Vector vs. Bitmap

Sometime ago, I was asked to teach a class about drawing tatting designs. Son came to my rescue and created this primer on drawing vectors. I think it will be a help to the folks trying to figure out what they can do with the latest addition to the Bernina Designer Plus V6 software - CorelDRAW.
There are many mind boggling tutorials on the internet - but these pages of info are clear and concise without TMI - too much information! Anyway, it made vectors sharp and clear for me (pun intended).

Ron's Basics of Vector Drawing  ←click to download

Bernina Designer Plus V6!

Bernina has released the latest upgrade to their embroidery software. It has great new tools. I needed
an appliqué alphabet for an online digitizing challenge. So! I spent an enjoyable afternoon getting familiar with the new layout. I have shared the completed alphabet in several embroidery formats HERE. Did I mention it is FREE?!?  OH! and if you don't see the embroidery format that you need - give a shout - I should be able to convert the files for you.

Fiber Jewelry

This is an oldie - but a goodie that deserves further exploration...someday... So, you have a project to stitch that you can not dunk in water to remove the stabilizer... what stabilizer do you choose? Why not the burn away stabilizers?

These are stabilizer fabrics that are treated with chemicals that make them char and disintegrate when they are heated. You can use an iron... OR! a heat gun! Way more fun!

You will want to work on a heat resistant surface. I used a flat Pyrex baking dish.

The strands that make up the weaving need to be heat resistant. The black and the white pieces are made with Kreinik metallic cord. The center tan watch band was made with a rayon cord.

Mitered applique

A neat trick with satin stitching is to move your needle position full right to create a near perfect miter. These samples were stitched with feed dogs to demonstrate applique stitching.

In the video from Taunton Press Pancho Martinez is using an industrial Juki embroidery machine to free motion embroider flowers. It is very similar to the Bernina 217-50 that I use. He is using his knee to control the needle width. There are no feed dogs - so the stitch length is controlled by how slowly he moves the hoop. And! he has moved his needle position so that the needle swings randomly (actually he is controlling how far the needle swings) on one side and comes back to the same line on the other side.

Laundry Service - NOT!

I stitched the letters of this little wall hanging free motion. I thought the fabric was a good fit with it's appearance of water droplets.
I used my industrial Bernina 217-50. This is a fun! machine that does not have feed dogs. It has a knee lever that swings the needle from straight stitch to 12mm! And is FAST!!! Woo Hoo!

Now here's a tip for free motion monogramming. As the needle can only swing left to right, you can turn your hoop 45 degrees to the swing of the needle to simulate calligraphy.

Why?

I created my background - which son says is too busy and fussy - not his exact words...
Anyway, I see that it only shows up when I use Firefox as a browser. It doesn't show up in
Internet Explorer. Any of you blog gurus have an idea as to why?!? TIA

Honey Bee Sun Set

This was a sun set that I put together for a friend's grandbaby.
The t-shirt was purchased and already had the little tucks down the center front. I added a fabric ruffle to the bottom hem and made the bloomers. The hat edge was bound in the same bee fabric.

The wings on the bees are silk and organza ribbon held together and stitched like this example. (click images for larger details) The detail of the bees and "honey" were stitched free motion.