Know Quilting Before Starting It - written by Dede Hallett

I am heavily involved in animal rescue and the local animals that are allowed to wander have learned that they can come to me for love and rawhide treats. One little pup in particular loves to come spend some time with me. Her owner is usually across the street visiting a friend, so it's all good.

This morning, we had that little yellow pup inside and she brought a curly haired black friend with her. Let's just say that all was chaos in our living room for a while. This is one of those instances where chaos is good! Lots of wild and crazy activity that causes laughter and doesn't last too long is always welcome here.

One area where chaos is not welcome in my life is any that includes machine embroidery. With a speeding embroidery machine, fancy projects and sometimes cantankerous threads, I want everything to remain as calm as possible. This is mostly because I listen as my machine stitches so that I can stop/correct anything before it becomes a major problem.

Some days, though, I have two embroidery machines running while I stitch something else on my sewing machine or serger. With that many machines going at once, a certain level of noise and chaos is unavoidable. I find that having the door of my sewing room open allows the noise to dissipate somewhat and not overwhelm me. This is important when trying to keep stress levels low.

The activity of machine embroidery is actually the very least of the chaos though. Instead, our projects have the possibility, almost constantly, of overwhelming us. If we bite off more than we can chew, we can find that we aren't prepared with the skills or embroidery supplies needed to complete the project. Or, we can go overboard in our stitching and create visual chaos on our project. Either way, it's important to learn how to minimize the problems that can result.

Preparing for our projects is quite simple. Write down what you want your finished project to be. Make notes on the sizes of everything! Make a list of the supplies you need and every thread color you will be using. Make a list of every other supply you will need. Then, before you get started, make sure you have everything. That's it. We all get excited to begin a new embroidery project, but it's worth waiting to make sure we are actually prepared. Being prepared physically helps us prepare mentally.

Victorian women gloried in their heavily embellished projects, while we modern women generally prefer simpler looks. However, for many of us, we tend to over-decorate our projects with machine embroidery designs that are too big, too colorful, or just not quite right for the project. Then, when it doesn't look right, we may try to fix it by adding even more embellishments like crystals or ribbons. We end up with a chaotic mess with no idea how we got there. Yes, it may cause a laugh, but not the type we want to hear!

I am very prone to creating chaotic projects. After many years of disappointing results, I've finally learned how to minimize going overboard on my embroidery projects.

First, I print out copies of designs I want to use. If you have any type of editing or viewing software for machine embroidery designs, you can do this. I lay out the item I want to decorate. Using my paper copies, I lay out the project the way I think I want it. The paper designs allow me to move them around until I'm satisfied. At this point I can also lay out any ribbons, crystals or other embellishments I may want to add. I've learned that this does not mean that I have to use it all!

I begin by stitching the most visual of the embroidery designs and then review the results. One by one, I stitch and review. If the project looks wonderful before I've finished everything, I stop! That's the secret. Less can be better, and it's up to each of us to know when enough is enough.

Welcome some fun chaos into your life, but don't let it ruin your projects!