Creative Machine Embroidery - Special Holiday Issue

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	Your Christmas tree will make the "best-dressed" list with a colorful skirt embroidered with poinsettias and holly-trimmed evergreen swags. This festive tree skirt has many features. The felt lining will "grab" your carpet, keeping the finished skirt in place.Each panel is embroidered before assembling the skirt and decorative welting, cord and tassels are added for just the perfect finishing touch. To really decorate with this theme, apply the same embroidery techniques to a matching mantel scarf, stocking or a table cover.

Supplies

3 yards 45"-wide fabric for skirt
3 yards 36"-wide felt for lining in complementary color (or 1 1/2 yards of 72"-wide felt)
5 yards purchased decorative welting
2 1/4 yards decorative twisted cord to match the welting
Two 3"-long tassels to match cord
2/3 yard 20-wide lightweight fusible knit or weft-insertion interfacing
Mesh cut-away stabilizer
Temporary spray adhesive
Machine embroidery, bobbin and sewing threads
Zipper foot
Masking tape
Embroidery designs of your choice
Pattern tracing cloth

Getting started

Enlarge the panel pattern piece (A) on tracing paper or pattern tracing cloth and cut out.

Using the pattern piece cut eight panels from the tree skirt fabric.

Staystitch 1/2" from all raw edges of each panel, being careful not to stretch the bias edges as you stitch. Stitchfrom the widest end to the narrowest on the long edges. Set aside the pieces. embroidery design lay out

Embroidery preparation

If you have an extra-large hoop and editing software:

Import a half-circle motif twice and flip one end-to-end to create a swag design, as on our sample skirt. Import a second holiday motif and place it at the center of the swag (B). Save this design to a disk or embroidery card.

Use your software to create a partial design from your first design choice. Add a second holiday motif and save todisk or card (C).

Note: If you do not have an extra-large hoop, you'll need to re-hoop each panel to embroider theentire design.

If you don't have an extra large hoop:

Baste-mark a centering line on each panel half for each swag design (D).

Stitch a sample of your design and center the entire design on the template (E).

trace design closest to the center of the template

Using the basted line as a centering and positioning aid, hoop one panel with cut-away stabilizer underneath andembroider the swag on the left half of the panel. Repeat with the remaining five panels.

Adjust the embroidery design on your machine to a mirror image of the first design. Position and stitch the swag on the right half of each panel.

Continued on page 2