Machine Embroidery

When I set up my sewing she-shed room three years ago, I decided to bring an embroidery sewing machine into my space. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like machine embroidery and I was also on a tight budget. With those things in mind, I started a search for a used machine. I was familiar with Husqvarna machines and decided to stay with this brand. I started out on a Designer 1 which was top of the line when it first came out. It didn’t take but a year before I moved up to the Designer Ruby Royale embroidery machine. Besides purchasing the machine, I had to stock my space with several items.

With an embroidery machine you need an embroidery software program for you computer. There are many different programs available to purchase. Some can only be used on Windows, others just for Apple/Mac and then of course in varying price ranges. My favorite is Embrilliance software. One great feature about purchasing this software as it can be used on Windows or Mac and it has various modules so you don’t have to spend a large amount of money to get started. It is also very user-friendly. For today, I’m not going to get into all the wonderful features about this software and it’s various modules. I will save that for another blog post.

Next I had to purchase embroidery thread. Again, there are several brands and prices available and what a person decides to use depends on how well it performs with the particular machine you own and your budget. I first started out with a Threadarts set and a New Brothread Varigated set. Both performed nicely and were easy on my budget. One tip I can pass along to you is, you will have less thread breakage if you use an embroidery needle with a large eye. My favorite brand is Inspira and is sold at Husqvarna/Viking dealers and online sewing stores. Since I started using the larger eye, I rarely have thread breakage.

Another very important item needed for machine embroidery is stabilizer. I could do an entire blog post on this topic (and maybe I will in the future) but just know you will need different stabilizers depending on your fabric, size of embroidery stitch file, whether the back of embroidery will be seen and a few other factors. To get started it’s wise to find a tearaway that you can use on weave-cotton fabrics. Here’s a link that will bring you to some of the stabilizers available on Amazon. You can also find this item at fabric stores.

You will also want to invest in some of the specialized scissors that are available for appliqué and other techniques. (Lol, this is another topic I could write a blog post about with more detailed information in the future.)

I practiced on muslin, old blue jeans and stained t-shirts to begin with. (That’s right, embroider right over that stain on a shirt.) I wanted to build confidence and an embroidery file library in the first few weeks of owning my machine. I attended machine embroidery classes that taught me about techniques and I also viewed youtube videos on the subject. I highly suggest checking your local sewing machine shops for classes and a subscription to Bluprint for furthering your knowledge about machine embroidery and many other crafting hobbies.

If you’ve thought about machine embroidery, I hope you’ve found this post helpful. Happy sewing everyone!

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