Machine Embroidery More Quickly

 It's crunch time! With Christmas a little under two weeks away, this elf could use a little help! Here ten ideas for your consideration to help get those machine embroidered gifts done. I'm interspersing them with a little trip through our Series Two Mug Rugs for eye candy. Let's go!

1. Set yourself up for success

Pick your thread colors and line them up! Thread choice takes time... get all those decisions made up front and just line them all up next to your machine. There's a lot of value in seeing them all play together in one place, as opposed to stopping and picking one at a time. Each time the machine stops, just load the next color. If a color is used more than once, use an empty spool to mark its place. Watch out for thread breaks-- check that each color change is fully finished before automatically loading your next color.

2. Check your bobbin in the beginning

Do you have enough thread for the entire project? If not, take any partially used spools out and save them for a smaller stitch out. Yes, your machine is supposed to warn you when your bobbin is low, but we've all been in this situation, where the machine just runs on without it, and you have pre-punched fabric, a mess to pull out, as well as spending time trying to go back to where the bobbin left out. (Did you know...? when your bobbin alert is not working, it's a sure sign you need to clean lint out of the bobbin area.) 

3. Winding it up!

Wind extra bobbins on another sewing machine while you stitch. (I've never used my embroidery machine bobbin winder-- it would take too much time away from stitching!) Using pre-wounds? They're a big time saver. 

4. Multi-task

Now that you're up and running, work on other parts of your project while the design is running. Need a border for your design? Select fabric and trim it while you're waiting. Have more embroidery to do? Prepare stabilizer. That being said...

5. LISTEN!

When your embroidery machine stops, you need to load the next thread change right away! It's easy to get so engrossed in other projects while you are stitching, that all of the sudden an hour has passed and you've totally forgotten you were embroidering! Keep that machine humming along!

6. Lessons from the tortoise

Did you learn yet that slow and steady wins the race? This next tip is totally counter-intuitive, but slowing your machine down can help you finish faster. How? Well, if you are struggling with frequent thread breaks, the answer is obvious. Plus, there's no bigger joy killer than a machine that needs to be re-threaded every two minutes. Not having fun? That is sure to slow you down... perhaps you'll never finish if the process becomes too painful.

7. More counter- intuition...

Does your machine trim jump stitches? Here's a bit of solace for those of you who don't have this feature. TURN IT OFF. If you've ever listened to your machine slowing down, stopping, trimming, and returning to fully speed, did you realize how much time it was taking to do that? In some cases, it is much faster to just take the hoop off at the end of a color change, snip your jumps, and return the hoop. True confessions-- when I'm on deadline, I never use the jump trim feature. It's also very comforting to know there are some things humans may still do more efficiently than a robot!

8. No picky, picky!!

As a machine embroiderer, I laugh when quilters complain about having to pick something out. What does it take? Twenty three stitches to pick out that wrongly placed patch? How about leaving the room for 90 seconds with a machine going 1,100 stitches a minute when things suddenly go awry? 

Yes, curse the gods-- but you have to make some quick decisions. Have a huge bird nest? I've quickly hacked it off the back with a craft knife, added a patch of stabilizer to reinforce the back and started the area over. Have a really, really huge birdnest?-- quickly get over it-- and just start over. Made a bad color choice? Did you know you have one chance to just pick a new color and stitch the color change out again, right over the other color? Or live with it. Will it bother you a month from now? Most likely not. Get the point? There's no picking out machine embroidery. Get over it. Move on.

9. Just do it!

If you have two hours, sew for two hours. If you have ten minutes, sew for ten minutes. Progress is progress. I learned during a power out, that my machine returns right to the very stitch when it is powered on again. This makes it very simple to start and stop and restart later. Especially if your thread is all laid out as we discussed earlier.  Another lesson from the tortoise-- little by little wins the race!

9. An embroiderer's got to know their limitations...

A final tip from Clint Eastwood's lips in "Magnum Force." I think we all gradually get to that point in the day when it's over-- usually we become all thumbs, two steps are forward, three back. Stop and take a break. This is great advice for the end of the day, but also for the end of the Christmas season as well. Do a gut check-- is the chance to finish something over? Maybe some family members won't mind a "raincheck" on their gift-- maybe they'd rather enjoy your company, happy and well rested instead of stressed and tired,  this holiday season. There's always a birthday or another occasion to finish up for-- it's okay!

So there are a few ideas for you about how to "git 'er done" with the embroidery machine. Maybe some will work for you, maybe not. Spend some time thinking about your own process and how to streamline it-- that may be the most productive embroidery time you spend of all! I think at this time of year we all have high hopes for next year-- follow our blog or sign up for email reminders above-- it's gonna be our best yet!

xox

Carol