Absolute Beginner Machine Embroidery Season 2

Interested in machine embroidery but aren't sure where to begin? Or maybe you've made some small projects but need embroidery inspiration or tips on where your embroidery machine and creativity can take you. Absolute Beginner Machine Embroidery will guide you through a variety of topics including different types of embroidery designs, stabilizers and threads that are available; how to embroider on ready-made-projects and difficult fabrics; the basics of embroidery software; and much more. This series is great for those that sew garments, quilts and/or crafts. As long as you have an embroidery machine and you want to learn all there is to it, you’re all set! Just sit back and find out how fun machine embroidery can be.

Want more Absolute Beginner Machine Embroidery? Check out Season One! 

Episode 1 — How to Embroider on a Shirt Lapel
Sara shares tips for embroidering on ready-to-wear shirts and jackets, including how to achieve precise design placement using the Baby Lock machine's built-in camera and scan function. She also explores creative ways to embellish garments with freestanding embroidery, demonstrating both permanent and temporary methods for adding embroidered accents.

Episode 2 — Creating In the Hoop Appliqués
Learn the basics of in-the-hoop appliqué as Sara explains the three key steps: stitching the placement line, securing the appliqué fabric with a tack-down stitch, and finishing the edges with a satin or decorative stitch. She then demonstrates how to create an original appliqué design using built-in shapes on the Baby Lock embroidery machine.

Episode 3 — Creating Personalized Pillowcases
Pillowcases are a quick and easy beginner-level project to make yourself. You can also personalize your pillowcases with embroidery, and Sara demonstrates how to find the center of the cuff (or band) of the pillowcase in the hoop before embroidering one of her daughters' names on it. She also shows how to embroider on a ready-made pillowcase bought from a store.

Episode 4 — Creating Your Own Embroidery Designs with Auto-Digitizing
Sometimes the design you want to embroider on your project isn't a design you can find to download and/or purchase. Sara demonstrates how easy it is to create your own embroidery design using Hatch Software's Auto-Digitize feature. She creates a new design from a dinosaur clip-art picture and shows how to change the colors to something more personalized. Sara also shows how to save the newly created embroidery design to be able to transfer it to your embroidery machine.

Episode 5 — Quilt as You Go with Embroidery
In the hoop quilt as you go projects are a quick and easy way to achieve perfect points in the pieced patches, exactly straight seams, and in some cases frustration-free zipper insertions. Sara demonstrates the Flying to Pieces Zipper Pouch from Kimberbell Designs, which includes in the hoop pieced flying geese, a zipper, and the backing and lining fabrics all sewn together in the hoop. Get tips to make your in the hoop projects successful, and see how to turn the project inside out - twice - to reveal the finished pouch.

Episode 6 — Embroidery and Thread Colors
How to you pick your thread colors? It's hard to know what your colors will look like together or what they'll look like on your background fabric prior to stitching them out. While test stitching is a great way to make sure you like the way everything looks, there are options in embroidery software and in many embroidery machines to see what the colors you're actually going to use will look like prior to stitching. 

Episode 7 — Creating Special Occasion Napkins
Embellished napkins and tea towels are a great way to quickly add a little bit of holiday flavor to your home, plus they're great for gifts! Sara shows examples of ready made napkins with embroidery added as well as a napkin sewn from fabric with added embroidery. She demonstrates how to ensure the background fabric doesn't show through your embroidery as it did on her springtime chic design.

Episode 8 — Fixing a Hole or Stain with an Embroidery
Have you ever gotten a hole or a small stain on a shirt or other garment you weren't ready to part with? Sara discusses how to cover up that hole or stain to save the garment. There are special considerations for what types of embroideries can be used to cover holes or stains, and Sara shows using a stabilizer on the back of the garment to ensure a hole doesn't move or stretch while embroidering. 

Episode 9 — Creating an Embroidered Memo Board
A memo board is a project which doesn't require sewing (unless you want it to!) and can involve customized embroidered letters. Sara used appliqué letters for her memo board, and she demonstrates how she lines up the letters in her embroidery machine before appliquéing. After the embroidery is finished, Sara shows how to remove the basting stitch and excess stabilizer, then how to assemble the memo board inside the picture frame. 

Episode 10 — Decorative Embroidered Buttonholes
They're great for garments, small quilting projects, and pillowcases, but adding buttonholes to a project can be intimidating. Sara made a pretty throw pillow case with an embroidery design on the front and embroidered buttonholes with accents on the back. Sara demonstrates how she set up the spacing of her buttonholes and accents using designs and the bordering function in her embroidery machine. 

Episode 11 — In the Hoop Project: Felt Cozies
Felt cozies are an easy in-the-hoop project which could be great for teacher's gifts or sprucing up your office space or using for bookmarks. These dimensional projects from Kimberbell Designs have a little pocket in them to put on a sucker, pencil, paperclip, or whatever you desire. Sara demonstrates how to create the project in-the-hoop including when to change the thread colors and when to add the appliqué fabrics.

Episode 12 — Adding Embroideries to Hemlines
Sara shows several examples of garments with cutwork embroidery on or near the hems and talks about things you might consider when adding embroidery to your garments. She demonstrates how to cut tulle away from a design to make it freestanding, how to seal the edges so the thread doesn't fray, and how to hoop tulle in an endless border hoop without stabilizer.

Episode 13 — Embroider an Inspired Phrases Wall Hanging
When Sara creates wall hangings she uses a combination of different fonts and embroidery designs. When creating your own word art, you can use your favorite phrase, quote, or inspiring words, and you can use all the same fonts or a different font for every word -- or even every letter. Sara demonstrates how to build a quote to embroider in the Hatch embroidery software or on the screen of your embroidery machine.

Episode 14 — Creating Personalized Gift Tags
Personalize your gifts with in-the-hoop gift tags! The gift tags Sara is demonstrating double as gift card holders with their built-in pocket. These tags can be customized for any different occasion or desired sentiment. Sara demonstrates all the steps required to create an in-the-hoop Happy Birthday gift tag with appliquéd cupcake. See an example of the smaller size which Sara already made and watch as she makes a larger size gift tag.

Episode 15 — Embroidering on Shirt Sleeves
Embroidery on shirt sleeves is a popular trend and a great way to add a bit of personalization to a plain shirt. Sara shows several examples of embroidery both on shirts that were made from a pattern and shirts that were purchased as ready-to-wear. Adding embroidery to shirt pockets takes a little bit of planning on ready-to-wear garments, and Sara shows how to remove the pocket so that the pocket can still be used after it's embroidered. She then shows how to hoop a button-up shirt for a variety of embroidery locations.

Episode 16 — Intro to Hand-Look Embroideries
Hand embroideries are often intricate and always beautiful. They take hours upon hours of work, and sometimes we'd like a project with a quicker gratification and finish. Machine embroidery can simulate the look of hand-embroideries. Sara shows examples of a Christmas window scene and a digitized photo of a waterfall that were done on the machine in a cross-stitch style. She then demonstrates how to stitch out a cross-stitch style dragon design on the embroidery machine.

Episode 17 — In the Hoop Project: Gift Bags
In-the-hoop projects are a quick and easy way to make personalized items without a lot of fussy stitching. Sara shares different variations of gift bags made in the hoop to put gifts or gift cards and special messages inside of instead of using wrapping paper. 

Episode 18 — In the Hoop Project: Christmas Stockings
Stockings don't have to be for Christmas -- they can be gifts or decorations for any occasion. Sara's colors are more wintry than purely Christmas as she demonstrates the medium size of a stocking in the hoop. Sara shows how to pre-cut each of your fabrics if you choose to do so and then demonstrates how to use strips that aren't pre-cut to make things a little faster in the preparation stage.

Episode 19 — Utilizing Test-Stitch and Random Embroideries
It's always a good idea to test out your designs to make sure your thread and stabilizer choices get the effects you desire. Testing your designs will leave you with piles of random embroideries that you might not know what to do with. Sara shares some random test stitch embroideries and ideas of what she might do with them to complete a new project. She also shares a couple of finished projects that were made from random embroideries for even more ideas.

Episode 20 — Monogramming with Frames
Monograms can be added on many store-bought articles with in-store monogramming services, but it's also very easy to add your own custom monograms to just about anything you'd like. Sara shows how to build a personalized monogram with a custom frame and decorative elements using Hatch embroidery software, saves her monogram, and stitches it out to show how easy monogramming can be. She also shares a multi-color monogram she created as another neat inspiration.

Episode 21 — Embroidering with Ribbons
Decorative ribbon can enhance a wide variety of projects, but it's often expensive. Sara gives some tips and tricks for how to embroider on a plain ribbon, then demonstrates how it's done. She shows a special hoop that can make embroidering on ribbon even easier and without stabilizer, and shows how to move the ribbon in the hoop to get proper placement on the next section of embroidery.

Episode 22 — In the Hoop Projects: Nametag Holder
There are many types of events you might go to where it would be a good idea to wear a name tag. Instead of a cheap name tag or name tag holder with minimal storage, this in the hoop project creates a sturdy and personalized name tag holder with a zippered storage pocket and a pen ribbon.Sara demonstrates constructing the entire project and gives tips and tricks for making the assembly even easier.

Episode 23 — Creating Quilt Labels
An easy way to track your work, add a custom sentiment for the person to whom you're giving the quilt, and let future generations know who made that heirloom piece is to add a quilt label! You can add the lettering by hand, feed-dog fed by machine, with machine embroidery, or instead add writing with a permanent fabric marker. Sara prefers to do here with machine embroidery and shares a label she just stitched out as well as other labels on quilts made by a friend.

Episode 24 — Embroidering on a Pant Leg, Part 1
Leggings are quick to sew, fun to wear, and the perfect canvas for machine embroidery. Learn how to cut and assemble a pair of knit leggings while planning and positioning your embroidery design before stitching. With a little forethought, you can easily personalize handmade garments with custom embroidery. The next time you pick up a sewing pattern, think beyond the basics and discover how your embroidery machine can make it uniquely yours.

Episode 25 — Embroidering on a Pant Leg, Part 2
Embroidering on jeans may seem intimidating, but with the right techniques, it's easier than you think. Sara shares her favorite tips for deconstructing denim, including how to safely remove a seam with a seam ripper to create the space you need for embroidery. You'll also learn how seam placement affects design placement, so you can confidently embellish and personalize your favorite pair of jeans or any pair of pants.

Episode 26 — Multiple Hoop Placements
Build your confidence with larger machine embroidery projects in this skill-focused episode. Sara shares practical tips for tackling designs that require multiple hoopings, from planning and stabilizing your fabric to achieving accurate alignment between each hooping. Follow along as she demonstrates the process on a bench pillow, helping take the intimidation out of multi-hoop projects so you'll be ready to stitch with confidence.