Getting variety from one bridal machine embroidery design

There is a new bridal collection at Graceful Embroidery, Rose Gold Bridal Lace. To show how to use the designs I decided to attempt to stitch it out one design in 5 different ways. See how versatile these machine embroidery designs are. For this exercise I choose GFE-RGB-1-23 as it has all the flowers in the collection.

Before we begin let me tell you a little about this collection. Light and airy designs have been carefully digitized so that they will not just stitch out on your ordinary fabrics but they are suitable for sheer fabrics, like tulle, making them perfect for bridal projects. Download the freebie in the collection or email me so I can send it to you, then you can see the quality of the embroidery and have a little play. All the elements in the designs are surrounded by little running stitches, which blend everything together. Omit these if you do not want them. The design on the right in this photo has been embroidered on tulle using slightly lighter colours.

Everything you would require for an heirloom or bridal project can be found in this collection. There are 5 sets with a total of 144 designs, many of which will work well together. You will find an elaborate buttonhole, a dimensional butterfly, a heart, panels and lace borders and edgings. Suitable designs have a lace version where the number of jump stitches have been reduced. Just perfect for those sheer fabrics.

Now back to my stitch outs. The design was stitched out in my 100mm x 100mm hoop on one piece of ivory silk dupion. The embroidery was stabilized with two layers of quality stitch and tear. The first stitch out followed the colours in the design. Being so passionate about colour, a great deal of effort went into choosing these colours.

Rose Gold metallic thread from Superior Threads replaced Sulky Rayon 1085 and 1115 in the second stitch out. Why? because it captures the colours of my Husqvarna Epic 2 embroidery machine. All the flower centres and the edgings of some flowers then have a sparkle.

Before I embroider the design out in a variety of the palest colours, I want to show you how not to stitch the designs out. So much stitch detail can be lost when a design is embroidered out in one colour. However there are times when this is the only option, such as embroidery on a veil where the shape of the embroidery is the main factor.

Softer colours were chosen for the fourth stitch out. My palest grey, Sulky Rayon 1325 was used for some flowers and other flowers were embroidered in a soft cream, Robson Anton Eggshell, as I prefer this shade to Sulky Rayon’s cream 1022. The leaves were stitched in Sulky Rayon 1063 instead of light putty. The final colour, which fills the rings inside the flowers, was not stitched so that hot fix crystals and pearls could be added instead. Quite a different look is achieved!

Dimensional flowers, prepared in advance on soft tulle, were added to the final design. To create these I used one layer of Floriani Wet and Gone stabilizer. For the best results trim the jump stitches and loose ends and soak overnight, changing the water several times if possible. There are several styles and sizes of dimensional flowers to choose from in the collection, enabling them to be layered. Stitching the edges with metallic thread will add a little sparkle to these flowers.

I discovered that the smaller dimensional flowers do not work in the largest flower as its inner ring is larger than the other flowers. I hand stitched the layers in place before returning the hoop to the machine to complete the design. I love creating dimension to my embroideries and hope you will have a go at doing the same. This collection will be released around May 27th, 2022.

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Happy hoopings from Hazel