Feb 1, 2016
embroidery
beginner

Love Pillow

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Express your love with this easy-to-make pillow. Using the built-in large fonts and appliqués on the Baby Lock Alliance you can transform a plain pillow into something whimsical for your home. Make it as a gift for your special someone on Valentine's Day or just for yourself to enjoy! Download printable instructions.

Materials:

  • 1 Embroidery Buddy pillow or other pillow cover
  • 2 Fabric swatches for applique letters (approximately 4" x 4")
  • Decorative embroidery thread to coordinate
  • Baby Lock Stabilizer Tear-Away Firm
  • Mettler Web Bond spray or other adhesive spray
  • Marking pen or Frixion Pen
  • Applique Scissors
  • Spray Starch or Best Press

Tools:

  • Baby Lock Alliance
  • 8 x 8 Alliance embroidery hoop

Steps:

  1. Hooping the Pillow:

    1. Cut your stabilizer a little larger than your hoop of choice.

    2. Lightly spray your stabilizer with the adhesive spray.

    3. Mark center of pillow.

      With the marking pen measure and mark the center of the pillow form. A Frixion pen was used for this project. The ink from this pen can be easily removed using an iron after you complete the project. You may want to test on your fabric for optimal finished results.

    4. The Embroidery Buddy Pillow has a unique design created with embroidery in mind. The back of this pillow will lay flat just by loosening the hook and loop tabs on the back pillow panels

    5. Place the stabilizer inside the pillow back and hoop the pillow.

    6. Alternate pillow blank directions:

      If you are using a different pillow blank it is ideal if your pillow has a zipper opening. Unzip the pillow cover and remove any pillow insert. Insert the stabilizer and center your pillow in the hoop. With the free-arm on the Alliance embroidering pillows is very easy.

    7. Place your hooped pillow onto the Alliance frame holder "a." Check to make sure any excess pillow fabric is clear of the hoop and needle area.

    8. Thread the Alliance with the first thread color. You can also stage your additional thread colors on another spool for ease in transitioning colors during embroidery.

  2. Creating Your Embroidery: Select your Settings page at the top of the machine page.

  3. On page 1 select the Embroidery Frame Display to show the quadrant grid. This is helpful in laying out the design.

  4. From the Home screen on the Alliance select the large font icon.

  5. Select the large block applique font.

  6. Scroll to find the letter "L" and select the medium size option. Touch Set.

  7. On the Edit page select Size and resize the letter to its largest size.

  8. Position the design in the top left quadrant of the screen using the move keys or using your stylus and touching on screen.

  9. Touch Add.

  10. Select the large font icon.

  11. Select the third font on the top row.

  12. Scroll through the pages to select the letter "O." Select the small size option and touch Set.

  13. Again touch Size to reduce the letter to coordinate with the applique "L."

  14. Position the design in the top right quadrant of the screen using the move keys or using your stylus and touching on screen.

  15. Touch Add and select the built-in fonts.

  16. Select the Exclusive Script font.

  17. Select the letter "V" in the largest size and press Set.

  18. Touch the Size key. Using the sizing options enlarge and also reduce the letter width. Touch OK.

  19. Position the design in the bottom left quadrant of the screen using the move keys or using your stylus and touching on screen.

  20. Touch Add.

  21. Select the large font icon.

  22. Select the Greek applique font.

  23. Scroll through the pages to select the letter "E." Touch Set.

  24. Position the design in the bottom right quadrant of the screen using the move keys or using your stylus and touching on screen.

  25. Select the Color Palette icon. Use the plus/minus keys to advance through the colors in the design.

  26. Adjust the colors of your design to coordinate with your pillow and applique fabric colors.

    If helpful you can adjust your screen color to display in the color of the fabric. Select Settings and on Page 2 adjust your Embroidery Screen Display color. Touch OK when completed.

  27. Touch Embroidery.

  28. If you adjusted all the colors of your applique designs you should be able to use the Color Sort icon.

    Since you need the machine to stop so you can place your fabrics and be able to trim it is a good idea to leave the design in the color order of the imported designs and not use this feature. If desired you can use the (INSERT IMAGE HERE) icon to advance colors if needed.

  29. Select the Basting stitch icon to help secure the pillow in the hoop.

  30. Use the Needle beam to ensure your design is aligned with the center mark of the pillow.

  31. When ready to embroider touch Lock and the Start/Stop button.

  32. For the Applique designs there are three parts to an applique.

    1. Applique Position

      The applique fabric is then placed over the positioning line.

    2. Applique Material

      The fabric is then trimmed along the stitched line. Applique scissors make this easy to trim close to the stitched line.

    3. Satin Stitch

      The satin stitch will encase the trimmed fabric giving the design a finished look.

  33. For good results with an applique try starching your fabric before stitching down the fabric.

  34. Cut your first color thread and tie-on the second color. Pull the threads through and re-thread the needle. Continue stitching our your design.

  35. When embroidery is complete remove the frame from the machine and un-hoop the pillow. Gently remove the basting stitches and pull the tear-away stabilizer from the back of the pillow. Re-ins

  36. Enjoy your lovely new embroidered decor.

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