Make this Christmas Special with Beautiful Embroidery Gifts
Posted by oregonpatchworks on December 11th, 2013
Now that the holiday rush is on, I’m always thinking about ways to streamline the processes for creating my hand-made Christmas gifts. Small quilt and embroidery patterns are my favorites; with minor changes, they can be utilized year after year. Some years I make a list of recipients and plan my projects from that; other years, I get into a creative mood, make my projects and then decide who gets what. Either way works just fine.
Regardless of which method of madness I choose each year, my first stop is my embroidery supplies cabinet. I have to make sure I have all my needed thread colors on hand, as well as an assortment of the correct stabilizers for each type of project. That heavy cut-away won’t work very well with the sheer organza I may want to use, and beige thread won’t work unless I want to create dirty snowflakes in free-standing lace!
After that, I make sure I have the various design elements that I need. I copy them to a separate folder on my computer desktop and then go looking for more. It’s always a red-letter day when I can find new free embroidery downloads to add to my repertoire for the year. Of course, I purchase ones that tickle my fancy as well. It’s all good! And, these get added to the desktop folder as well. Consistency is key to making the holiday gift marathon run smoothly!
It goes without saying that I always test every embroidery design before I use it. When possible, I do so on the same fabric that the final project will be created of. For pre-made clothing items, this can be a challenge, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. Remember that your local thrift store is a good source for finding cheap practice pieces, and I can’t be the only stitcher who has a sweatshirt with random embroideries all over it, can I?
My biggest time saver is probably one of the weirdest things I do. Unless it’s a pre-made item, I don’t add embroideries to any of my actual projects. Instead, I stitch out my embroidery designs on the fabric that will be used. After the stitching is complete, I cut out the piece that has the embroidery on it and then construct my project. This way, if the design doesn’t stitch as well as I would like, I can simply do it again without having to tear out stitches and worry about damaging a project that is already constructed.
Once my projects are complete, I take pictures and make notes about who got each one. This is a time saver for next year so that I don’t give the same thing to someone again. If I get everything done on time, I give myself a big pat on the back and then go back to my favorite embroidery design gallery and download free embroidery designs for a fabulous new project just for me.
Rewarding oneself is always the best way to start the new year!
OPW offers an extensive gallery of multiple machine embroidery designs at reasonable price. Find the bright collection of cross-stitch designs, floral designs and more.
