Embrace these five tips to save as much time as possible in your embroidery studio. These tips have saved me countless hours, I hope you find them helpful.
- Stock up on supplies. Nothing slows you down more than running out of the right materials for the project. Always have a variety of stabilizers and threads on hand. Take advantage of store sales and buy in bulk if necessary.
- Pre-cut stabilizers to fit your most popular hoops. You’ll have a stack to go to whenever you’re ready to hoop.
- Consider purchasing extra hoops in your favorite sizes. This way you can prepare the next hooping while the first one is stitching. My number one go-to hoop is the 5” x 7”. I have four of them and I still believe they were worth the investment.
- Plan your project by using embroidery templates and target stickers. Mark the placement of the embroidery on the item with the target stickers. When you’re interrupted during the embroidery process (and who isn’t?) you’ll know where you left off.
- Test your designs! Stitch a sample using the same fabric/stabilizer/design/thread combination. Make adjustments to the variables before tackling the final project. Keep a towel, knit t-shirt, or cotton blouse on hand to test different designs. For specialty items, shop at thrift stores to find similar-fabrics.
Of course, once the towel or t-shirt is covered with designs, it’s time to start a new one. Starting a new one never seems to a problem for me, I save mistakes for that chore. Unfortunately, I have plenty of inventory!
10 COMMENTS
Linda Mundell
7 years agoGreat tips! We should all just take the time and prepare.
Janet Wallis
7 years agoGreat tips!
Maryann
7 years agoGreat tips. The 5X7 hoop is the hoop I use the most too. I now have a metal 5X7 hoop and don’t believe I could do without it. I now have a office 3 trays that I am putting pre-cuts for the 5X7 in two, and precuts for the 8X8 in the other.
Shirley Weaver
7 years agoLove #5 tip! You will end up with a unique towel!
Shirley Clark
7 years agoI always tell new people to find a software that they can print a template for the design. It will save them a lot of frustration when things end up crooked.
Stacey
7 years agoHow can we know what kind of software to buy for that? I have PE Design 7.
Carol
5 years agoEmbrilliance is great
Elise
7 years agoGreat tips and glad to know I do all of them:)!
SANDRA NETTLES
7 years agoI never thought of having more same size hoops! Wow what a great idea. I also like the idea of keeping a knit shirt, towel, etc. to test your embroidery. I so often didn’t “test” a design, because I didn’t have similar fabric to try it. I enjoyed the ideas. Thank you for your experience.
Linda Severs
7 years agoLightbulb! Thanks for posting the towel and t-shirt that were FULL of test stitch-outs. My brain thought I needed a new test piece for each. So wasteful & expensive. Duh!