Fusible tear-away stabilizer, often used for hooped machine embroidery, is ideal when embellishing with satinstitch designs. The stitch structure thoroughly perforates the stabilizer for easy removal, particularly when the stitch length is short. The fusing agent locks the fabric in place to prevent shifting and puckering, especially when stitching wide patterns or embellishing knit garments (T-shirts, sweatshirts, fleece, etc.).
Fuse the stabilizer to the fabric wrong side. If stitching several motifs, remove and replace the stabilizer as you complete each group of stitches.
Satin-stitch motifs are suitable for a wide variety of threads, since the stitch length can be changed to accommodate various thread weights.
For snowflakes, select a mixture of polyester or rayon embroidery threads, metallic threads and iridescent embroidery threads in white, silver, pale blue, green or purple. Always stitch a few motifs on scrap fabric to determine the best settings for a particular thread.
Snowflakes
To embellish a jacket or other project with snowflakes, stabilize the garment as directed above and select the appropriate threads. Also prepare a piece of stabilized scrap fabric to use when designing stitch combinations.
Decide on the location for the first snowflake. With an air- or water-soluble marker, draw a line approximately 5" long.
Use a quilter's ruler with angle markings to draw two more lines that intersect the center of the first line at 60° angles.
Program your machine with a combination of satin stitches to create a length about 2" long. Combine different shapes or different pattern lengths of a single shape.
For airy snowflakes, choose motifs with a long stitch length. Set the machine to stitch a single repeat of the combined pattern, with tie-off stitches at each end.
Begin stitching at the snowflake center where the three lines cross. Stitch outward along one line to the end of the pattern repeat. Return to the center and stitch the repeat along each of the other lines, for a total of six snowflake arms.
To stitch an entire blizzard, choose a different pattern combination for each snowflake. Vary the stitch lengths so some flakes are smaller than others.
Stitch all the flakes in a single thread color, or use different colors for a variegated effect.
For variety, stitch additional motifs in the spaces between the arms (10).
Another method for creating snowflakes is to stitch from the center outward to the line end, then stitch from the outer point back to the center. With the needle down, pivot at the outer limit of the stitch pattern and stitch a second repeat back toward the center, alongside the first (11). This technique is effective with scallops and motifs that have one shaped edge and one flat edge.
Fusible tear-away stabilizer, often used for hooped machine embroidery, is ideal when embellishing with satinstitch designs. The stitch structure thoroughly perforates the stabilizer for easy removal, particularly when the stitch length is short. The fusing agent locks the fabric in place to prevent shifting and puckering, especially when stitching wide patterns or embellishing knit garments (T-shirts, sweatshirts, fleece, etc.).
For snowflakes, select a mixture of polyester or rayon embroidery threads, metallic threads and iridescent embroidery threads in white, silver, pale blue, green or purple. Always stitch a few motifs on scrap fabric to determine the best settings for a particular thread.
Stitch all the flakes in a single thread color, or use different colors for a variegated effect.
