Posted by dravon in Education & Instruction, Product Review | Comments Off on Machine Embroidered Applique And The Scissors That Make It Easy
Machine Embroidered Applique And The Scissors That Make It Easy
Anita Goodesign LOVES them some applique. In fact, I’d almost bet they have more applique designs than they have pure embroidery designs. Or not.
What is machine applique? I get a lot of folks coming in who are surprised to learn that they can do applique using the embroidery side of their sewing machine. While the process is a bit different than doing it by hand or using the sewing side of a machine, it can certainly be done. A design which is nicely digitized will turn out gorgeous, but there is a trick to the end result. That trick is making sure that you trim the fabric precisely.
Ok. Here’s the process. The machine will stitch out the outline, letting you know exactly where to place your fabric bits. I spray them with a dash of temp basting spray to make sure the fabric stays down nicely during the next part. Then the machine will do a securing stitch overtop of the line it just stitched out. Now is where you get to remove the hoop from the machine, and very carefully trim away the unwanted fabric.
We did a standing lace haunted house from OESD in October. It was cute, but the fabric wasn’t trimmed very well. The result of that is little bits of fabric strands sticking up through the satin stitched edges. Yucky! It was during this job (there were like 15 different pieces which make up the single house) that I found *cue the music* The Scissors.
They are made by Inspira and they have a lot things going for them which make them totally rock. First up is the curved blade. It’s a gentle curve, but more than enough so that I can easily and quickly trim exceedingly close to the stitched border without cutting through the stitches! Then there are those little micro points. Man those make it so easy to get right into even the tightest corners. They cut right up to the very tip of the point. The large finger handles also make them very easy to maneuver and comfortable to use. They truly do RULE! Less than $10. I am so not kidding. I snapped these up and tossed out my expensive duckbilled applique scissors and haven’t had a moment of regret.
Don’t believe me? Here I’m cutting into a corner of the May Project candle wrap (do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture while actively cutting??).
Durn I love these things! Right to the corner, no slop, no slip, just precision and easy snipping. Here it is on one of those curved edges. Now it might look like I’m about to cut into the stitched line there. Nope! The curve on the blade saves me. Just a clean, close shave.
Here is half of the candle wrap all cut out. They make the job so fast and easy. I love that combination, most especially when that combination is paired with good results. It would be really difficult to get a better trim than that. *happy sigh*
I’ll have to get a picture of the 2 projects – cleanly finished candle wrapped and fray-finished haunted house – to show you how important it is to do a great job trimming up the fabric on machine embroidered applique. I’m sorry I didn’t think of that before now.
If you like to do this type of applique, or are thinking about it, here are some of the factors you want in your scissors. Here’s my personal checklist, though not necessarily in order of importance.
* Usually, applique scissors are duckbilled, which helps protect the foundation fabric. Personally, I’m not a fan of duckbilled because they are too clumsy for me to handle nicely and so the trim is less than ideal. Maybe I’m just too lazy to spend overmuch time with them though, so. Take that comment with a grain of salt.
I love curved bladed scissors whenever I’m working with something where I want to protect the foundation. I used to have a small fiber farm and raised angora rabbits and angora goats. My bunnies had to be shorn every 3 months or they’d look more like string mops than rabbits. For them, I had the blunt tipped curved blade scissors. Not a single nick! Ever. My poor angora goats did not fair so well with the trimming sheers available for them. I eventually gave up and paid through the nose for a pro to come in. I could never find curved bladed sheers large enough to make shaving an entire goat a fast job. They are not patient animals! So that combination of experiences had me looking at the curved bladed scissors for applique trimming pretty much right away. I have definitely not regretted the decision!
* Make darn sure the scissors are comfortable in your hands and on your fingers. Sometimes it can be slow going, especially when the design is particularly brutal … like snowflakes with lots of little cutouts. Eeeeeevil! You may be working with those scissors for a long time. Uncomfortable handles, fingers holes that are too small, or blades that are hard to open and close add up very quickly in terms of hand fatigue. If arthritis is an issue, whatever stage, this is exceedingly important to consider.
* You’ll need a pair of scissors capable cutting right to the very tippy tip of the blades. The smaller that tip is, the more precision you have access to. It’s surprising how many scissors don’t actually cut right to the tips. Many of them start “chewing” the fabric at that point, which is definitely a no go! Tip-lazy scissors may be fine for my thread snips, but not for detail work.
* Sharp. Sharp. Sharp. Cheap scissors usually do not hold their edge, but I’ve been using these guys since October for all kinds of projects. Even if they died right now, I’ve already gotten my money’s worth out of them. Fortunately for me, they show absolutely no signs of slowing down.
* I’d rank cost fairly low, but it is in a consideration of course. If the scissors have everything I’m looking for plus feel great, I’d be happy to shell out some dough. In this case, the price stunned me and I grabbed them and made a mad dash for the register in case the price turned out to be wrong. It wasn’t. heh.
There you go.
If anyone has anything they’d like to see a post on, please let me know. I work Monday through Friday, and get all kinds of questions. It’s nice to take some of those questions and turn them into posts. Fun too. hehe Besides, it’s not just my brain you’d be picking. If I don’t know the answer to your question, I have a whole host of sewing professionals at my fingertips that I can find out the answer post haste!
Until we meet again, Happy Sewing!
– Dravon
