Floriani...The Name That Means Beautiful Embroidery!

Endless Lace Borders: Embel-laced BlouseSoftware Lesson

By Tamara Evans

Floriani...The Name That Means Beautiful Embroidery!2

Software Lesson: Embel-laced Blouse By Tamara Evans

The following instructions use the Floriani Embroidery Suite software to modify existing designs from the Floriani Signature Series: Endless Lace Borders design collection. This lesson teaches how to manipulate the size of multiple designs to a predetermined space, while retaining uniformity. Complete Parts A and B of the project lesson before beginning the software lesson.

Part A – Stitch test designs

Step 1 – Select a designSelect a lace border design in the stitch format required for your machine. Load the design into the machine.

Step 2 – Stitch the designHoop two layers of Wet N Gone stabilizer and stitch the design in the original size. All of the designs measure approximately 2” tall x 7” wide. Trim the design close to the stitching without cutting into the thread. Measure the stitched design. Lace tends to draw up a bit in the stitching process and it is important that the measurements are accurate.Save this measurement and design.

Part B – Calculate number and measurement of designs

Use the measurements for the collar, sleeves and hem determined in the project lesson along with the lace measurement in Part A of this lesson to determine the number of repeats needed for each lace border.

Step 1 – Collar designsFrom the measurement of the collar (16”), subtract as many whole sections of lace (6.75”) as possible. 16 – 6.75 – 6.75 = 2.5Divide the remainder by the number of lace sections. 2.5 / 2 = 1.25

The result is the amount of width to add to lace segments in the Part C. The collar requires two lace segments 8” wide (6.75” + 1.25”).

Step 2 – Sleeve designsIf the sleeve measures 6.75” across, double that number 15.5” to determine the total circumference of the sleeve opening. 15.5 – 6.75 – 6.75 = 0Each sleeve will require two lace segments (four total) the same size as the sample. Therefore, stitch three additional lace segments as is. (Remember to use the segment stitched as a sample since it is the perfect size.)

Step 3 – Bottom hem designsUse the same formula to determine the number of segments for the bottom hem. This hem measured 49” including the overlap on the front of the blouse. 49 – (7 * 6.75) = 1.75Add .25” (1.75/7) to each of the seven segments required for the hem.

Floriani...The Name That Means Beautiful Embroidery!3

Part C – Resize the designsNote - For best results, always use the “.c2s” format in the Floriani software whenever it is available. While the software will read and edit any other stitch format, .c2s is the native format (or native language) for all files created in Floriani software. All Floriani Signature Series designs are native .c2s files created in the Floriani software.

Step 1 – Open the designOpen the selected design in the Floriani software.

Select the entire design. Right click. Select Group.

Step 2 – CollarSelect Transform from the Properties Menu. Deselect the Maintain Aspect Ratio option. Change the width to 8.00”. Notice that the height stays at 2.00”. Select Apply to effect changes.

Right click. From the drop down menu, select Copy. Select Paste. Move the new copy of the design under the current design. Select a hoop size to fit the collar designs by selecting the hoop icon and assigning a hoop.

Select File>Save As and save the design as Collar.c2s. Again select File>Save As and this time save the file in the proper machine format for stitching. You may also save it on the appropriate machine media (disk, thumb drive, memory stick, etc.) at this time.

Step 2 – SleevesRepeat Step 1 to create a new file for the sleeves. Since the size of the design does not need to be changed, right click and select Copy. Select Paste and move the pasted design under the original. Paste again and move the pasted design under the second one. There are now three sections of lace on the screen needed to complete both sleeves.

Repeating the instructions in Step 1, assign a hoop to this selection.

Floriani...The Name That Means Beautiful Embroidery!4

Select File>Save As and save the design as Bottom1.c2s. Again select File>Save As and this time save the file in the proper machine format for stitching. You may also save it on the appropriate machine media (disk, thumb drive, memory stick, etc.) at this time. Repeat for addi-tional stitch files changing the name to Bottom2, Bottom3, etc. as needed.

Return to the Project Lesson Part C to embroider the lace and finish the project.

Select File>Save As and save the design as Sleeves.c2s. Again select File>Save As and this time save the file in the proper machine format for stitching. You may also save it on the appropriate machine media (disk, thumb drive, memory stick, etc.) at this time.

Step 3 – Bottom hemSelect Transform from the Properties Menu. Deselect the Maintain Aspect Ratio option. Change the width to 7.25”. Notice that the height stays at 2.00”. Select Apply to effect changes.

Seven lace sections are required to create the bottom border. Put as many in a hoop as will comfortably fit. Repeat the procedures in steps 1 and 2 to duplicate designs and assign hoops. Depending on the available hoop size, two or three hoopings may be required to stitch the total number of sections.

Project and step-by-step instructions created byTamara Evans for RNK Distributing.