EMBROIDERY… IT’S NOT JUST A DESIGN ON A SHIRT By Debbi Lashbrook Your embroidery software and machine can be very helpful in the construction of garments. Making curved or pointed collars and pockets and even aligning buttonholes can be simplified with software. It is as easy as selecting the tools in the software and using your pattern as a guideline to make accurate and consistent shapes that stitch out beautifully. Here’s a look at using your embroidery machine to create collars and buttonholes. Digitizing the Collar Fall Note: Since most collars are too long for even the largest hoops, you can digitize the collar so that only the points of the collar will be stitched in the embroidery machine or you can choose to split the file and use multiple hoopings. This article will show you how to stitch only the collar points, the most critical area for accuracy. Draw a line parallel to the center back of the collar pattern 2” from the center back. Note that the distance of this line from the center back might need to be increased based on the size of the collar. Scan the collar fall at 70 dpi at 100% scale and save the scan on your computer. Select Picture View and load the picture into your software. You may need to adjust the accuracy of the scan by rotating the picture so that the center back aligns exactly with the grid lines in the software or if you were careful to align the pattern before you scanned the pattern, you won’t need to adjust the scan. Switch to Design View and select the Open Object digitizing tool, zoom in, and draw a placement line over the line that you drew on the collar pattern. Select the artista 400 x 150 Mega Hoop. Change to another color and digitize along the stitching line of the end of the collar, from one seam allowance to the other seam allowance edge. Hit enter to activate the stitches. Next, digitize along the lower edge of the collar fall, from seam allowance edge just to the drawn parallel line of the collar. Note: You will be able to turn a sharper collar point if you cross the stitching at the collar point rather than pivot. Switch to Design View and select the Open Object digitizing tool, zoom in, and draw a placement line over the line that you drew on the collar pattern. Select the artista 400 x 150 Mega Hoop. Change to another color and digitize along the stitching line of the end of the collar, from one seam allowance to the other seam allowance edge. Hit enter to activate the stitches. Next, digitize along the lower edge of the collar fall, from seam allowance edge just to the drawn parallel line of the collar. Note: You will be able to turn a sharper collar point if you cross the stitching at the collar point rather than pivot. Select only the collar stitching lines and not the horizontal line at the back of the collar. Use the zoom tool to zoom in on the center line. Select the mirror merge vertical tool and move the duplicate to just touch at the center line. Press enter to activate the other part of the collar. Select the mirrored part of the collar and change the color of this section to program a color stop in the stitching file. Re-sequence the design so that the parts of the design will stitch in the order that is indicated on Image 2. Select the objects in the numbered order; then select Arrange/Sequence as Selected. This will rearrange the stitching order of the file. Switch to Design View and select the Open Object digitizing tool, zoom in, and draw a placement line over the line that you drew on the collar pattern. Select the artista 400 x 150 Mega Hoop. Change to another color and digitize along the stitching line of the end of the collar, from one seam allowance to the other seam allowance edge. Hit enter to activate the stitches. Next, digitize along the lower edge of the collar fall, from seam allowance edge just to the drawn parallel line of the collar. Note: You will be able to turn a sharper collar point if you cross the stitching at the collar point rather than pivot. Save the file as Collar Fall. Digitizing the Collar Stand (the collar band) Another area of a tailored blouse that is difficult to stitch consistently is the collar stand. You can follow a similar process to digitize the collar stand that you used for the collar fall. Once again, you will need to draw a center guideline 2” from the center back of the collar pattern. Scan the collar stand pattern, again being careful to align the pattern parallel to the scanning bed edge. Load the picture in Picture View; then select Design View and the Open Object Tool. Zoom in for better clarity. Digitize across the parallel guideline drawn close to the center back of the collar. Change colors and draw a placement line around the cutting line of the collar stand from seam allowance edge just to the parallel guideline. Select this line and then select mirror merge vertical. Zoom in for increased accuracy when placing the mirrored line. You want the two lines to just meet at the parallel guideline. Select enter to activate the mirrored line. Once again, change colors and digitize another line around the stitching line of the upper edge of the collar stand from the seam allowance edge to the center guideline. Again, select the line and select mirror merge vertical. Use the “zoom in” feature for placing the two lines so they just meet. After placing the line, select it and change the color of the mirrored line to program a color stop. This file will also be stitched out in the Mega Hoop. Re-sequence this file as shown in the numbered illustration and set the start and end points as you did for the collar fall. Save the file as Collar Stand. Stitching the Collar Fall Cut two rectangles of your fashion fabric about 3” longer and 4” wider than the collar fall full pattern. Press the interfacing on the wrong side of one of the rectangles. Place the two pieces of fashion fabric right sides together and fold along the center of the crosswise grain of the fabric. Mark a line 2” from the foldline and machine baste along this line. This basting stitch is needed so that the collar will fit within the parameters of the hoop. Hoop Stabil-Stick Tear-Away stabilizer in the 400 x 150 Mega Hoop. Remove the paper backing by scoring through the paper and peeling the paper away from the stabilizer. Place the hoop on your machine and stitch the center placement guideline. Remove the hoop from the machine and carefully align the basted stitching line of the collar with the center guideline and smooth the remaining collar sandwich on the stabilizer. Return the hoop to the machine and stitch the second color of the design, folding back the tuck of the collar toward the top of the hoop. After the second collar stitches, fold the tuck of the collar toward the lower part of the hoop and stitch the third color of the file. None of the stitching should catch the tuck of the collar. If it does, you can remove the stitches before completing the rest of the collar on the sewing machine. Remove the fabric from the stabilizer and the hoop, remove the basting stitches along the back of the collar, flatten the collar, and stitch across the center back of the collar (where the tuck was taken out) on your sewing machine. Place the collar fall pattern over the stitched sandwich, aligning the stitching lines of the pattern with the stitched lines on the fabric. Pin in place and cut out the piece with a rotary cutter. Press, trim corners, turn right side out and understitch the undercollar. Cut two rectangles 3” longer and 5” wider than the collar stand pattern. Press interfacing on the wrong side of one of these pieces. Locate the center back of the collar fall and the center of the interfaced rectangle. Align the center back of the collar fall with the center of the interfaced rectangle and pin together so that the undercollar of the fall is placed on the right side of the interfaced piece. Baste in place. Place the other rectangle for the collar stand to the basted piece, right sides together. Fold the sandwich exactly in half and place the collar stand pattern on top of the piece, aligning the edges and the center back. Place a pin at the edge of the end of the collar fall to hold the piece in place. Mark a stitching line 2” from the center back of the collar. Fold right sides together and baste along the marked line. Hoop Stabil-Stick Tear-Away in the Mega Hoop. Prepare for embroidery as before. Select the collar stand file and stitch the center placement line and the cutting line of the collar stand on the stabilizer. These will be the first two colors. Remove the hoop and once again, carefully align the basted center of the fabric sandwich along the center placement line embroidered on the stabilizer. Fold back the uppermost rectangle to expose the edge of the collar fall and align the cut edge of the collar fall with the placement line of the collar stand that has been stitched on the stabilizer. Stitch the collar stand in two steps just as you stitched the collar fall, with the color stop programmed at the tuck in the back. Remove the stitched piece, remove the stabilizer, and remove the basting stitches of the tuck. Flatten and align the edges and stitch across the center back of the collar Trim seam allowances, notch curves, turn the collar stand, and press. Align the collar stand pattern with the stitched piece and cut along the cutting line of the collar stand. Digitizing Buttonholes Scan the front pattern piece. You will only need to scan the top part of the front pattern piece. Select the Picture View and load the saved scan into your software. Zoom in on the scan so that you can accurately measure the distance between buttonholes. Select “m” on your keyboard to activate the measuring tool. Click on the position of the first buttonhole and drag your mouse to the second buttonhole and read the information in the tool tip. Make sure that the angle is at 90 degrees and record the length measurement. Right click on the grid icon and change the vertical spacing to equal the recorded distance between buttonholes. You can now use the grid lines to accurately space the buttonholes without scanning in the entire blouse front pattern piece. Right click on the hoop icon and select the artista 400 x 150 Mega Hoop. Click OK. Select the picture and move it by clicking and dragging the picture so that the first buttonhole of the picture aligns with the horizontal grid line toward the top of the hoop. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to fine tune the placement. Select Design View. Select the Open Object Tool and digitize a placement line that follows the fold line of the blouse front and spans the vertical distance of the hoop. Begin at the horizontal grid line closest to the top of the hoop where the first buttonhole will be placed. Hold the Control key down as you draw the placement line to keep it in a straight plane. It only takes two left clicks to set this straight vertical line. Hit enter to activate the line. Next, draw a horizontal guideline across the horizontal grid line at the top of the hoop. This line will mark the position of the first buttonhole. Open Object Properties and select the Buttonhole Tab. Choose the type of buttonhole you want to embroider and change the angle of the buttonhole to horizontal. Select the slit length of the buttonhole based on the size of button you will be using. You may wish to zoom in on the grid lines to increase your placement accuracy. Change colors and select Arrange/Add Buttonholes. An outlined buttonhole shape will appear on the cursor. Move the buttonhole into the correct position from the edge of the fold line of the blouse. Click to activate the buttonhole. Move to the next horizontal grid line and click again. Continue to place buttonholes down the blouse. Select all the buttonholes by clicking on the Color Film chip and select Align Vertical Right in the alignment tools. Save the file as Buttonholes. Stitching the Buttonholes Make sure you sew the collar on the blouse by following the pattern directions prior to finishing the buttonholes. Hoop Stabil-Stick Tear-Away in the Mega Hoop. Remove the paper backing and stitch the first color of the Buttonhole file. Place a pin to mark the position of the first buttonhole on the front of the blouse using the pattern piece as a guideline. Align the pin with the horizontal placement line and align the foldline of the blouse front with the vertical placement line. Remove the pin and stitch the buttonholes. Remove the hoop and the stabilizer. Finish sewing your blouse according to the pattern directions and think about how easy your next tailored blouse made from this pattern will be since all the stitch files are ready for you to embroider! For more information about adding buttonholes in BERNINA Embroidery software, visit the website at www.berninausa.com. Click on See It! Share It!”