The time honored turkey hand has been around for so long and my latest project had me remembering my primary school days. I am in the process of learning not one or two but three embroidery programs. I am discovering each program will do certain things and that some parts of each are more user friendly or easier to grasp. It really depends on what you want to accomplish. If you are interested in viewing designs that you have purchased to sew out, they are all great at that. However, I am trying to learn how to design or digitize my own creations. This has been both frustrating and exhilarating at the same time. The programs really can do a lot and I am excited each time I open my computer to play with them. The hardest part is planning a design because of so many choices.
With my Turkey hand project, I started with an outline of my actual hand. Once I had it drawn out, I scanned it into the program and then used the drawing or Bezier tool around the outline. This takes a little getting used to.
Once I had the basic outline done, I had to decide on the stitching around the perimeter. This project was going to be an applique, so I had a placement stitch then a securing stitch then finally a finish stitch around the hand. I also drew a shape for the beak and added some fill to it, placed an eye, some little feet and text.
What looks good on the screen does not always stitch out that way. My first trial run shows that I didn't trim close enough around the placement stitches. Also my finish stitch was not wide enough to cover the fabric. The text
I originally chose was way too dense also. I didn't even let it finish stitching. You can see at the top right corner, it tore into the stabilizer. Back to the computer.
I originally chose was way too dense also. I didn't even let it finish stitching. You can see at the top right corner, it tore into the stabilizer. Back to the computer.
My second trial run, I used a cotton fabric instead of the felt for the applique and if you can't tell from the pictures, I am actually stitching on two layers of tear away stabilizer. This time after some adjusting, the finish stitch worked better, but the point on the beak had way too many stitches and the needle just punched right through the stabilizer. Back to the computer AGAIN....
Finally after some tweaking, success. Everything seemed to work better. My stitches entered and exited pretty much where I wanted them to with minimal thread jumps. It is not the quality of design that I would feel comfortable selling, but I have purchased some designs that sew out worse believe it or not. So I will continue to practice and I know I will get much better. This shows that it really is a process. If you are learning a new program and are frustrated that it doesn't look right the first time, don't give up. I have to go back to the manual a lot while I am working and I also utilize the internet for videos. These are so helpful.
For now, I have a cute project that would be fun to put over a chair back.
Or I could drape it over my oven handle to dress up my kitchen. Either way I am proud and "Thankful" that I am lucky enough to have this hobby of mine. Sometimes I don't think there will be enough time to learn everything I want to. I hope if you are reading this post, you have something enjoyable in your life that makes you thankful and that you share what you learn and are generous with what you make. Someone will appreciate your hard work. Check out the slideshow below for pictures of the project as I worked my way through the design and construction.
