Simple Ways of Embroidering and Quilting with a Regular Sewing Machine

Doesn’t looking at the exquisite embroidery on the fabric inspire the sewist in you? Contrary to the popular notion, you don’t necessarily need a sophisticated embroider to begin your embroidery projects. You can do so with your regular sewing machine.

Although the embroidery machines are designed especially for quick and efficient embroidery works, you can also learn and create amazing embroidery patterns on different fabrics with your regular sewing machine.

Don’t hold yourself back from embroidery if you don’t want to invest in an embroidery machine.

Preparing Your Regular Sewing Machine for Embroidery

To begin with, you should prepare your sewing machine by doing all the regular checks and cleaning for your regular daily sewing. Refill the spool with the embroidery thread or the regular thread.

If you intend to do multi-colour embroidery, ensure that you have sufficient thread in the spool as it would need zigzag stitching.

Gather All the Sewing Machine Tools You Need

You don’t need anything extra when performing embroidery with your regular sewing machine. You need to learn the craft of manoeuvring the fabric and the stitch pattern you want to carve out on the fabric.

Ensure to gather the commonly used tools like thread, needle, fabric, and scissors. Along with these, you can also get some optional items like embroidery thread, free-motion foot, and an embroidery hoop.

Get the Template

Ensure that you have the template with you before you start embroidery. This template could be in the form of a drawing or sketches on a piece of paper or any printed template.

It serves as a guiding model to begin embroidery. You can also draw directly on the fabric.

Lower the Feed Dogs

Read your owner’s manual to follow the instructions for lowering the feed dogs that hold the fabric in place. This gives you total control of the sewing machine and provides free movement during sewing.

Prepare the Thread

For embroidery, ensure to work with a fully twisted bobbin thread. This minimizes the chances of the bobbin getting empty when you are halfway through your sewing project.

Lift the Presser Foot

Ensure to lift the presser foot and attach a darning foot. This helps in creating an opening that provides better visibility of the embroidery area.

Alternatively, you may also remove the presser foot and choose to do the stitching without using any foot.

Use Embroidery Needle

Replace your regular universal needle with an embroidery one. The size of the needle depends on the type of fabric used for embroidery. Use embroidery thread for threading both the bobbin and sewing machine’s needle.

Reduce the Machine’s Tension

Ensure to reduce your sewing machine’s top tension so that the bobbin string is not recognizable on the right part of the fabric.

Use a Stabilizer 

There are different types of stabilizers available.

You should choose one that works great with slippery or thin fabrics that tend to gather when embroidered. Place the fabric on the top of the stabilizer for preventing it from shifting during stitching.

Use an Embroidery Hoop

Use an embroidery hoop for quick and efficient embroidery with your sewing machine. This hoop keeps the fabric taught and smooth. It provides easy movement of the garment during sewing. It provides great control for flawless embroidery.

Use Zigzag Stitch

A zigzag stitch works great for professional-grade embroidery. It is a tight stitch that allows you to fill the area quickly and cover the whole design easily.

Ensure the perfect zigzag line width is calculated for creating dense stitches that don’t extend beyond the fabric’s border.

Wrap Up the Stitches

Address the thread ends of the stitches carefully for giving finishing touch and smooth appearance to your embroidery. Secure the ends with the adjacent thread ends by using double knots with regular threads. Conceal the ends by using regular backstitching.

Have you ever thought about quilting with a regular sewing machine? With proper tools and correct techniques, it is possible to create beautiful swirly quilts at home on your sewing machine. It takes time to learn and perfect the art of quilting.

You can either do straight-line quilting with a walking foot or use a free motion quilting foot for quilting your favourite designs. You can create different textures with various quilting designs using free-motion quilting tools with a regular sewing machine.

Some of the free-motion quilting tools you require for awesome quilting creations are smooth polyester sewing thread, embroidery thread stand, sticky glove, and spray baste.

You also need superior thread top-stitch needles that are longer and stay sharp even after multiple quilting sessions.

You may not need all these tools in the beginning. You may include them in your sewing kit gradually as you make further progress in quilting. The free-motion quilting on your machine allows you to unleash your creative skills on fabrics.

Quilting with a regular machine may seem tedious at first. Still, with regular practice and concentrated efforts, you can learn and master the steps of quilting beautifully on a regular sewing machine. You can also use it for preparing customized last-minute gifts.

Once you’ve mastered the basics of free-motion quilting, you can explore the potential of free motion quilting for quilting customized and creative motifs. Quilting with a regular machine saves money on professional quilter and buying costly long arm machines.

While an embroidery machine makes it convenient to embroider the fabric, you can also embroider with your regular sewing machine. There won’t be any significant difference in appearance after doing the embroidery with either of these machines.

When you have mastered the embroidery skills by using your sewing machine for creating decorative stitches, the difference is hardly noticeable. Have patience and take your time to hone your skills by experimenting with beautiful embroidery designs.