop from tightening as it should, hooped my stabilizer, stuck on my fabric and started stitching.

Oh…so much better without all those puckers forming with every stitch! The worst part of the day is over – hooray! Until I get to the 9th color and realize that I stitched the 8th color with the wrong color of thread – disaster #3. To make matters worse, I had already done that once earlier in the week.

Taking the hoop out of the machine, I ripped the tiny little step stitches of color 8 and started stitching that same color with the correct color of thread. I moved onto color 9 and disaster #4 strikes. With less than 1 minute left and only a small space yet to stitch, I run out of thread.

And the really sad part is that if I would have stitched color 8 with the correct color of thread in the first place instead of the thread for color 9, I would have enough thread! That’s the really disastrous part!

I hope, really hope, that there is not disaster #5 lurking about somewhere in the rest of the day.

So now that you’ve heard about my wonderful, disaster-filled morning, how was yours? Hopefully your day of stitching was not quite as eventful as mine! :)

The first step when you are stitching embroidery designs is to eliminate as many possible problems that could occur. Keep your machine blown out and free from thread and lint in the bobbin area and tension discs. Oil your machine according to your instruction manual to keep it running smoothly. Have your machine serviced regularly by an authorized dealer.

Keep an eye on your machine as it is stitching. This doesn’t mean that you have to sit and watch every stitch, but be aware and listen as it is stitching. Some designs may need babysitting, but most will allow you to be doing something else between thread colors.

When the needle breaks is not the only time to change the needle. Titanium needles should be replaced every 10-12 hours of stitching or approximately 400,000 stitches. If the needle is causing thread breakage or thread pulls in the fabric, change it before something worse happens like a broken needle and a hole in your fabric.

Pay attention to where you moved the design in the hoop – up, down, left or right or rotated the design – clockwise or counterclockwise. Most machines will have numbers on the screen that will inform you as to where you moved the design. Usually a positive or negative number will be assigned to the vertical and horizontal movement of the design. Each number represents one point of movement. The positive and negative values will inform you as to vertical movement going up or down and horizontal movement going left or right. For example: You move the design down 20 movement points and your vertical movement is -20. The negative tells you that you moved the design down and the 20 means you moved it down 20 points. Always write the numbers down to where you moved the design or rotated the design. If power is lost to your machine, you can always return to the exact placement!

Use good quality fabric and garments. Fabrics that are lower in thread count will be more likely to create puckers in the fabric or holes with a dense design. Garments need to be able to hold a design and not weigh it down. Fusible interfacing can be applied to lighter weight fabrics and garments. Using spray starch will also give the fabric or garment more body and helps prevent puckering and misplaced outlines. Use quality embroidery thread and bobbin thread designed for embroidery. These threads will flow smoothly through your machine and achieve the design that looks great! Stitch professional digitized designs. No matter your fabric, thread or stabilizer, if the design itself is incorrect, your finished project will never turn out the way you want it to.

Use the right combination of stabilizers with the fabrics you are stitching. Follow the guidelines for cut away, tear away, aqua film and badgemaster. Knits, fabrics with stretch and large density designs (30,000+) need cut away stabilizer and possibly aqua film as a topping to prevent puckers, design distortion and misplaced outlines. Cottons, denim and lighter weight designs (30,000 or below) can use tear away stabilizer and depending on the fabric, usually won’t require aqua film. Badgemaster backing needs to be used on towels and other projects where you don’t want the backing to show. Towels, velvet, flannel and other fabrics with a nap require aqua film so the stitches will not sink into the fabric.

Do consider the time and materials involved in fixing the design. If it requires 2 hours of ripping on a $5 shirt, it may not be worth the time involved to rip the design. However, if the shirt is a birthday gift for a granddaughter’s birthday tomorrow and this is the only shirt you have at midnight, you may want to consider the ripping job or find a quicker solution. So keep in mind the project value and time involved!

Every mistake or flop that happens will be different and may need to be fixed with a unique method. The design size and density, fabric stability, threads and stabilizer all will effect the way your design is fixed. The most important thing to remember is to keep your cool and let your mind drift to different ways of how your project can be saved. Pressing is the first thing you want to do. Pressing can eliminate puckers and improve the overall look of the design; always press before you proceed to other solutions.

Markers, colored pencils and crayons can fix color mistakes. Instead of ripping the color that you don’t like, try coloring it with a marker or pencil. If your bobbin thread is showing on the front of your design, use a fine tip marker to color in the white sprinkles. If your fabric bleeds on white lettering, try using a bleach pen on just the thread to get the thread back to white. Be careful not to bleach your fabric!

If the fabric puckers around your design, try spray starching the back of the fabric and design. Sometime this will help to eliminate some of the wrinkles. Stipple or use other quilting methods to eliminate puckers around a design. Fuse interfacing to the back of a design to eliminate a rough texture or threads that feel scratchy.

Misplaced outlines can be repaired by filling in with straight stitches or satin stitches with your sewing machine. If outlines are completely off, create an applique with another fabric to place over the bad design. Fabric corners and garment hems and sleeves tend to hide underneath the hoop without your knowledge until the design is finished. Hems may need to be shortened or fabric added.

Ripping is sometimes necessary, unfortunate, but true. An outline may need to be ripped in places where it is misplaced. Try to avoid ripping on knits; you will usually end up with some holes in the knit. Consider the type of stitch before you start ripping. A satin stitch is simple to rip, but a step fill stitch will be more complex.

Mismatching borders, ink spots and fabric flaws can be covered up with 3D flowers, leaves, butterflies or other designs. Free standing lace designs can be stitched on badgemaster and tulle. Try stitching various other designs on cut away, polymesh or felt, cut out the designs and apply where needed. Try using crystals, jewels, beads and buttons to cover up mistakes.

As hard as we try to prevent errors from occurring, they will happen. And be guaranteed that the same mistake will probably happen more than once! But don’t get discouraged when mistakes happen. There are many ways to fix them and you may come up with some creative ideas that you may want to use again in the future! :)

What do you do when you remove your hoop from the machine and discover the fabric is caught in the stitching underneath the hoop? Perhaps it is only a small corner, but sometime it ends up being a huge chunk. Yes, I admit, it has happened to me also. I finish a design and find out a corner of my fabric was caught underneath the hoop. As the design was being stitched, the fabric underneath was stitched through also, making it caught in the hoop. How can you fix this or prevent it from happening in the future?

Cause: The fabric you are stitching is caught underneath the hoop between the hoop and the feed dogs. When the design is stitched, the stitches are going right through all the layers. This will often happen if you are stitching on a large piece of fabric. A corner slips underneath the hoop without your knowledge. If you are stitching on garments, especially baby or kids clothes which are small and hard to get in the hoop, it is easy to get the hem or a sleeve caught underneath the hoop without you knowing it. If the fabric underneath the hoop creates a lot of bulk, you may hear your machine make a noise that will alert you to the problem, but many times, you won’t discover what happened until the design is finished.

Solution: If you notice what happened in the early stages of the design, you may be able to rip out a few stitches and get the extra fabric out from the bottom of the hoop. Then back up in the design to restitch the stitches that you ripped out. If lots of stitches are holding the fabric in place, carefully trim the fabric so it is released from the bottom of the hoop. Finish stitching the design. The earlier you catch it, the easier it will be to repair.

But there will be times that the design will finish and you won’t know what happened until you take the hoop out of the machine. If that happens, carefully cut around the fabric around the design on the back to release it from the hoop. If just a little piece is cut out, you may still be able to selvage the design and project. If it is a large chunk, you may need to be a little more creative in fixing it!

A garment is so easy to get caught! If the hem or sleeve has been eaten by the machine, consider hemming the garment shorter or add a fabric panel or ruffle. You can add many decorative elements to a garment that will hide the fact that it was caught in the hoop.

Many times with squares of fabric, a corner will unintentionally get caught. If your fabric block has a bite taken out of it, first measure it and see if the fabric is large enough that the eaten corner will be cut off. If the eaten part will be inside your measurements, consider straightening the edge and adding a fabric border to make the correct size you need. If the bite is too big, cut out the design and applique it onto a new block of fabric.

Prevention: The first thing you should always do when starting to stitch a design is check to see that you can see the hem, sleeves and fabric corners of your project. Fabric corners and garment hems and sleeves tend to hide underneath the hoop without your knowledge until the design is finished. Check each and every time, because it can happen no matter how many designs you have stitched in the past.

If you are stitching on a piece of fabric, cut the fabric larger than you need. This gives you a little room for mistakes and eaten corners. It is always easier to cut off a little extra than add on a piece.

Be sure that there is nothing caught between the underneath side of the hoop and the feed dogs as you start stitching. While the machine is stopped, slightly tip the hoop up to make sure there is not fabric lurking underneath. Pin the corners of your block toward the center of the block, so they will not slip underneath. Pin sleeves and hems to the top of the hoop, so you can see them and are sure they will not get caught. Just be sure your pins won’t interfere with the needle stitching the design on top of the hoop.

Don’t panic if this happens to you. I can tell you right now that it will happen and not just once! From time to time, I still discover a corner caught after a design is finished stitching. I just calmly cut and release the caught fabric and determine from there what my next step should be. Be creative with your ways to repair this problem and you will discover some new ideas!!

See some examples below:

The corner of this block was
caught underneath the hoop.

This shirt looks ok from the front,
but take a closer look…

Part of the sleeve was caught between the
hoop and feed dogs of the machine.

A huge chunk of the bottom of the shirt
was caught and had to be cut out to free
it from the back of the hoop.

Can you see the extra fabric stuck to the back
of the design? I had to trim around the design
to release the fabric from the hoop.

I straightened and shortened the hem and
sleeves and added a matching fabric ruffle.
It makes for a cute shirt and no one would
ever know the reason for the change!

You are watching your machine as it is stitching the design. The design looks fantastic and it is almost finished! You turn your head away and then suddenly hear a strange sound! As your head whips around, you stare in disbelief at the design that now has a hole right in the middle of it. Why does this happen? How can a hole in your design appear in just a few seconds? Just because a hole appears does not mean your design is destined for the trash! Read on to see what causes this, how to fix it and ways to prevent it in the future.

Cause: Most of the time a hole in the fabric and/or design is caused by a broken needle that keeps stitching. The blunt tip of the needle keeps penetrating the fabric, creating a hole. Even though the broken thread sensor on your machine will in most cases go off and stop the machine, the machine will still take 4-6 stitches before the sensor is alerted and beeps to alert you. If the upper thread beeper is turned off, the machine will continue to stitch until you stop it. You can just imagine what your fabric will look like if the machine is stitching a design with a broken needle.

If you are stitching a dense design on a lightweight fabric, the fabric may not hold the stitches and can create a tear in the fabric. Don’t try to stitch designs loaded with stitches on a lightweight fabric. An example is a design with 40,000 stitches on chiffon. The fabric is not tightly woven enough or does not have the thread count to hold the stitches. This will commonly happen with sheer fabric such as chiffon and organza.

Solution: If the design is covered with holes, that may be a sign that there is no hope for repair and it’s time to start over. But don’t despair, most of the time a little hole can be repaired very easily using one of several methods. If you just noticed the hole starting to form, stop the machine as soon as you discover it. If the hole is small and you haven’t stitched far, you may be able to repair it with the fabric still in the machine.

Place a small piece of the same fabric on which you are stitching, on the hole, on top of the design. It needs to be slightly larger than the hole. Take the hoop off the machine, spray a scrap of stabilizer with 505 and stick it to the bottom of the hoop on the area that has the hole. This will help to add stability as the design is stitched again. Go back in the design and stitch over the fabric covering the tear. After the design is finished, carefully trim away the excess fabric from the top of the design. This may not work for all kinds of holes. If a hole is created while stitching the final outline, it won’t work because the extra fabric laid on top will show after the design is finished. The hole needs to be in an area where it will be covered with stitches.

If the fabric added will not cover the hole, fuse on a small piece of interfacing and mend the hole with a small mending stitch on your machine after the design is finished. This will also work when you are unable to see the hole until you take the fabric out of the hoop and then you are unable to fix it by stitching over it with the design.

Some holes can be covered up with different embellishments such as crystals or buttons. Or even 3D lace or other embroidery designs. If you do not want to try covering up the hole with fabric and more stitches, then add a little decoration after the design is complete. Another idea would be to embroider a small design over the area with the hole. For example, if there is a hole in the bear’s paw, embroider a small butterfly over his paw to make it look like he’s reaching for it. Not only can this add to the design, but it also covers the mistake!

If worse comes to worse and there are multiple holes or you can’t find anything to cover up the hole(s), it may be time to throw it away. But before you do, try to be creative and see if there is some way to selvage it!

Prevention: You will have this happen at one time or another, so don’t panic. Sometime things happen and there is no way to prevent it, no matter how careful you are. But there are a few things you can keep in mind that may help from preventing too many holes in your design.

Keep an eye on your machine as it is stitching. This doesn’t mean that you have to sit and watch every stitch, but be aware and listen as it is stitching. Some designs may need babysitting, but most will allow you to be doing something else between thread colors. If you need to wander out of the room, out of ear distance, consider using a baby monitor. That way you can wander farther away and still be alert when your machine is ready for a new color, hear the beep when the thread breaks or hear any noises that don’t sound normal. It will be an obvious different sound when the needle breaks and the blunt end is penetrating the fabric; you will hear the difference and know something is wrong.

We are all guilty of not changing our needles when we should. When the needle breaks is not the only time to change it. Titanium needles should be replaced every 10-12 hours of stitching or approximately 400,000 stitches. If you see the needle causing thread breakage or thread pulls in the fabric, change it before something worse happens like a broken needle and a hole in your fabric. With changing your needle frequently, you will be able to prevent some needle breakage, among many other problems.

Make sure the needle will not hit any buttons on garments or straight pins stuck in the fabric. It is easy to be stitching a design and think that the needle is clear of an object and then all of a sudden hear a clunk! Don’t panic the next time you discover a hole in your design; just imagine how many possible ways it can be fixed!

We have all had it happen to designs we have stitched. After the design is finished, there are puckers or wrinkles in the fabric around the design. Sometime it is so bad that the fabric will be tucked in small areas underneath the stitches. Other times there will just be slight ripple here and there and not be that noticeable. What causes these puckers and how can you get rid of them?

Why are puckers in the fabric so common around embroidery designs? The simple answer is that’s just the way it works. But maybe this longer answer will help you to understand why puckers so frequently happen. The needle is constantly going down into the fabric and coming back up. Think about it a second – how many times does the needle penetrate through the fabric when stitching a design? If the design has 20,000 stitches, the needle has to go down and come back up 20,000 times. Every time the needle penetrates the fabric, it pulls up the woven threads ever so slightly. By the end of your design, the fabric has been pulled ever so slightly 20,000 times. It is easy to see why puckers or wrinkles tend to develop.

Cause: Puckers or wrinkles around your design can be caused by several things. One of the most common causes is using the incorrect stabilizer for the design you are stitching. If you are using spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the stabilizer instead of hooping it, there may be a not enough adhesive sprayed to properly hold the fabric down as the machine is stitching. Another factor to consider is the density of the design for the fabric. Some fabrics have more “give” to them than others and work better for dense designs.

Solution: If your design is already stitched and you have puckers or wrinkles, there are some ways to eliminate or at least get rid of a few of them. The first thing to do is carefully press the design from the wrong side. This will often make the design look much better and take care of many wrinkles. Spray starch to the fabric wrong side and see if it will eliminate some of the wrinkles. Starch stiffens the fabric which helps to iron out the puckers. Another option is to put batting behind the design and stipple or quilt around the designs edges. This will give the project texture as well as make the ripples disappear.

Prevention: Use the right combination of stabilizers with the fabrics and designs you are stitching. Follow the guidelines for cut away and tear away stabilizers. Knits, fabrics with stretch and large density designs (30,000+) need cut away stabilizer and possibly aqua film as a topping to prevent puckers and wrinkles. Cottons, denim and lighter weight designs (30,000 or below) can use tear away stabilizer and depending on the fabric, usually won’t require aqua film. If you are hooping the stabilizer and using spray adhesive to adhere the fabric to the stabilizer in the hoop, be sure you have sprayed enough to adequately hold the fabric. Denser designs may need a little more than lighter weight designs.

If the fabric is lightweight, starch it or iron fusible interfacing to the back before stitching. Do the same if the fabric is a cotton/poly blend. The poly does not allow the fabric to stretch and give as it is stitched, therefore allowing it to absorb the puckers. Cotton and flannel have more “give” in the fibers than a polyester blend. You also might want to choose lightweight designs to stitch on poly blends and leave the denser designs for cotton or flannel. If I am stitching a dense design, I have found that starching the fabric or adding fusible interfacing to the back is a great help in eliminating the puckers that tend to appear around the design. Give it a try and you will be amazed at the results!

The fabric around this design is starting to pucker as it is being stitched.
The stabilizer needs more spray adhesive to hold the fabric
to it for stitching the embroidery design.

The fabric is smooth and flat in the hoop as the machine
is stitching this design. It has been stuck down very well to the
stabilizer to hold it for the duration of the design.

This is a design stitched on a poly/cotton blend broadcloth.
You can see the puckers in the fabric around the design.
The poly in the fabric does not allow very much “give”.

This is the same design stitched on the same poly/cotton broadcloth,
but So Sheer fusible interfacing was fused on before stitching the design.
The interfacing adds more stability to the fabric to prevent
some of the puckers. There are still a few waves in the fabric,
but not near to the degree as the previous photo.

This is the same design, but it is stitched on 100% cotton fabric
without interfacing on the back. Once it is pressed, the fabric
and design lay smooth and flat. The cotton fabric has absorbed
the puckers in the fabric, making it an easier fabric
to stitch on than a poly/cotton blend.

505 is a wonderful spray adhesive to use when sticking my fabric to my stabilizer when I am stitching machine embroidery designs. But occasionally some of the adhesive gets sprayed on the fabric. Sometime it is caused by some residue left over from spraying too much on the stabilizer in the hoop. A dark circle appears on your fabric, marking where the 505 has been. The dark circle stain dries and it appears as though it is there to stay.

Cause: Too much spray adhesive or spray adhesive has been sprayed on the fabric instead of the stabilizer. For lightweight designs, only a small amount of spray adhesive is needed. The fabric does not need to stay stuck down as long as a denser design.

Solution: Use 90% rubbing alcohol (not the drinking kind :)) to get 505 out of your fabric or project. The 90% is important; not all stores stock that percentage. The lower percentage bottles will not be as effective as the 90%. Look for this in the pharmacy departments of most stores. If you still cannot get the stain out with the alcohol, try using Ecover Citrus Cleaner & Degreaser. It’s an oil based cleaner that can be found in many stores or online.

Prevention: Always spray 505 on the stabilizer, never the fabric. Avoid spraying too much 505 on the hooped stabilizer before sticking the fabric on top of it.

You can see slightly darker areas on this pink baby blanket from
leftover 505 spray adhesive transferred to the fabric.

Right above the gingerbread men, there is a dark spot
of 505 where it was sprayed on the fabric instead of the stabilizer.

Your two hour design has just finished stitching. You unsnap the hoop from the machine to take a closer look at your newest creation and see little white specs throughout the design!! What are these specs? Why are they there? How can you fix it? Read on to learn what is causing these white specs on your designs and how to prevent it in the future!

use the same color of thread in the bobbin
or touch up with a fine tip fabric marker

a perfect design – no bobbin thread showing

Stay tuned next week for another helpful lesson in fixing embroidery mistakes!!

We have all had designs that were just mistakes or perhaps we should term some of them disasters! Perhaps you have thrown the ripped shirt in the corner and grabbed a new one to stitch. Or maybe you have a pile of “mistakes” that you can’t seem to fix, but just hate to throw them away. As hard as we try to prevent errors from occurring, they will happen. And be guaranteed that the same mistake will probably happen more than once! So take a deep breath and learn some ways you can save your pile of mistakes.

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing some common mistakes that happen, the things that cause them, several solutions to fix them into beautiful projects and ways to prevent the mistakes from happening in the future. Keep in mind that there are many methods to fix projects and that every solution may not work with every project you are doing. Are these the only mistakes you will encounter? No way! There will be new and different mistakes that will happen in your embroidery adventures, but try to be creative and selvage as many as you can!

Join my tips & techniques newsletter or stay tuned to my blog for embroidery flops and how to fix them! If you have a method of fixing some designs that works well for you, I would be thrilled to find out what it is! Email me or post a comment to my blog entry. Everyone has great ideas and the best way to learn is to share them! I’m looking forward to sharing my tips for the many, many embroidery flops I have made! So join me in this embroidery flop journey! The first issue has to do with white specs appearing in your embroidery designs…