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While commercial embroidery offers all kinds of hooping aids
for proper embroidery placement, those of us with home
machines have the opportunity to be more creative.
Here are a few helpful hints when trying to find a good
placement for your designs.
You will find that while there are rules for
"normal" placement of designs, not all of us
are "normal", and those placement lines may not
land in a place that you would want the design.
Who decided that YOUR body was not normal! No one
gets to say what is normal for you except you!
Some of us want our clothing roomy, so the "normal"
placement will be way off on us, and you could find your
design winding up under your armpit or dangling
from the breast area. Some of us are tiny, or
have chests that are smaller or larger than normal.
Can you imagine a design centering just like
"headlights"! So, if the garment is for you
or a friend, put on the garment, and then mark where
you want the BOTTOM of the design to be.
Most of us have software that allows us to print out templates
or designs at 100%. Print out the designs that you
want to use. Make sure that they print with center
marks. Cut around them and then place it
just where YOU want it. While still wearing the
garment, pin the template in place at top and
bottom and then either hoop the garment and stabilizer,
with the template still pinned in place, centering
the design in the hoop with your centering marks, OR
before you hoop, with a water soluble marker, draw
horizontal and vertical lines to mark the center of the
design. Remove the template and then hoop the garment
with the stabilizer. You SHOULD NOT mark with the
water-soluble marker if your garment contains ANY
polyester! If you accidentally use a
water-soluble marker on a garment with polyester, soak the
garment in cold water WITH NO SOAP for at least 30
minutes and then allow to air dry.
If you can't, or don't wish to print a template, you can also
try using the palm of your hand ..think of the palm as the
center of the design and try the design in several
places...but, this is best done ONLY WITH GOOD FRIENDS.
Another thing to remember is that not all designs need to go on
the left chest. YOU are the boss. Try some
alternate locations. The yolk area, cuffs, the hem of
the shirt, center front of a shirt, or several designs in
a swirl from the front over the shoulder and onto the back.
Or try extending the designs from the shirt onto the
pant. If your design is appliqué you can put them
along the hem and cut the backing garment along the
sating stitch, after the design is embroidered, to
match the appliqué forming a decorative border hem.
Great done on sleeves and pants as well. Cutwork is
great down sleeves and pant leg at ankle. Avoid
doing cutwork or open work on the chest area...we
don't need to see what you wear under that shirt.
From the Designers at
Platinum Embroidery
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