Hi everyone,

I have been spending some time with my machine trying to come up with sets of stitches for planned projects.  So today I was actually surprised at how interesting my results were when I used different thread weights and made multiple passes of different stitches.  In the picture below I used Wonderfil’s wool/acrylic blend thread and mostly the default settings.  It is a 12 wt thread and requires using a large eyed needle and slowing way down. Here I was using a Superior 90/14 topstitch needle, default settings, and sewed slowly.  I was really happy with the results.  These could look great in the right places, such as a crazy quilt, or a piece of a block or on a shirt.

These are multiple passes of different decorative stitches on my Bernina 880 plus.  The one on the bottom is my favorite where I stitched one pass of stitch number 372 and then reversed it and stitched a partial second pass carefully matching the starting point. SO if your machine doesn’t have really wide decorative stitches, or even if it does, you can try multiple passes worked together and come out with some rather fantastic looks.

This sample shows the really wide stitches that engage the multi-directional function on my machine.  It is amazing how it stitches. I found I only have to make sure the fabric runs through the stitching parallel to the foot at all times.  It’s kind of like a wild dance with your machine.  If you have this function on your machine, I encourage you to give it a try just for the sheer fun of it.

Super wide stitches=wild ride while stitching…just keep it straight and let the machine foot dance.

Here are a few more stitches of the many many on the machine.  I do have a couple of projects I will be using some of these stitches, but it is nice to have these reference sheets.  I won’t stitch them all…there are just too many, but I am selecting the ones I wanted to see stitched out.

This is not a real clear pic, but the stitches are really fun. Stitched with 40 weight polyester thread.

Sew I am looking forward to the projects I am planning to use some of these decorative stitches on.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio and give the decorative stitches a whirl.