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Why is it assumed that exciting, thoughtful and beautiful embroidery can only be done by hand or when using the simplest sewing machine stitches? Why am I accused of cheating whenever I am demonstrating on one of the wonderful new sewing machines, having as they do capabilities beyond our wildest imagination a few years ago?
If I have designed what I am stitching and have chosen the thread and fabric, why is it cheating to use an automatic pattern if it is the right choice for that particular embroidery? The built-in patterns can look mechanical if stitched perfectly in long rows, but so can any hand stitch. As embroiderers, we are trained to vary the threads we use, the size and angle of stitches or to build up the stitching in layers to achieve the effect we want. This same creativity should be applied to machine stitching. We are still at the stage of trying to make machine stitching look like hand stitching, not too perfect. Surely a better approach is to take advantage of that perfection and find other ways of making it more personal.
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We have always used threads and fabrics designed by someone else, sometimes patterned or with interesting texture, and never thought it a cheat. We grab the newest variegated threads or fabrics which have been printed, woven with a metallic thread, discharged or devoréd because we cannot resist them. Often, these fabrics cannot be improved by stitching on them, but it still never occurs to us that we may be cheating. Or does it? Should it? Should we go back to spinning our own thread and weaving our own cloth? If we discard that idea and decide to use all the materials, aids and tools available to us, we must then use them to advantage, with thoughtfulness and imagination.
The new generation sewing machines, designed for all types of embroidery and quilting as well as for general sewing, are more controllable than ever before. At one time, we used to buy hand-operated Singers to do our patchwork because we could stitch slowly and accurately on them. No longer. Computer controlled sewing machines induce a state of mild panic in many people and, of course, they are expensive. But what a joy it is to use them. The enormous range of useful and decorative stitches, functions such as automatic finishing off at the end of the stitching, the wonderfully wide satin stitch (imagine the skill needed to do this with a treadle machine), being able to stitch in different directions without removing your fabric, all these are a delight. You need to pore over the instruction manual regularly and use a new machine intensively in order to discover its capabilities and how you like to use it. As with learning any new skill, it needs practice. Only then can you relax, treating the machine as a friend and ally.
I am also a believer in using the correct sewing machine foot or attachment for the job in hand. They are designed to do the job better and make it easier for you, so take advantage of them. You can also use the feet for jobs for which they were not designed, just to see what happens. There are special needles for different fabrics and threads, gadgets which fit on your machine to magnify the sewing and handle tricky threads better, teaching videos to give you confidence, and tools for every possible need. Spend some money on yourself and enjoy using them.
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A creative approach is needed with some of the built-in embroidery stitches or larger patterns. This is especially true of the pattern cards that you can now buy for the top machines because the designs are not very inspiring. Anyway, they are not your designs. I do not use these cards but I do use the scanning attachments that come with some of the machines (so far, only Bernina, Janome, Brother and Singer). These are simplicity itself to use. You run a hand held scanner over one of your own drawings or designs and the machine digitises it for you and saves the result on a card. The card is then inserted into the sewing machine which stitches the pattern or texture for you. There is no need to sit with your foot on the pedal, just push a button and the machine runs by itself. It's like having an assistant to do some of the donkey-work for you. But it is when people see the machine stitching by itself that I am most accused of cheating. I have drawn the design, chosen the colours, threads and fabric. I use these pieces of embroidery, perhaps cut into small pieces, to build up a larger whole and then work them over with further machine or hand stitching so that the end result is not at all mechanical.
I think it is extremely important to try all the capabilities of these wonderful machines, to see the effect machine stitching has on various fabrics, what difference another thread makes, what happens when the tension is changed, and use this information with sensitivity. Machine embroidery is not necessarily quick to do as the thinking time cannot be skimped and this can take weeks. I think while I am stitching and need to do countless samples while I work out my ideas. Any help I can get, from any source, is worth trying and may eventually be discarded. But surely I am not cheating?
Valerie Campbell-Harding is the author or co-author of many books on embroidery and design, a long time tutor of City & Guilds Embroidery, founder of the Computer Textile Design Group and the previous editor of The World of Embroidery.
This article is from The World of Embroidery, Volume 49 No.5, © Valerie Campbell-Harding.
highlights from September 1998 issue