Edge lace for my sleeves - I did this on my embroidery machine,...

[momijizukamori]

Edge lace for my sleeves - I did this on my embroidery machine, on a poly organza with heavy wash-away stabilizer, and then cut the diamonds out and hand-sewed them on.

After much experimenting, the tricks to using metallic thread without it snapping are to keep tension super-low, let the thread spool out from far away (I have it in a mug about a foot away), and don’t make your stitches too dense.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Ooo, embroidery machine? I have a vague interest in one for my hackerspace because of reasons.

[momijizukamori]

Well, combo embroidery-sewing machine, but the embroidery part is what I got it for, ha. It's a Brother SE-400 - pretty much the cheapest embroidery machine you can get (I paid like $300 on Amazon, iirc?), but it works decently. The biggest downside is that it's only got a 4"x4" embroidery area, but more space sends the price up pretty fast.

[azurelunatic]

That might actually be sufficient for what I have in mind!

My goddaughter reblogged this really lovely thing consisting of several scraps of elastic held together by embroidered flowers, and I immediately saw potential for DIY with some embroidered flowers a little more thematically appropriate to the intended use of the garment. Only problem: it's highly unlikely that I'd find such flowers around for cheap-ish, which means it's time to see if the hackerspace needs an embroidery machine.

[momijizukamori]

Actually, I know some Taobao sellers that have embroidered applique patches and stuff for pretty cheap, though shipping might be slow. It doesn't give you the flexibility designing your own does though, it's true.