Mistakes

[rodneytb]

What is the biggest mistake you have made in embroidering and what would you do to prevent it?

[Honeybee]

Stuck my finger too near the needle, trying to clip jump threads.....need I say more. The needle went through my finger

[Honeybee]

And there was the time that I embroidered the shirt backwards

[ShirleyC]

How about turning my back to the emb. machine while a Dolly Mama was stitching not realizing the hoop was bumping my chair and it threw the whole thing out of line. I had to start over. What a mess!!

[rodneytb]

I have a drawer full of mistakes:
crooked designs
used wrong stabilizer
forgot to use topper
did I say crooked designs?

[SewAddicted]

My biggest mistakes resulted because I became too confident and walked away from my machine. This resulted in the extra material falling into the stitch field totally ruining the item. Of course I didn't learn the first time this happened to me. I had to try it a second time! :mad:
Pam

[rosebud314]

There are way to many to count:eek:

[Honeybee]

Crooked designs, I think we all do that

[momma4anna]

Okay, I have also done the needle thru my finger thing. Yow, that hurt, did not even know it was possible until I did it. I have to say my worst mistake was when I was doing a design on my dad's new winter coat and did not get the back side completely out of the way and stiched it together. Almost ruined the whole thing, but the patience of my mom and sister saved the day. They tore out all 19,000 stitches. Man I love those women!

[crumbear]

My worst was a combination of designs that had lettering on a small part of it. I sent the design to the machine and didn't realize I had accidentally mirror imaged the design. It got almost all the way stitched out before I realized the lettering was backwards. I was so mad at myself! That was 2 years ago, and I'm STILL taking stitches out! I only have about 1,000 more out of the original 100,000 stitches. The funny thing is, a customer of mine came in the other day with Peggy's Stitch Eraser and she let me borrow it. Now where was THAT 2 years ago? Lol!!

[clae]

Leaving the machine for just a second and then return to see that the machine had eat my item.. I have learned that my machine is like a little child "Never turn your back for a second"....

[sewamy]

Oooo, I am sorry that all those things have happened. It makes me feel better that I am not the only one that these crazy things happen to. I thought I was. ;)

[rodneytb]

Another mistake I made:
I embroidered a cuff on a baby hat with the baby's name and a little train. I finished it and folded the cuff up--I had done it upside down! I kept it as a reminder.

[MackandMorgan's Mom]

I always worry about lining things up right....My biggest hang up was popping the hoop on a burp cloth..I ruined 3 on one person!!

[MackandMorgan's Mom]

BOY YOU GOT THAT RIGHT! I made the mistake of having my infant at my feet playing. When I bent down to pick her up...there went the whole project...I think the machines can sense it!

[T-Bags & Rags]

Don't you love realizing that the center of the shirt isn't always the "center"!

[T-Bags & Rags]

I have a number of shirts that are now dust rags because they are way out of line!

[rodneytb]

Another mistake:
I center the design in my software and then stitch it. Then I realize that the little "tail" or whatever that sticks out to the side of the design causes it to center where it looks like it is off-center. Don't know if I am explaining this properly.

[T-Bags & Rags]

Another mistake:
I center the design in my software and then stitch it. Then I realize that the little "tail" or whatever that sticks out to the side of the design causes it to center where it looks like it is off-center. Don't know if I am explaining this properly.

No. That makes sense. Sometimes you have to go against the software and use your eye to make it look more centered.

[dana]

I am glad to know others struggle with mistakes. I have sewn arms of shirts to the embroidery pattern. That is only one example from a line of mistakes. I have torn out more threads than I care to think of, and ruined more things than I wish I had.

Does anyone get past the fear of messing up a project that someone has asked you to do on their clothing? I have declined any requests until I get more experience.

[T-Bags & Rags]

I think having a reliable seam ripper is a great way to alleviate some of the fear! A positive attitude helps a lot too!

[sew blessed]

I'm still pretty new at this, but my mom has been doing it for a long time. My worst mistake was not knowing what cap to put on the spool of thread, my machine kept eating things up. I thought the tension was off, but it turns out I just needed to use the special spool cap. I have a brother 270-D and I like to use the poly-x 40 I buy at kens sew for $2, the thread is excellent and an excellent price, but of course brother wants to sell their own thread, so they don't tell you what brands fit the cartridge or the spool pin.

[sew blessed]

My worst was a combination of designs that had lettering on a small part of it. I sent the design to the machine and didn't realize I had accidentally mirror imaged the design. It got almost all the way stitched out before I realized the lettering was backwards. I was so mad at myself! That was 2 years ago, and I'm STILL taking stitches out! I only have about 1,000 more out of the original 100,000 stitches. The funny thing is, a customer of mine came in the other day with Peggy's Stitch Eraser and she let me borrow it. Now where was THAT 2 years ago? Lol!!

What is Peggy's Stitch Eraser, and where do I find it?

[T-Bags & Rags]

Here's the link for Peggy's Stitch Eraser.

http://www.peggysstitcheraser.com/products.html

[marilynd]

I have had my machine catch my finger and go right through. I had to scramble to turn off the machine. LET me tell you- they do NOT turn off when this happens. Oh was it awful!

[T-Bags & Rags]

Fortunately, I havent's had the needle go all the way through my finger...yet. It did however, go through the bed of my fingernail! Ouch!

[deesmom]

I spelled a name wrong on an item for a customer once. I kept thinking the whole time, "boy, she spells that differently", lol.

[pcsews]

I made some cute little totes/purses for a school carnival. There are five elementary schools in our district, one middle, and one high school. I mistakenly spelled the name of the school wrong that was hosting the carnival. No body even told me until it was almost over!! I thought for sure those boogers would have sold....they probably would have if they were spelled right!! I still have a couple of them. I was able to take off the missing letter on a few and correct it. Talk about a DUH moment!!!:eek:

[Luciana]

Sometimes it happens to me, the best way is take a look while the machine is working so you can correct the mistakes, sometimes I memorize the design , switch off the machine and start frm where I was.
Luciana

[MackandMorgan's Mom]

It didn't happen to me but a friend of mine broke a needle and it flew into her eye. I had to get it out for her with a cup of water and her leaning over the sink. Kinda scary...but we laugh about it now! Guess it doesn't count as a mistake on fabric....but it sure was a sight!

[rubiesnana]

My biggest mistake was sewing my finger when i had foot off trying to sew beads on.

[sewsigns]

Not paying attention...embroidered the design upside down on a bag.

[fickle dilly days]

I've read through these posts...all very good things to keep in mind. Thanks for letting others learn from your mistakes.

[Dana66P]

All of the above...
Dana

[Dana66P]

ALL of the above...never look away...
Dana

[Crafty Connie]

I new at this embroidery stuff and I've already made a few mistakes! fun2sew told me that if it's something no one else will notice, (like a name spelled wrong) keep it for a sample to put on display and show others your beautiful work! :D

[StitchinGrandma]

I'm saving all my messes so one day I can make a laptop quilt(hopefully I won't have more than something that size would need LOL) I think when I have that many and make the quilt that my center square will have a humorous saying about my screwups or something. I haven't come up with the exact thing yet but thought it would be a cute idea.

[Sew 'N Sane]

It's so nice to know that I'm not alone in my screw ups! :p

One of my funniest mistakes was when I was making a shirt out some fabric I got in my sewing guild's "ugly fabric" contest. I ended up with a slinky double knit polyester that was so terrible that the person who brought it included a note of apology. :eek:

Anyway, after I finally decided to make a shirt, I thought it would be fun to embroider something on the front. It wasn't until I went to un-hoop the shirt that I realized that I had embroidered part of the back into the design. :embarassed:

The whole group got a big kick out of that one. :D

[StitchinGrandma]

Anyway, after I finally decided to make a shirt, I thought it would be fun to embroider something on the front. It wasn't until I went to un-hoop the shirt that I realized that I had embroidered part of the back into the design. :embarassed:

The whole group got a big kick out of that one. :D
ROFLMAO! Too funny. I've done that one before. It's quite frustrating to get the feeling of "ahhhhhhhh all done" and then pull it off the machine and realize that you've done that. At least you had a good story for the group and they had a good laugh.