Sew What? with Karen Charles: Design Positioning Part 2

I was lucky enough to get to the AQS quilt show in Syracuse, NY!  A great show to see and lots of inspiration! I hope, if you live in the area, you had a chance to stop by.
If you read the last blog, you saw how I created a continuous embroidey using design positioning.  The DESIGNER EPIC™, DESIGNER DIAMOND Royale™, and DESIGNER RUBY Royale™ have full design positioning. Even the DESIGNER TOPAZ™ 50 has basic design positioning that allows you to do everything I showed in the last video. 

By the time I finished stitching the 8 repeats, I noticed a few ways to make the process even easier. To see what I mean, open the design in the Premier+™ Extra software.  Taking a close look at the design, you will notice the bottom part of the original design (1^st picture below) forms the center of the whole larger design, which was the most crucial part to line up when you were stitching it. 
Cut the lower part of the design away and open a new window and paste it. If you open up encore and add 8 repeats, you can recreate the center of the larger design (2^nd picture below). This is the hardest part to line up when embroidering.  By grouping it together and stitching it out first in the center of your fabric, it makes the rest of the design (3^rd picture) much easier to stitch out after.  

 
The rest of the deisgn can be simplified too.   Originally, the pinwheels were split in half and completed by perfectly lining them up as you rotated and stitched design after design. If you create two separate designs from what is left - one with pinwheels and one without - you can avoid having to line up the pinwheel halves.
So that one design became 2, as shown below, one with the pinwheel and one without.
 
To embroider this quilt using your new designs, first stitch out the center circle design. Then stitch the design horizonally and vertically with pinwheel (1^st picture below).  Finally, stitch the design with no pinwheels (2^nd picture below) on the diagonal.

Planning the layout in Premier+™ Extra before starting to stitch will save you time and energy.  No major areas need to be lined up perfectly, so it is much easier to re-hoop and continue stitching!  When all the designs are embroidered, you end up with a beautiful and very intricate-looking embroidery.  Only you will know how easy it really was!


Karen Charles