Spaced out endless embroidery

After deciding how much I liked those little quilts I made three or four years ago, I decided to make a matching one for our coffee table.

I still have quite a few of Moda’s Chocolat charm squares, and even a bit of yardage left… I bought so much of that line!  I have two large quilts from it, and I made my parents a quilt from it… 

The embroidery motifs I used here are from Elaine over at Embroidery Traditions.  I have used these designs so many times, they are probably my favorite out of all that I have!  Elaine does beautiful work!  The embroidery sections are done on Osnaburg again… I think everyone knows how much I love incorporating the stuff into my creations.

I am going to utilize the “endless embroidery” feature on my Bernina 830… most of the time you use the endless embroidery feature, you will probably be joining a design end to end.  But what about if you want to space it out?  For example, my embroidery sections are 36 inches long and 4.5 inches high.  I have three of the same motif I wanted evenly spaced out.

I began by digitizing a 36 inch by 4.5 inch rectangle in the Bernina software, then inserting my motif into it.  I used the “align centers” tool to make sure my motif was perfectly centered in the rectangle.  Next I used the “mirror merge horizontal” tool to add two more of the same motif.

Finally, I used the “arrange” feature in the file menu, selected “start and end”, and chose the center position for the start point, and selected the option to digitize it manually.  My pink arrow indicates the center start position.

Then I used the measure tool (select “m” from your keyboard) to measure the distance between the ends of the motifs, which is 1.1 inches, or roughly 28mm.

Most of you could probably accomplish this step with a simple ruler.  Me… I’m mathematically challenged.  Seeing it laid out in the software makes it more likely that I’ll get it right!  

I also find it much easier to work out my placement if I begin stitching from the center out, hence the reason for digitizing the start point in the center.  I press my fabric in half both lengthwise and crosswise, and line up my digitized start point with the creased “X” in my fabric.

Stay tuned for a mini tutorial on adjusting the spacing using the Bernina 830’s “endless embroidery” feature!

Comments

[PJ Kartak]

Thanks for posting your "how to". I think this will be a fun project.

PJ

[Cindy]

I'm staying tuned. You know me by now, I wait to get the BIG picture before I make too many comments.

[Denise]

apologies for posting 'off topic' but I am having a devil of a time with my 820. I can't seem to get my free motion quilting to a standard I can reach with my other older machines. I play with needles, tension and thread and I still get skipping. I just bought the machine in December and the threader has jammed twice. It has spent more time in the shop than at home. I am so discouraged. Can you give any tips on what I might try next. My local dealer is hopeless..the techs are new and only one person in the store owns the same machine. Help!