As anyone who reads this blog regularly will know, one of the things I find most frustrating about computerised machine embroidery is the fact that you’re limited to quite a small area for your work. My largest hoop will only give me a maximum size of 8 x 12 inches (20 x 30 cm) and that’s just not large enough for some ideas. Of course you can piece things together (that is, stitch small pieces and sew them together) which is OK for some things, but not everything
But it was only after I’d had my new Innovis-i for some time that I realised its potential for making really big embroideries. It’s all because of the video facility on the machine. This is a small video camera built into the machine that gives you a clear, detailed view of the stitching field, and lets you adjust the position of the design to within a single stitch. At first I’m embarrassed to admit that I couldn’t see the point of this, but eventually I began to realise what a fantastic tool the little camera could be
To test the facility, I drew a really big design of a leaping goat. I divided the figure into ten sections and digitised each one separately. I also digitised a grid over the design to make it easier to adjust the position of the design on the machine. Then I prepared a single piece of backing fabric, and basted the grid markings onto the fabric
Now I just hooped the fabric as usual, moving the hoop around the fabric as necessary to stitch all the different parts, and used the video camera to adjust the placement of the design so that the sections lined up with the grid and with parts that had been digitised earlier. I think the result was a real success and did exactly what I was hoping it would. There were one or two minor glitches, but nothing serious, and considering that this was the first time I’d tried the technique I’m surprised that there weren’t more
The goat just off the machine, with the basted grid still in place, and a foot rule and a bottle of wine to show how big it is
The final embroidery measures about 20 x 14 inches, (51 x 35 cm) stitched on to a single piece of fabric, something which would normally be impossible to do on my machine.
The Leaping Goat finished
As far as the design is concerned, I’m not sure if it’s a zentangle animal or a tapa animal, but it works pretty well (apart from the head, which I will change next time I try this). This design incorporates a lot of applique. I think doing the design all in embroidery might be a problem, because the pull problems would be considerable. It would also use a LOT of thread! But I am very pleased with this approach, and now I don’t feel limited to work in any particular size. Of course this method imposes some technical constraints on designs, but that’s true of any craft
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