I Can't Believe I Made This

Photo Credit: Embroidery Library

It broke three needles and it almost broke me, but I persevered and was victorious. 

Do you know those thousands of emails you get from fabric vendors, peddlers of embroidery designs and, of course, Wawak? The ones that you mostly delete before opening unless you have a pile of cash on hand begging to be spent. Yeah, those.

I happened to open one the other day from Embroidery Library (my favorite online retailer of machine embroidery designs) and saw a project that seemed so far-fetched, so out of the realm of what was possible on a home sewing machine that I knew I would have to try it: embroidered rope baskets.

I'm not going give detailed instructions on the process here, because I am linking to them instead because Embroidery Library's instructions are excellent and the photos they have included are far better than what I could hope to provide with my cell phone and no tripod. Rather, I'll outline the issues I faced and some tips for you to use when you try this. Because you will try it.

I followed EL's instructions exactly, except that I didn't have spray adhesive on hand. This is used to adhere the flat coil of the bottom of the basket to the stabilizer before you hand stitch the coil to the stabilizer. I skipped this step and proceeded directly to stitching the coil to the stabilizer. This may have led to the only real issue I faced while stitching out the embroidery...needle breakage.

I'm not sure if it was due to the lack of adhesive or the design being too dense or what, but the bottom of my basket, which was perfectly flat when I started, "bubbled" up in unstitched sections. Then, when the embroidery moved into the bubbled areas, the needle would break. And break And break.

I finally figured out that I needed to take the frame off the machine as the bottom distorted and press the bubbled sections flat before proceeding. After the first few colors, I did this at every color change. I'm not sure if the adhesive would be strong enough to prevent this. I'll try it on my next basket and see what happens.

I'm also not 100% satisfied with my color choices. I'll chalk that up to being an inexperienced embroiderer. If I had used all the information available to me on the screen, I could have made better color choices. Specifically, I'm referring to the small box highlighted here that shows what part of the design, exactly, will be stitched with the current color. It was only after I had stitched several colors that I noticed this and realized just how useful the information was.

I also need to work on my basket making skills. When I first started building up the sides, it seemed as though the basket would be very, very shallow. I overcompensated and ended up with the top of my basket being a little too tight. And, sadly, when you hold the basket up to the light, you can see daylight in some places coming through between the layers of the rope coil. Just a little, but still.

Tips and Observations

• It is extremely difficult to stitch the coil when it's less than about 2-1/2" in diameter. Go slowly and keep the "line" between the coil and the free end of the rope lined up with the center of your presser foot. 
• I found that I needed to add a second row of zigzag stitching perpendicular to the first line stitched across the initial coil to begin the basket.
• I used a 4 mm wide zigzag to stitch the coil. The instructions call for 1/8", which converts to about 3 mm. I'll do this on my next basket, now that I'm more confident with the process. 4mm is fine, but probably more visible than you really want.
• If the bottom coil of your basket becomes "bubbled as the embroidery stitches out, remove the frame from the machine and press the bottom flat. I a pressing cloth and steam.
• To avoid being able to see daylight through the sides of your basket, hold the free end of the rope very snugly against the coil as you're stitching. This is easier to do when stitching the flat coil than when building up the sides of the basket.
• It's also quite difficult to stitch the first few rounds as you begin to build up the sides of the basket. The instructions tell you to "Place your and under the base and tilt it up. Be careful but keep your hand as close as possible to the foot of the machine." I found that the basket pushed my hand away from the foot. I think I may have been trying to place my hand too close to the foot.

And here is my finished product. It measures 9" across, 3" tall, and used approximately 79 feet of cotton clothesline. The embroidery design is Lavender Blooms Hummingbird from Embroidery Library. The entire project was stitched with my new-to-me Brother Dream Machine.

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't really keep track of how long it took me to make this, but I think it was somewhere under five hours. The design itself required an hour of stitching time, not counting thread changes and taking the hoop in and out for pressing, so I would say the lion's share of the time was taken up with the embroidery.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with my results, even though my basket is a little lumpy and you can see some daylight through the sides. I'm calling it a "wearable muslin" and it's sitting on a side table in my living room as I type this. This project is well within reach of even beginning sewers and machine embroiderers, so what do you think? Does this look like something you'll "have" to try?