GETTING USED TO MY NEW SEWING MACHINE

Yesterday, I devoted practically my whole afternoon to learning about my new sewing machine.  I first tried free motion thread painting.  A disaster, but I learned a lot.  Next, I tired some of the already downloaded designs in my machine.  Some weren't all that great and looked kind of less dense than I would have preferred, but I guess if you looked close at them, you could tell what they were.  Some of the designs you could not enlarge.  Some you could enlarge two times, some you could enlarge five times.  Yes...I want an embroidering machine...fast.  But looking all over for a machine that does embroidery only at a reasonable price and has a large stitch area (at least up to 8" X 10") is not cheap, even for just an embroidery only machine.  I've found Brothers that will stitch up to 5" X 7" at around $900.  The Singer 500XL combo machine has a very large footprint, that has sewing as well as embroidery machines in one that does humongous embroidery areas, but you have to use your own computer, and doesn't come with hardly any feet, is also around $900, but I couldn't take it around to my embroidery clubs.  So I guess I'll wait until the sewing machine manufacturers come out with most of us want.  A MACHINE WITH A LARGER EMBROIDERY AREA FOR LESS THAN $1,000!  HELLO!

Now the trick is to find out how to use all of these stitches with my new machine in order to make an embroidery scene.  I've found a pattern that will make lovely leaves on a vine and small patterns that will make pretty circles with decoration all around them.  Also a heart pattern that you can enlarge, but then you start losing the fill and it stretches out so much, it doesn't look like a heart pattern any more.  Also, some fancy scrolls which I really like and wish they were larger.

But this machine is really, really great.  I don't regret one penny I've paid for it so far and will be great to carry back and forth to my embroidery get togethers.

Here are some stitches I've played with to give you an idea of what I mean about some of the stitches being sparse.  The lettering, I won't even bother with since they are also very sparse. 

Again, I took these photos with my cell phone, my good camera can't get close ups for you to really see the patterns, but I guess you'll get the gist of it all.