- One of the reasons we make garments is to give our clothing our personal touch.

There is no better way to make a garment yours, than by adding a bit of embroidery.

But how much?

Where?

What color thread?

We'll answer all these questions.

The goal is to enhance the garment, but not overwhelm the garment.

We will make embroidery easy, fun, and simply beautiful today, on "Fit 2 Stitch" (lively acoustic music) (fast piano music) - [Narrator] "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by, Pendelton, Vogue Fabrics, Bennos Buttons, Kai Scissors, OC Sewing, Mike Gunther Industries, and, Sew Steady.

- So, after our first show on machine embroidery, I actually practiced.

I actually practiced.

I took all this hoopin' and stabilizer and all this stuff that used to go round and around in my head until I swear I couldn't make sense of any of it, and I actually practiced.

And you know what?

It isn't that hard.

(laughs moderately) So what I figured out though, is there are a few differences and are a few things to learn like going to knits and going to tee shirts.

Anyway, so I wanted Miss Brigham to come back because I'd really like Nancy to just kinda go over some details and, we're gonna take it up one more little step.

Nancy, come on back, do you mind?

(claps) - [Nancy] Hi Peg.

- Hi, how are you?

- Now, good to see you again.

- Good to see you.

And this time we're gonna do-- - We're gonna do, how to hoop ready-to-wear, and some really cool free-standing embroidery.

- And tee shirts.

- And tee shirts.

- And tee shirts.

Because that seems hard to me.

- Yeah it is.

Well, if you don't know the right way to do it-- - You don't know.

- Yes.

- It's amazing what information does.

- Right, and of course-- - Makes it a lot easier.

- like we said before, the best way to do it is flat before it's cut.

So, many of us, we either don't have the time or the skills to be able to create our own designs, our own garments.

- Well, it just almost seems like it's too much.

- It's too much at one time, - Well you go to the store... - that's why I think I like the steps.

- Yeah, you go to the store, you buy a nice tee shirt, and then you get it home and you go, "Uh-Oh.

"This doesn't fit in my hoop.

"How do I do this?"

So, I'm gonna show that today.

- Okay, good.

Good, good.

Where do we start?

- First, lets start and remind everybody that we did this design.

This design was done on-- - You matched the hoop.

(Peg laughing softly) - right, on fabric.

We did it on fabric that was not pre-cut.

So, we did this, then we cut the pattern out around this design.

Now, this design was a-- - And again, that's the simplest way really to just embroider the fabric.

- Yes, that's the easiest way to do it.

- Especially on knit, 'cause you don't have to worry about stretch or grain.

This fabric stretches in both directions, so we don't have to worry about any of that.

We didn't have to worry about grain, we didn't have to worry about anything.

- No, and with well we knits really important, and we'll talk about that when we get to the denim shirt.

- All right, so, I don't know how to do this.

Show me how you do this.

- Okay, well, this, I took this design, this is what we call a three-standing lace design.

This is also jewelry.

So, you have the two earrings here, you have the bracelet here - Oh, you mean real jewelry, jewelry?

- Yeah, you just run a ribbon through it and wear it.

That's the way it was designed.

Now, I'm not big into wearing on jewelry, but, I just took this design and instead of sowing it on the heavy, this is really heavy water soluble.

This is like four times-- - Oh, it's really heavy, yeah.

- four times what you do, and it takes four times the time to wash it out, but it's really heavy.

- So, a regular needle goes through this?

- Mm-hmm, oh yeah.

And, I used an embroidery needle, a size 90 embroidery needle-- - Okay, so that's a thicker than a regular sowing needle.

- Well, yeah, 90 is-- - Like a jean, isn't it?

- Well, it's not a jeans needle, but it is a size 90.

(clears throat) And, I like to use a 90 when I'm sowing on something this thick.

On the shirt, this shirt, I used a 75/11 stretch needle.

- So, because the fabric was so much thinner than the-- - And it was stretch fabric, so, I used the stretch needle on there.

And those are just common sense things, not everybody... Everybody needs to know, they need to change their needle often.

You cannot use your needle for 800 hours of sowing.

You do need to change-- - Except if you're me, then you can.

- Oh, okay.

(Peg and Nancy laughing) So anyway, this is the same design that's here, I just took this design instead of sowing it on here, I just put it on the fabric just like this right here.

It's a hoop, just like that, and then we pulled it out of the hoop, we cut it out, we cut up the tee shirt pattern and we made this beautiful shoal to go with it.

- So, this is what I love.

- I just love the shoal.

- I mean I just love that.

That looks so rich.

- Thank you.

I like it too, but what we're gonna talk about is how...

This should look familiar.

- Yes, yes, yes.

- Okay, so, we're just gonna talk about how you would embroider something that is already-- - Made.

- finished.

ready-to-wear or you made-- - So, you can buy ready wear.

- Correct, and from our last show, if you remember, I talked a little bit about this spray on the tee zip, and I'm just gonna give it a single squirt here and you just wanna go like this around, you don't want it to be too thick on there, and what you're going to do is, this is the most important thing with doing ready wear, we're going to turn it wrong side out.

- Oh.

- And then, we can embroider on the top, there's the front, okay?

- Mm-hmm.

- And if you've noticed, this is actually the front, and we turn it wrong side out and then you're just going to slide it onto your hoop.

Now, the spray allows you to not have to hoop this, okay?

And so, if you just-- - [Peg] Oh, you actually don't have to hoop the front - No, you don't hoop it at all.

- Oh, interesting.

- No, it's called floaning - 'Cause we did last time.

We hooped the fabric (mumbles) and now we-- - We did, but that was because we were working with that flat piece of fabric and we had plenty of room and time to do that.

But with ready-to-wear, especially, and I'm gonna show you in a minute, the problem with sleeves in ready-to-wear.

I'm not gonna goop with up with that spray, but, you do need good spray.

This is professional spray.

There is some spray that is available in some of the fabric stores, but I recommend looking for this as opposed to the stuff you buy on the counter.

- So, I have a question for you.

- Sure.

- If you can spray it and not have to hoop it, why would you ever hoop the fabric?

- Well, that's a good question.

There are certain fabrics that lend to really need to be hooped, and these particular kinds of hoops have a special clip too.

They clip on the sides for welvents, linen, anything that is level to move around.

- Okay.

- Now, this stuff-- - So, that's loser woven versus a net?

- Right, but net has a real tendency to not wanna hoop well anyway and it stretches, - And it stretches, yeah.

- and you get what we call hoop burn so that you'll always see where that hoop was, and there's no way to get rid of it.

It's just one of the nature of the beads.

But, if you just do this, make sure-- - So, if you're a little bit afraid that you will ruin the fabric, use the adhesive as opposed to hooping the whole thing?

- Absolutely.

And then, with this particular piece of fabric, I use a very light-weight water soluble.

You notice that this is almost like serron ream, it's not, and you're not allowed to use - It's not okay to use serron, - serron ream.

- Okay.

- But this is a real light-weight water soluble, and then of course, we have our medium-wight water soluble that is a little different, it's a little heavier.

It's more opaque, it's not quite so see through.

- [Peg] And how do I know which one to use?

- With this particular one, with this design like this, with that many stitches, I would use this one because this one will actually break and tear off.

So, with this one, I would use that.

- SO, this one's a little more durable?

- Right.

- A little more heavy.

- Right, right.

- It's heavier duty.

- Right.

- So, you can tell just by the color, I guess?

- Right, and then this one, where's this one?

This one is that big four times that we used for this.

This is for anything that is going to stand alone.

In other words, you're gonna go put this whole thing in a bucket of warm water and you're just gonna let it soak until all this is gone, okay?

- And then that becomes separate?

- Correct.

- So, you could do it like this and then embroider it on?

You could?

- You could sow it on.

- Sow it on, yeah.

- Yeah, you could.

- You're right, I used the wrong terminology, thanks for correcting that.

- But that's all right.

No, that's fine.

These little loops, these little eyelids are designed for earring loops, so you can-- - So, you literally can do those embroider designs?

- These are earrings, and this is a bracelet.

You put a little tiny eight of an inch ribbon-- - Oh my goodness, so cute.

- in here and tie... You could even put a little tiny piece of elastic in there if you wanted to, so, yeah.

- So you can make a bracelet in there and still match your shirt?

- I could.

(Peg chuckles) I did.

- You have it all done.

- It's all done.

- Oh, you did.

It's what it's for.

(Nancy chuckling) - It's just that I wanted to be able to show-- - I got you.

- the before product.

- I got you.

- And I should probably done two and more of them, but-- - Yeah, that's okay, that's all right.

- You know how it is.

- Yap, that's good.

- SO that's how we do this shirt, and remember, this shirt was sleeveless, okay?

And so, what we did was literally turn it wrong side out, and then lay it on here so that the sleeves are out this way, okay?

Now, with the long-- - But just to clarify, you do want the wrong side of the fabric against the-- - Correct, yeah.

- the spray.

- I'm gonna embroider in the right side of the fabric.

Always.

Unless you're doing like filtering or something like that.

- Right, right.

- Now this is just a tee shirt.

Can I tell you a funny story?

- Sure.

- I bought this tee shirt and I put it on, and it had holes in it, and I was mad.

- But you didn't know that when you bought it?

- No, I bought it, I tried it home and I put it on and it had hole in it.

(Peg chuckling) Come to find out, (chuckles) it's supposed to be there-- - For your thumb.

- it's for your thumb and I'm so old school I didn't know that.

- Isn't that ad... - And so, I'm gonna go home and sow those up.

- You know, that's a cool look?

You don't like that, obviously.

- I don't like it.

- Okay.

- Okay, so, this is just a regular, old tee shirt.

You can buy these anywhere, all right?

And I mean anywhere.

And so, I like to take the sleeves and bring them to the inside, okay?

- Get them outta your way.

- Correct.

We want them completely out of the way, and turn this thing completely wrong side out, okay?

Now, the only problem (chuckles) you have to (mumbles) is make sure that you don't embroider the wrong side.

Be sure you know where the back is, okay?

- Don't do this at midnight, is that what you're telling me?

- Yeah, or when you're really tired, or if you've been having those few glasses of wine that some of us have a tendency to do when we sow, okay?

So, once again (hisses).

- So, turning to the inside out allows you to just lay that right side and everything's covered out of your way?

- Correct.

And everything is out of the way.

Is that awesome?

- Yeah.

- And you can get all the way up to the neckline, see?

See?

You could get all the way up to that neckline.

Now, I do recommend that you have binder clips or something just to hold this stuff out of the way.

Binder clips work rally well because you can put them right on top, up here on top of your hoop and then you can embroider anyway, and if you really wanna get to that neckline, just move it down, keep moving it down until you can get... And if you wanna do sides or both sides or even, now, the real trend is to do huge embroideries-- - On the back.

- on the back because they see you coming and going.

- So, you could hoop it lengthwise and do something across the back as well?

- But then, once again remember, we talked about this in the previous session that these don't need any hooping at all, okay?

- And you can use all kinds of fabrics on these?

- Correct.

Anything you want.

- Okay, with the break-the-nail magnets?

- Right, and you just use the magnets, take the... You'd still need it turned wrong side out, okay?

And we're just gonna take this piece and put it behind.

You have to have something on the back, some kind of stabilizer, okay?

And, there is a product called (fingers tapping) light and taki that you stick to the back of this hoop but the only thing I don't like about it is that-- - Stick to the underside?

- Right, and it goes to the back side of the hoop.

The only thing I don't like about it is, it's permanent.

You cannot take it away.

So, if you're going to use a sticky paper, and you're going to use it on a garment or something, it's gonna always stay there.

There's no way to get it out.

- But that's on your stabilizer, not on your-- - Correct.

- Okay.

- That's right, not on your shirt.

But it will stay on the shirt.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- So, don't use it on your shirt.

- No, you can use it for anything.

The point is, what you're doing is, you're using that sticky paper to hold this still, okay?

And I have gone to using the caraway and the spray because then I don't have so much residue left over.

So, here's the back and here's-- - Yeah, this is really pretty 'cause there's not...

It doesn't look glued.

- No, it's not glued on there-- it's actually sown there.

- It's fluid.

Is that fair?

- Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah.

- It's really fluid.

It's very pretty.

- So, with this one, we're just going to...

I've got the sleeves on the inside, and we're just going to...

Sometimes, you just can't find what you're doing, right?

- Sometimes, you feel a knot, (Nancy laughing moderately) sometimes you don't.

- Exactly.

- Is that a problem sometimes?

- Exactly.

- Well, I was only thinking of that because, with embroidery, it's just these few little things, but I'm telling you, once you get started, it really makes it easier.

I think sometimes in our heads, don't you think we make it harder than it is?

- Absolutely, and not only that, guess what else happens?

- What?

- You get addicted.

(Peg gasps) - I do believe that.

- Yeah, you get addicted.

- I do believe that.

- And then-- - I had a friend of mine who bought an embroidering machine and she said everything in her house was now embroidered.

- Sure.

- What else could she embroidery?

- Right.

(Peg laughing softly) Well, I've been known to do whitey tidies.

(Peg laughing softly) - That is TMI.

Wow, wow, wow.

(Nancy laughing loudly) - But the thing about embroidery is that you get to play with these beautiful stuff.

- Yeah, all your threads.

- Threads, and the thread is-- - So, speaking of threads, can we mention that just a little bit?

- Sure.

- If you're dealing with your knit, are you limited with any of your threads?

- Well, some people really like to use polyester thread in knits because you're gonna throw it in a machine and wash it, but I'm a rayon person-- - I am too.

Rayon has a little bit of a sheen to it.

- Yeah, and I like the way it looks.

There're some newer brands that have a little more sheen to 'em than the polyester threads, but still not like the rayon.

- So, polyester threads are just like fabric.

Polyester's more durable.

- It is.

- Rayon would be-- - And it's also-- - shorter terms.

- If you're doing tiles or kids' stuff, you can use that non-chlorine bleach stuff because the thread won't fade.

Now, rayon might fade if you were to use something that had way too much bleach.

I don't wanna talk about any of those Oxy products, but they'll make it fade out.

- Yeah.

(sewing machine whirring) I'm here with my friend Mary, she's gonna help us roll up our sleeves and do some hands on stitching.

- What do we want to do today?

- [Peg] We're gonna make earrings.

Can I choose my colors?

- Sure.

- [Peg] All right, let's go find colors.

So this is our magic drawer of colors.

My favorite thing to do is pick out threads.

And if you look at all of these, most of them you can see they're rayons, and the way you can tell is just pick it up and look up the shine.

So, look at that.

It's amazing how shiny those rayons are.

Rayon and poly are the most common.

The rayon will have a sheen to it and the poly will be a matte finish.

It's more decorative if it's shinier, if it's a matte finish, then it's gonna be a more casual look, but it's really fun to blend them up also.

You can put a really high gloss onto a denim.

So, I think that's the fun of all of this is you're the creator, you're the designer, and everybody should have a drawer like this.

Okay, so the colors I'm going to look for, I'm gonna start with a really...

I want mine to be all rayon 'cause these are gonna be earrings and I want them to be shiny.

So I'm gonna use that for my exterior, I want a little bit of turquoise, all right?

And then I need a black, and I want that black to have a little bit of glisten to it.

So, here are my colors, and those are going to be my earrings and I love them.

So, you just find your design first, you find whichever you want.

There it is.

We want purple on the outside.

There's our first color.

Let's do purple on the outside.

- Okay, so this one we want gold.

- Right.

- So we're gonna go back here-- - I like that turquoise, I want it in the middle.

- [Mary] Okay.

- [Peg] I want it to pop.

Okay, we're going to hoop, and you're gonna just cut the stabilizer to just equal whatever size your hoop is.

And you're to use some two layers, you throw it in there and-- - Snap it closed and you can tighten it up.

Now, we'll go put it on the machine.

- [Peg] So now we have to thread it?

- [Mary] Mm-hmm, yeah.

- [Peg] The machine or the design will always give you recommended colors.

That's just a guide.

Be creative, use your own color choices.

- [Mary] Now, we're all ready to embroider.

(embroidery machine whirring) We know our design fits inside our loop because we have the picture of it.

We're going to hit the start button-- - [Peg] And it automatically aligns it and everything.

- [Mary] (mumbles) - It does it all.

So, it doesn't hurt to stop it and start it again at the beginning.

(embroidery machine whirring) Here we go.

- [Mary] We'll be good in about seven minutes for that color.

- [Peg] It's pretty cool.

- [Mary] (chuckles) In this color, there are 4,269 stitches.

- [Mary] We're gonna let the machine do its work, let's go do something else.

I'm gonna show you this, and I want you to see how close the stitching is, actually next to the neck edge.

When it's very, very close, it is easiest to actually embroider the fabric, then lay the pattern on top and cut it out.

The complete contrast to that is that we're actually going to stitch the fabric or make part of the fabric, then hoop it and do the design, then cut out the rest of it and create it that way.

So, I have taken a marker that will disappear, wash away, whatever works, and I've literally drawn the shape of the neck edge and then I've turned it over and I've drawn it again, all right?

Just so that I have basically the shape I want it to go.

So this would be a case again, when my stitching is gonna be very close to the edge of the fabric, like with this, and it really gives me an opportunity to have a bigger error factor.

Of all my stabilizers that I've been learning about, this is my favorite.

This is the wash away.

It's like now it's here and now it's gone.

So, this is our magic stuff.

It's called water (chuckles) and it's so much fun.

So, this is what I've been told to do.

I take it out of the hoop.

You do not wash it away.

See, I'm only teaching you this because I don't know what I'm doing.

You're going to actually cut out all the way around, don't cut-- - [Mary] Don't cut your design-- - [Peg] and don't try and get that close.

So you take it out of the hoop, cut around it, just get it close, you dunk, right?

- No, just pass it.

(Peg gasping) - [Mary] It disappearing.

This is basically just like the earrings, just a different pattern and a different purpose.

So, when you go to dry it, you wanna lay it on something nice and flat.

And put something on top, do you think?

What's the best way?

The other thing I like to do with this is you can put it like as a sleeve insert, and all you have to do is put it in and then stitch around it and then turn it to the back side with your embroidery scissors that they're curved up and you can cut away all the fabric behind it so it literally becomes transparent and that's what I see as such a contemporary way to use stuff like this.

Just stunning, it's really beautiful and very fashion forward.

I love embroidery.

I love the texture, I love everything about it.

We look at colors and all the beautiful things that can be done with pestles to blend and make such a scenic, really beautiful presentation.

I love anytime you take trim, you can clearly find lots of thread to match, to coordinate, then find florals to match so it looks like it's all meant to be together when it was actually just created.

We can embroider all over the fabric, we can create linear textures that really make a fabric just pop.

(embroidery machine whirring) Let's go back to Mary and see how those earrings are coming along.

The colors really are so pretty together.

(embroidery machine whirring) - [Mary] Okay, that's what you wanna watch.

(embroider machine whirring) (notification tone beeping) All done.

Yay.

- [Mary] Push your button, and pull.

- Drum roll please.

(laughs softly) Earrings out of thread, who would have thought?

Isn't that beautiful?

All inspired by Nancy back at the studio.

So I have got my Nancy magnets, that means I can do everything Nancy could do.

- Okay.

- Is that the deal?

- That's the deal.

(Peg chuckles) - Thank you so much for sharing your brain with us.

- You're more than welcome.

- We'll see you next time.

- Sounds great.

Thanks so much.

Although I have to tell you behind the scenes, I don't like that sticky stuff.

If you heard me saying a couple of times, like "I don't like that hard cardboardy stuff."

I like it to be really soft and really flowy.

So, Nancy brought the embroidery and it was all done, it was really beautiful, and I'm sitting there and I'm cutting it away on the backside.

I'm cutting away just like you're supposed to do, and I cut the fabric.

I actually cut the fabric and it's like, you know that horrible feeling when you cut fabric and you can't uncut fabric?

That's the feeling.

As a rookie, my only suggestion to you is be really careful.

Once that embroidery's done, it's so pretty, (chuckles) it can still get ruined.

So, we had to practice a few more times and that was not really fun.

When you think of ruffles, you might think first of potato chips, but you might wanna see ruffles you can enjoy without gaining a pound.

In fact, these ruffles will make you look like you lost a few pounds and who doesn't want that?

Join us next time for ruffles and much more on "Fit 2 Stitch" (soft acoustic music) - [Narrator] "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Pendelton, Vogue Fabrics, Bennos Buttons, Kai scissors, OC sewing, Mike Gunther Industries, and, Sow Steady.

To order a full DVD set of "Fit 2 Stitch" series 8, please Visit our website at fit2stitch.com