Tips and Techniques

Doodle Threads patterns are tried and tested by a dedicated bank of testers, with a huge range of experiences.

You can rest assured that when you buy a pattern from us, it will have been tested by people with many years of experience, and will also have been tested by people that are new to machine embroidery. We use testers with different experiences so that we can better understand how our patterns will work for new and experienced stitchers that buy our machine embroidery patterns.

With that in mind, we understand that when buying a pattern, you will expect the pattern to stitch out perfectly.

We also understand, that when a pattern doesn’t quite work out on the first stitch, you may think there is something wrong with the pattern.

Machine embroidery takes practice, lots of practice.

Hooping

Hooping is one of the most common problems with machine embroidery – particularly for beginners.

Here is one technique that might be useful. After you have hooped your design, slide pins into the fabric but over the inner and outer hoops. This stops the fabric from sliding between the two hoops with then machine needle pierces the fabric. This is useful to stop puckering. With a bit of practice, you can eliminate puckering altogether, giving a much more confident stitch out.

It also helps with gapping, which is one of the most frustrating things when you are stitching out a lovely design.