Week 13: Wildcard Week - Embroidery
Prior Experience: 0/5
I've never design an embroidery pattern or used an embroidery machine before. I'm quite excited for this one, as I see a lot of potential applications, especially for making cool gifts.
The Idea
I once again, decided to embroider my club's logo. I'm thinking that maybe I can gift the other members something with our logo embroidered on.
Designing the Embroidery Pattern
I first used Adobe Illustrator to trace the lines in the logo, fill with color, and convert to an svg (vector format). I then imported it into Inkscape. Because the image was in vector format, Ink Stitch was able to automatically convert the image into a pattern! Finally, I saved the design as a PES file.
Embroidering
Alec trained me on how to use the embroidery machine. First, I loaded the file onto the machine with a USB drive. It then prompted me to load the first color (red). I put the red spool on the spool holder stick, then guided the thread along the numbers on the machine. The last step was pulling it through the thread cutter, and then pushing down on the lever to automatically thread the needle. Finally, I pushed the lever at the bottom to lower the needle, and we were all set to go!
I then hit go, and it started embroidering. At each color change, it prompted me to reload the machine with the appropriate spool, which I did.
Here's how it turned out! I mostly like it. I kind of wish I didn't do the black border as it doesn't look quite round. Some of the automatically generated stitches were also a bit weird. I'll try to design from scratch next time.
