© Ray_chel
There are a few very simple requirements you’d need of your machine but we’ll explain what those are, how to get started and show you one very, inspiring video.
Have you ever seen a little girl’s dress collar embossed with a scallop stitch in a contrasting color, flowers stitched haphazardly as if dancing at the hem of a skirt, or a special emblem stitched onto a shirt pocket?
Expensive embroidery machines can do anything from completing a piece of patterned embroidery work to converting your own clip art and family photos into your own embroidery patterns.
A beginner, however, may think these machines are out of their price range. They might find that spending that amount of money if they’re not sure they’ll even be interested in machine embroidery is just too much to consider at this stage. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use your own sewing machine to do a bit of free motion work for adding flair and customization to your own projects.
What is Free Motion Embroidery Sewing?
Free motion embroidery sewing is a form of art used to decorate a piece of fabric with color and/or design. Instead of using the machine’s traditional objective of joining two pieces of fabric, the needle and thread are applied to a single ply of material with the sole purpose of creating something unique or interesting that resembles hand-done embroidery.
How to Do Free Motion Embroidery Sewing
This video provides a great overview of how to use a basic sewing machine to do free motion embroidery. As you can see, the woman has removed the extension table of her sewing machine and is operating in free-arm mode. She has dropped the feed dogs on her machine so that she controls where the fabric moves and where the stitches go next. The fabric is enclosed in a standard embroidery hoop so she can more easily guide the design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj9LkDkI538
Sewing Machine Requirements
You don’t need an expensive embroidery machine to get started. Some decorative stitches, like satin stitch, flowers, vines, or stars are helpful but even those are not necessary. As you saw in the video above, only a straight stitch was used to complete the design. However, it is important that your sewing machine have an option that allows you to drop the feed dogs or cover them with a cover or darning plate, like the Singer Confidence 7467 (read more here/a>).
For inspiration, take a look at this video:
The artist is a young man in the US who makes and sells patches made with free motion embroidery sewing. He’s phenomenal! His website, PNosa, shows where he’ll be on display next (as well as an overview of his other artistic talents). You have to admire people who take something so seemingly impossible and make it look so darn, easy.
Hi, this is sewing Artist, Paul Nosa.
I believe at one point, you wrote a post about my sewing:
Thank you, I appreciate the exposure.
I’m wondering if it’s possible for another opportunity to be on your site?
I am preparing for a National 2012 Sewing Tour using Kickstarter.com:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1917578351/sewing-tour-2012
The tour is about facilitating people’s creativity through sewing and showing them how to make their own alternative energy sources.
Thank you,
Paul Nosa
Paul – I think you’re PHENOMENAL! I do remember sharing a link to one of your videos awhile ago. Hard to forget that kind of talent. 😉 Your sewing tour is such a great idea and I hope you meet your goal! I just noticed that a pledge to your project gets a patch from you and that’s too good to pass up.
EVERYONE – if you get a chance, visit Paul’s link and see the video. He free-forms art on his sewing machine and can do the most detailed work without even an outline. It’s amazing to watch. If you find it in your heart to support his project, even better!
Sincerely,
Erin