Maddie turned 25 last week and we celebrated her birthday with our annual week at our house in Maine. She brought 8 of her closest friends and with a pack that large I thought it would be fun to make them personalized beach towels. I packed up my Bernina 790 Pro and brought her to Rangeley so I could run the embroidery machine while I worked on some piecing projects on my 535 that I keep in Maine.
Obviously you need a sewing machine that does embroidery. You also need a hoop large enough to accommodate your design, 60wt bobbin thread and 40wt embroidery thread – we prefer Isacord and have all the colors. I purchased these large plush towels on Amazon, primarily due to reviews and the range of colors. For stabilizers, I used OESD Lightweight Tearaway and StichH2O Washaway.
While not mandatory, the OESD Embroidery Essentials set makes embroidery much easier as it ensures you have all the right tools. The curved scissors help with snipping threads and the tweezers help with precision for removing threads and stabilizers. The kit also includes Perfect Snips, Embroidery Scissors and the Perfect Scoring Tool.
To hoop your project, cut two pieces of the Lightweight Tearaway and put on top of your bottom hoop. Then put your towel on top of that. Finish with one layer of the Stitch H2O Washaway on top of that. Make sure all of your stabilizers are in the hoop to ensure there is no shifting of your design during stitch out. I did not spray baste given I was only doing a name on each.
When doing a project with multiple iterations, i stitch the name with the most letters first so I can size it and ensure it fits. With the hoop I used I enlarged the design 150%.
When your embroidery is done stitching, remove the design from the hoop. Then, carefully remove the stabilizer from the back, being sure to be gentle so as not to loosen any threads. Then remove the stabilizer from the top. On both sides use the tweezers to remove any stubborn pieces and the snips or curved scissors to trim threads. On the front, you can spritz the design with water to washaway any remaining stabilizer if needed. I made 11 towels and didn’t have to do that.
I made 11 towels. Each towel took 7-9 minutes to stitch given the density of the names and the alphabet I used. I had two hoops going so while one was stitching I could prep another. With auditioning thread colors, pressing the towels when done, and trimming threads it took less than three hours to do them all. Easy peasy. Honestly, the hardest part was deciding who would get which color towel!
I didn’t give instructions for teh machine layout because every machine is different. However, if you are stitching on a Bernina embroidery machine I’m happy to give you step by step instruction for setting up your name to stitch. Just email me at erin at cottoncandyfabrics dot com and let me know.
One of the other things I love to do on vacation is cook pretty food. Here are a few other random shots from our week including our welcome appetizers!
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