April 2007 marks the Third Anniversary of our web site and we would like you to help us celebrate. Our month long celebration starts today and includes an exciting Sweepstakes with lots of great prizes to give away to ten lucky winners. You could be one of them, so be sure to enter.

But that's not all. In addition to our Sweepstakes we'll be having many advertised and unadvertised specials throughout the entire month of April. Be sure to visit our web site often to take advantage of these savings.

Visit our 3rd Anniversary Embroidery Sweepstakes page for complete details on all the fantastic prizes we will be giving away and to learn how to enter.

The fun begins today and we're kicking things off with some great new design releases.

This set is our granddaughter's favorite. She just loved them and wanted us to embroider one on every thing she owned. Not only that, but our cats gave them their paw of approval too. Playing with our test sew outs seemed to be such great fun.

Included are 8 unique designs for the 4 x 4 hoop.

Special Introductory Price. Save 50%

Enter the Rockin' Horse stable here...

It might get a little tougher finding a place to purchase fabric. Hancock Fabrics has publically announced the closing of 134 stores nationwide. The company currently owns and operates 403 stores in 40 states. They have also filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

No word yet on the location of the stores targeted for closure, but the company has indicated they will be underachievers. Liquidation of inventory will take place over the next few months so there may be some real bargins on tap for those that live near these stores.

It's unfortunate to see this happen as large fabric stores are few and far between in many areas. If Wal-Mart follows through with their plan to close the fabric department in many of their stores, where will you go to buy fabric? Unless you have another large fabric store in your neighborhood, such as Jo-Ann Fabric, your only choice might be a limited selection at your local sewing machine dealer or online.

Beautiful tropical fish designs in redwork. Perfect for quilt blocks or any project designed to please the fish lovers in your life.

Complete set of ten (10) unique designs in two sizes for the 4x4 and 5x7 hoops.
A total of twenty (20) designs in all.

Special Introductory Price - Save 50%!

Take me diving in the tropics...

Those of you new to machine embroidery may find it difficult determining the correct stablizer to use for your projects. Here is a basic guide that might help get you on the right track.

To keep things really simple let's start with just the three basic types of stabilizer - Cut-Away, Tear-Away and Wash-Away. There are many variations of each, but generally speaking all stablizer falls into one of these three main catagories.

Cut-Away stabilizer is your best choice for knit fabrics. This fabric is often very loosely knit and quite stretchy in at least one direction. It is important that the stabilizer remain with the garment throughout its life to support the stitching. Without it the stitches will come loose and unravel after repeated washings.

Tear-Away is a good choice for woven or non-woven fabrics. These fabrics are fairly stable in their own right and are not overly stretchy. After the design is complete, the fabric itself is quite capable of supporting the stitching when washed.

Wash-Away stabilizer is also a good choice for woven type fabrics. Usually the bulk of it tears away once the embroidery has been completed and the remainder disolves completely after several washings. There may be occasions where you do not want any remnants of stabilizer to remain on the back side of a design. Some of these stabilizers are labeled as both Tear-Away/Wash-Away.

Another type of Wash-Away, such as Solvy, is designed to be used as a topping. It is an excellent choice when embroidering on high nap fabrics. The fibers are held down by the topping while the embroidery is being applied. Once complete the topping is easily removed with a light mist of water. Any remainder will completely dissolve when washed. Terry cloth towels are a perfect example of this use.

There are many brands and types of stabilizer to choose from, but choosing the right stabilizer isn't as daunting as it may seem. Following these basic rules should allow you to achieve success in each and every one of your embroidery projects.

Our thanks to Jackie P. for submitting this helpful embroidery tip:

Purchase a new toilet bowl brush for your sewing room. When finished sewing for the day, take a quick swipe with the brush and pick up loose threads. No more turning your vacumn upside down to remove those threads that have twisted around the beater bar.

Want to win FREE designs? Submit your tip or trick to us. If we publish your tip you will win your choice of any design or design set we offer for sale on our web site.

• International Quilt Festival - April 13-15 Rosemont, IL
• Crazy Quilter's 20th Annual Quilt Show - April 14-15 Mukwonago, WI
• Creative Embroidery Conference - April 16-18 Las Vegas, NV
• Original Sewing & Quilt Expo - April 19-21 Worcester, MA
• Central Illinois/Peoria American Sewing Guild Chapter trunk show - April 27 Normal, IL

In every embroidery design, density does matter. Unless you want to create the infamous “bullet-proof” design, it is important to pay attention to this very important detail.

The effect you are seeking and the type of fabric you are creating the design for are important factors, but the first thing you must understand is “What do those numbers mean?” If the density of a section you are working on is set to 0.45, you should know how that number relates to the stitches you are creating.

Quite simply, the number “0.45” represents a distance in millimeters between each stitch. In other words, a density of 0.45 spaces each stitch 0.45mm apart. Increasing the number to 0.50 would increase the distance between your stitches to 0.50mm. A density of 1.00 would space them 1mm apart and so on.

Increasing or decreasing the density changes the total number of stitches accordingly by placing them farther apart or closer together. Higher density means more stitches, while lowering the density means less.

Most digitizing software has a default setting for density that can be changed to suit your needs. If you digitize designs almost exclusively for the same type fabric you can change the defaults to match. Otherwise you can change them on a design by design basis.

Here is a brand new set of Whimsical Hot Air Balloons we released last week. This fun set includes 7 unique designs for the 4 x 4 hoop.

Take to the skies here...

Two beautiful Deco Ornaments that we're sure you will find many uses for. Included are both full color and redwork versions of each design. All sew in the the 4x4 hoop. Please enjoy them with our compliments.

Available to subscribers only. Not available through the Archives.

Not a subscriber? Sign up here to receive all our FREE designs.