Happy New Year to you in your part of the world.  In honor of this day, I am releasing a brand new FREE New Year Ball Drop Embroidery Design. This is a fun one because you can play with MYLAR to add some sparkle. It has also been digitized for Knitwear. So decorate those T Shirts or Sweatshirts.

First there will be a placement line that will tell you where to place the MYLAR.

You can use whatever color you can find in the gift wrap section of your store and let your machine sew it down. I like to add a few small pieces of tape while it sews.

It will add amazing sparkle. I also used a variegated thread color on my sample above. Look how pretty all of those colors came out.  The MYLAR has also been pulled away for the remaining elements to sew.

Festive, Fun and you get three different sizes in the download. There is a 5x7, 6x10 and 9x12 (or 9x9 for JEF machines)  So you can stitch out one for each family member.  One more creative idea is to use some Glow In The Dark thread.  Perfect to see while you watch those fireworks!

Now you can see the original design does not have a year on it. That is because I want you to be able to sew it in the future. You can add your own fonts to customize the date like the picture above.

If you don't have MYLAR, no problem. It will look like the shirt above. Just an open fill with no sparkle.

Or just leave the year date off and your shirt can be used in the future. So many ideas for you to be able to celebrate the New Year Ball Drop anywhere in the world. My family will celebrate close to home this year which is perfect for us. When caring for a Mylar design, I would wash on delicate or hand wash and line dry.

Get this and lots of other FREE EMBROIDERY DESIGNS HERE. I hope you have enjoyed this post, share what you learn and are generous with what you create. Someone will appreciate your hard work.  See you next year!

My latest project was quick, easy and fun.  Yesterday was Christmas and I usually receive at least one gift with great smelling lotions, bath salts and perfume.  My favorites for sure.  If you have read many of my other posts, I am a saver of things that can be used again, recycled or repurposed.  Well, you know that means the bag that contained all of the toiletry items will become something I plan on using instead of throwing away.  I even save the hard paper inserts.  They are perfect for gift tags. Look at the deep purple color inside that bag. I can cut that apart and use it for lots of projects. The plastic bag could be taken apart and used for in the hoop applique projects and there is also a perfectly good zipper. So how much would those items cost if you purchased them separately? Or what would this bag cost you if purchased?  Not to mention it would be a shame to toss it in a landfill.

There aren't too many things that need to be covered up once the paper and tags have been removed.  Just the top band has writing and that will be easy to disguise.  So, if you have something like this from your gifts, hang on to them and maybe try this project..

How cute is this?  It took me less than an hour to do everything on this bag. So how did I get it done?

First I measured the area on the top of the bag that I wanted to cover and found some ribbon in my stash.  I used my computer and Microsoft Publisher to design the artwork.  If you are using this program, you can find these images by inserting pictures from the internet inside the program.  Just click on the Creative Commons area for free pictures.  I grouped everything together and then saved it as a picture. This is important in Publisher because you can only mirror print items that it sees as graphics.  I inserted the saved image back into the software, rotated it and printed to my Sublimation printer.

The ribbon I chose is 100% polyester satin. Since I used white, I could print anything I wanted on it.  I did print it slightly larger than the ribbon so there would be some bleed around the edges and the artwork would fill up the ribbon. A few pieces of heat tape allowed everything to stay in place for pressing.

I set my heat press to 380 degrees and 60 seconds.  Then all I had to do was wait.

I also used my iron to press the ribbon under on each edge so it would not unravel.  My sewing machine was set up for regular sewing with a zipper foot.

A few pins and some masking tape held the ribbon in place while I did the sewing.

I added a small piece of grosgrain ribbon to the zipper pull with some beads. Now I  have a new make up bag that is just the color I wanted.  It really makes me feel good to reuse, upcycle things and be crafty.  If you would like to see more details on this project, watch the video below. I hope I have inspired you to upcycle something today, share something you learn and be generous with what you create. Someone, especially our planet, will thank you for your hard work.

This week has been all about the beanies in my studio.  The time of year is perfect to decorate these accessories.  I am not sure if you have seen or felt the supply crunch this year but the decorator industry definitely has.  For months, certain ball cap brand favorites have been no where to be found. Many companies are not accepting new customers until they get their back orders processed. I think that is why you will see this very trendy project everywhere.  I have even heard my embroidery friends state they love doing beanies so much, they would rather sew them all day instead of ball caps which are more intensive to embroider.  I will admit these are lots of fun and I have digitized several brand new designs for you to enjoy. Let's look at them below.

My first design is a Plain Patch for a beanie. This one completes really quickly and you can add your own fonts from your collection or machine. All of these Beanie Patch Designs are digitized to use Faux Leather or Marine Vinyl. There are so many vinyl colors out there, you will be able to use these over and over.

The next design is the Boss Beanie Embroidered Patch. You probably have someone in your life that kind of rules the roost. This is perfect for them.   

How about a Beanie Patch For Daddy? I used a tan faux leather for all of these and I can just imagine camo or hunter orange beanies with these patches. 

This Hubby Embroidered Beanie Patch would be so cute for a new couple. In fact, that is what inspired me to design all of these patches. It just grew from there!

Here is the Wifey Embroidered Beanie Patch. In a different thread color so you can see options. I like it stitched both ways.

We can't leave out Mama for a Beanie Patch. No matter how old our kids get we are always gonna be Mama.

Now here is where it gets tricky. What do you call your Granny?  Maybe she goes by Nanny and she needs a Beanie Patch too.  

In our family we had at least one Papaw so he needs a beanie patch.

There is probably a Mimi somewhere in your friends or family right? Well Mimi needs a beanie patch.

I know a lot of families have a Pops.  So I have created a Pops Beanie Embroidery Patch. Again, all of these are easy to sew and I love the Rustic border. It really does create a unique finish to the patches.

Now you might be wondering how do I sew a Faux Leather Beanie Patch on?  I have got you covered there also.  Scroll to the bottom of this page or to any of the beanie patch designs in my store and you will see a great instruction video. Also, when you download any of these you will receive cut files, design sheets and full color instructions to make it a fun and easy project. I hope you have enjoyed this post, share what you learn and are generous with what you create. Someone will appreciate your hard work.

Christmas is fast approaching and we will celebrate on December 25th. Did you know in many places around the world, the celebrating continues through advent until January 6th? This is called the Epiphany.  I like the idea of observing this tradition until after the New Year. Maybe that is why so many people keep their decorations up until that time.   My latest In The Hoop 12 Days Christmas Tree Skirt embroidery design will help you do that.  This has been such a fun project to create. I think you will love seeing how it unfolds.

This design stitches entirely in your 5x7 embroidery hoop. There are 12 designs included and each one creates a different panel you can see above.  Once completed, it will be 16 inches across. This is the perfect size to use with a tabletop Christmas tree.  

Or you could decorate with some holiday candles.

Maybe you need a special place to leave Santa some Milk and Cookies?

So how can you complete a project that will be 16 inches across in a 5x7 hoop?  First you will stitch each panel.  Here you see one ready for releasing from the hoop.

Once it has been removed from the stabilizer, you will load the next embroidery design and stitch it out. Then, use a small amount of masking tape to hold the panel to the hoop, and your machine will sew a connecting stitch. It is very repetitive and once you have the first two panels sewn, you will get the hang of it.  

The project will continue to grow as you stitch and add panels.

Until finally you have all of the sections stitched out.

Even the back of the project looks pretty because you use a matching bobbin for the satin stitching.

Have I got your interest?  Are you trying to figure out how this works? Want to get the In The Hoop 12 Days Christmas Tree Skirt design? Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you can watch the instruction video.  When you download the design, you will also receive full color instructions.

I hope you are having a wonderful Holiday Season. Remember to share what you learn and be generous with what you create. Someone will appreciate your hard work.

Digitizing is one of those skills that definitely gets better with time and practice.   If you are reading this and are a complete beginner, you may not want to hear that. I remember just starting out and thinking I had to know everything all at one time. If I took a class or watched videos I sometimes came away with feelings of being so far behind and never being able to catch up. Sound familiar? Well guess what?  I have been digitizing for several years now and I still feel that way sometimes. There will always be someone out there who has more skills or more expensive equipment.  So how can you move forward?  Get friendly with your software of choice and tools available to you at this moment. Then, if you want to learn more or buy better, you can. ALSO remember, there are a multitude of ways to do machine embroidery. So be careful of thinking one way is the CORRECT way. Tools, techniques and products have a way of coming around in circular patterns.  It may look like a brand new thing or the latest buzz but they might just be old school reimagined. Keep an open mind and be ready to experiment. I thought I would show you some easy ways to digitize a cute design with built in software shapes. My latest design releasing today is Red Nosed Reindeer in honor of our holiday season and I used only ready made shapes that are in my program. No artwork necessary. Just playing with those shapes to see what I could come up with. This way of creating machine embroidery should be able to be used with any digitizing software as they usually include built in designs to help you.

Here is the reindeer portion of my design.  If you will notice when I originally digitized it, I was working in a 4x4 size hoop you can see in the picture. I added text later and moved it to a 5x7 hoop with that addition. In my software (Hatch by Wilcom) you can see all of the shapes listed on the right side of the screen by color. When you look at this Objects view, it really does keep it simple so you can sort everything. I like to do this to make sure I keep my color changes to a minimum. 

In Hatch by Wilcom, when you click on Digitize it will open up and you will see a Standard Shapes option. This is where all of those choices open up to you. 

Here is the shape I used for the collar. Also I wanted to keep my stitch count lower so I chose a cross stitch fill pattern for most of the shapes.  That choice is available when you click on the shape and on the Fill choices at the right side of the screen. Remember these options may not look exactly the same in your software, but similar choices should be available.

Each cross stitch shape was also outlined with a bean or triple stitch.  That can be done by making sure you have clicked on the shape and choosing create layout on the left side of the screen below digitize. A flyout will open and you can add any type of outline listed as well as the color choice.

I used a border shape that looks like a shield for the face.

How about this shape for the ears?  Once they were added I just rotated them and moved into place.  You could also create the first one, duplicate it then mirror so they are the same size.

A heart shape works well for the muzzle of the reindeer. Just rotate and move onto the face.

Antlers might sound tricky but check out this banner shape. Again create one resize it so it is the size you need, duplicate and mirror.

A circle shape can be used for the nose and then a tatami stitch is used for the fill so it really stands out.

A star shape is filled with cross stitch and then outlined like the other shapes.

Circles for the whites and pupils of the eyes. Then a satin fill is chosen for them.

So far most of the shapes are easy to add and put in place. You may have some parts that include trims that you don't want.  That is when you may need to add some travel stitches in between the objects like the ones circled in red.  These are just stitches that will keep your machine from trimming when you have the same thread color on objects. You can see these trims when you look at the design with True View unclicked. You will need to digitize a single stitch line. Start at the trim from one object then continue to the start area of the second object. In Hatch by Wilcom you can also click on objects you want to Join using the control key and then press the letter J. This is a hotkey that joins the objects and will hopefully remove trims between them if they are close enough and the same color. Any small triangles will denote trims.  In this picture all of the trims have been removed from the brown objects.

Here is that area mentioned earlier where you can create outlines for each shape if you want to. Click select on the object, create outlines and offsets. The shape will be outlined exactly on the edge and will usually be placed right behind the object in the stitch order for better stitch registration. I think it just gives it a better finish on those cross stitch fills. I didn't outline the shapes with Tatami or Satin Fills to keep the stitch count down.

I used fonts built into the Hatch by Wilcom software for the Merry Christmas words. This did increase my design and a 5x7 hoop was used for the stitch out. Normally you want to know your design size from the beginning but I didn't resize the reindeer. I simply added the text underneath and it no longer fit into a 4x4 hoop. Finally, all items were grouped together and then moved to the hoop center in the software before saving.  If you don't have digitizing software, I do have this Red Nosed Reindeer Design available in my store here. How about some ideas for last minute Christmas gifts?

A bag for that ultimate lover of the season. Notice the text colors were changed on this one and others below so they stand out more.

A onesie for a little cutie.

Or a Bib?

An apron for Christmas morning when you are baking those world famous Cinnamon Rolls?

A Holiday Tea Towel for kitchen or bath?

A warm sweatshirt to wear for that Holiday gathering?  So many ideas and there is still time to do some creating before the big day. 

So why am I showing you how to digitize when I sell designs myself? I want you to be successful whether you buy my designs or create them yourself.  If you are reading this article, you love machine embroidery and are my kind of people.  When I started trying to learn how to do machine embroidery, there were only a couple of professional industry people that were openly generous with digitizing information. I am forever grateful to them because my digitizing craft has brought me forward in life. It is always here when I am ready and sits back quietly when I am otherwise busy.  I want to pay it forward to someone out there like I was helped. So, are you getting excited to try using built in shapes in your digitizing software? I think you could do an infinity of embroidery designs using this technique. That would be a real confidence booster for you in your stitching journey. Or maybe this has inspired you to try machine embroidery again and you need some inspiration? If so, try my Free Designs Page. I hope you have enjoyed this post, share what you learn and are generous with what you create. Someone will appreciate your hard work.