Embroidery Shortcuts: Project Preparation

In celebration of National Embroidery Month, here is another great tip for project preparation!

One of the great benefits of social media is the wonderful tips and project ideas that are so generously shared by other embroiderers. Here is another embroidery shortcut shared by Bonnie and her Facebook followers.

Tina Tremblay likes to have everything ready to go when she starts an embroidery project. That way, she is not hunting for items that she needs for the next step.

In case you missed it, Bonnie shared a great tip for lining up thread for embroidery projects here.

Terri Knight Crawford takes Tina’s practice a bit further. Like many of us who sew or embroider gifts, we often make several of the same project, like a small bag or an embroidered coaster or mug rug, towel, etc. Terri spends a day cutting all the fabric and stabilizer pieces, choosing threads, etc.

Bonnie shows how she gathers materials and creates project kits here. They are particularly useful for holiday sewing and any time you are working on multiple projects or items that can not be completed in one sitting.

Bonnie’s designs, like the adorable Needle Keeper, contain excellent instructions and a materials list, which makes assembling necessary items really easy.

Before stitching the project, I cut out pieces and labeled them.

Having pieces labeled helped me keep the page fronts and backs in the correct order, especially since I changed their layout a bit. It also made it very easy to pick up the pieces and stitch without the interruption of having to stop and cut fabrics and batting.

Another smart practice, Terri always cuts an extra set of materials for whatever project she is making. If it is a new design, a test sew is recommended. It’s always a good idea to have a spare set of materials too, just in case of a mistake. Having everything prepared makes the sewing or embroidery go so much faster than gathering one item at a time.