<![CDATA[JANOME Embroidery Show & Tell]]>

Raise your hand if you got excited as a kid when it was time for Show & Tell at school! I know I certainly did. I was always bringing crafts I had made: toys, special people etc. I even took our cat to school for my daughter’s show and tell day. He was not impressed. But one of the highlights for us and our children and grandchildren was sharing things important to us. Would you agree that trying something new or making something from a new pattern or technique you just learned, and then sharing it, is a highlight for us? It certainly is for me. It’s my favorite part of Education Events and shows, to share our samples. So without further ado, welcome to Janome Embroidery Show & Tell!!

Recently a brand new embroidery machine was introduced, the Janome 550E Embroidery Machine. Having a machine exclusive to embroidery is a new thing for me, so as soon as it arrived, I set to unpacking it and setting it up. Previously I was on the fence about a dedicated embroidery machine, but I am no longer there – lol. I am firmly on the ‘have two machines’ side of the fence. I absolutely love setting up a design, and then continuing on with my regular sewing while the embroidery machine is working away in my sewing room. It really does maximize my creative time, because I can sew or quilt at the same time as embroidering designs!

One of the main features of the Janome 550E is the large hoop size, 7.9″x 14.2″. It is our largest hoop available, and has a new clamping mechanism (see pic above) which I found extremely useful when making some kitchen towels with waffle fabric. It’s a little stretchy, so being able to close them half way to adjust the fabric before tightening the clamp, was awesome.

Using a water soluble stablilizer, like the Avalon Film from Madeira, made the embroidery stay on top of the towel instead of sinking in to the waffle pattern and distorting.

I love the precision of the embroidery stitches, placed exactly where they need to be with no gaps between the different colors.

Prairie Points on the bottom of the towel give it a bit of weight and decorative finish. I also used the quilt binder attachment to bind the edges.

It also includes some really beautiful scroll designs in the Wedding Designs section of the built-in designs on the Janome Mc550E. I have always wanted “show towels” for our powder room, and so I stitched one out to snap around the towel bar. (What a brillaint idea – I think I’m going to “steal” that idea from janomegirl! Ed.) I also used the built-in editing features of the machine to add our last name to the stitching.

Next up during playtime, was the adorable In-The-Hoop monster family. These were a lot of fun to make. In fact, our dog Snickers kept trying to steal them as I was sewing up the opening after stuffing them! My favorite one is the one I added hair to. Using some chenille style yarn from my craft box, I taped it down with scotch tape and then ran the placement stitch again. I did make sure to turn the speed down all the way, I didn’t want to deal with having the yarn get stuck!

Meet Snickers, our adorable small ‘horse’. This monster is her favorite!

I also added some cute felt spikes to the horizontal monster. These were placed down before the backing was added so they would stick out properly once the toy was stuffed. I think I might make some of these for the dog, out of super durable fabric like ripstop nylon or fleece. I could probably even find a squeaker out of a toy she has already played with! (So there you have pet holiday gift ideas too! Ed)

As I got to know The Janome MC550E more, I stitched out a design from each section. This way I have an example of different types of designs available to share in person when I am visiting Janome Canada Dealer stores.

Next up was the giant sashiko designs! I absolutely love how simple these designs are, but so elegant when added to a project. I stitched out two of them and made a pair of placemats, complete with a scalloped border which I found on Pinterest. I embroidered them onto the batting as well, so they have a bit of extra puff in the center.

This design looks equally as stunning stitched in one color instead of three. See my post about the poofy zip pouch here!

Who doesn’t love a cup of tea in a vintage china tea cup? This belonged to my Nana, who passed away in July. Sipping tea out of it brings back so many memories.

These placemats were edged with a scalloped border I found on Pinterest, and then top-stitched around the seam with some heavy weight thread.

Madeira has some lovely multi-colored thread available in their line up…… contact your local Janome Canada dealer for more information and to see the shades!

Did you know that you can use the Quilting Designs for more than just quilting? Check out this little zipper bag I made recently at a Janome Canada Education Event. We embroidered the snowflake on the vinyl, and then made it into a zip bag for sewing tools, or makeup brushes, or anything else!

This glitter vinyl is so easy to work with! I floated it on top of my hooped stabilizer. You could also use the Artistic Tack Temporary Adhesive spray to stick it to the stabilizer.

Last but not least, I made a really fun banner. Using Artistic Digitizer, I added some lettering to each pennant, and then used the new Convert To Floral tool to add some decorative elements to my spacer pennants. Look for a tutorial on this Convert to Floral tool – coming soon on janomelife!

I found some pom-pom trim in my stash, and used it to chain all the pennants together. The little squares are filled popcorn kernels as weights.

You can choose to have either an outline, a fill, or both when working with text in Artistic Digitizer.

An example of ‘Convert To Floral’ -part of the FREE version 1.5 update to Artistic Digitizer 1.5.

I hope you enjoyed Show & Tell, and we’d love to see what you have been making on your embroidery machines! You can always use the hashtag #janomecanada or #janomelife when posting to social media, or even tag us in the photo with @janomecanada so that we can see what you have been up to.