Anita Goodesign Machine Embroidery Party

I spent the weekend at a Anita Goodesign retreat and had a blast!

Every time I go to a store and look at those super awesome embroidery machines I feel this anxiety to start my own embroidery pattern line.  It’s just such a funny world.  There are these amazing, super high tech machines which are really just big sewing computers.  And then there are hundreds of embroidery patterns that are obviously designed for the great grandmother generation, who doesn’t understand computers.  It’s a funny combination.

I get that the more financially established generation is the one who can afford those awesome machines (those things cost more than our car!  The nice ones cost more than both our cars together….). But still, it seems like someone needs to bridge the gap a little!  I’d love to get in there and add a plank or two to that bridge myself 🙂

Until I get to publishing my own stuff (anyone have a few thousand bucks lying around they’d like to donate to the cause?  Those programs are expensive!), I was excited to see a few designs at the conference that were starting to appeal to people in a  younger age group.  Hooray for that!  While I was there I had a bunch of ladies (I was at least 25 years younger than any of the other 200 ladies there) ask me which of the designs would work well as gifts for people my age.  Thank goodness there were a few I could point out!  I thought I’d do a little review of some of my favorites in case you’ve got your own embroidery machine and are wondering the same question.

First off, we’ve got monograms.  I’ve always loved monograms, I think they are the safest way to go with embroidery gifts.  It could be one letter, or all three initials.  For a younger child, you could write out a full name (just be careful to remember Stranger Danger when you do it!  I like to stick with things that will stay at home so no one can read a shirt and pretend to know the child).   The bag above was purchased, and then personalized with a monogram from their Monograms Special Edition pattern, which is full of great layouts for personalizing items.  If you’re not comfortable creating your own, this would be a great thing to have on hand.  However, if you’re ok using your software, a lot of these could be created on your own.

Staying in the monogram family, we’ve got these puffy monograms.  These would be adorable on a baby blanket, spelling out a name or birth date.  It’s made with a fuzzy fabric (like minky) with a layer of thin batting underneath to help it poof after your applique is sewn on.  (note: when embroidering fabrics with a nap like this guy, you can place a water soluble interfacing on top of everything so the fuzzies don’t get stuck in your machine’s foot)

Last of the monogram ideas are these Fashion Clutches.  This one is especially fun, because the embroidery pattern sews out the entire bag!  We didn’t sew this specific bag in class, but we did a similar one where the entire bag, including adding the zipper, was created in your embroidery hoop.  It went so fast, I just loved it!  I think these would be a great pattern to have on hand for all sorts of gifts.  For a wedding shower you could sew the bride’s new monogram and fill the bag with travel sized stuff to take on the honeymoon!  It would make a great gift for someone in the hospital, filled with treats to brighten her day.  Or you could make it in a less dressy fabric and fill it with lip gloss and a little mirror for a teenager to stick in her back pack or car.  There are a few different bags included in the pattern- I think this one would be great to have on hand.

Lace and cut edge embroidery on clothes is really big in the fashion world right now.  But you’ve got to be careful with this one to get it just right- it won’t work with just any embroidery design.  To be honest, I loved the idea of this shirt they showed, but I would have done it with just white thread (it’s a cut edge embroidery design so you’d wear a shirt underneath with it’s color poking through).  I think this would be a great project to do with a teenager who wants to learn to sew.  You could go to a nice store and check out some designer shirts (I’ve seen a lot of this kind of thing at Nordstrom)   and then you could try to recreate at it by finding a similar shirt at Target and taking it home and learning a bit of embroidery.  It’d give the teenage girl a chance to voice her opinion so you could be sure she liked the final product, and she’d be learning a great skill in the process.

Last of all, we’ve got their collection of Manly Minis.  When they first mentioned they had a disc full of designs for men I rolled my eyes.  But they proved me wrong- I think this collection is perfect for guys!  It’s full of designs that are small- all about 1″ square- and simple.  Perfect to add to a shirt pocket, robe,  handkerchief, sock or tie.  I think they’d look great over a small monogram.  And the pattern includes a ton of designs- all the sports and hobbies you can think of are represented.  Plus several professional designs representing Law or medicine, that sort of thing.  This is another one I’d love to have on hand for gifts.  Think how fun it would be to give a guy a power tie after a promotion, or interview socks for graduation, embroidered with a symbol of his chosen field.  Guys are next to impossible to sew for, and this definitely opens up lots of possibilities. (as a side note, they mentioned they’ve had enough requests for a women’s version of this set that they’ve started to make one!  I’m excited for that!)

Here they are all sewn up so you can see everything that’s included: