Tag: embroidery

bookmark_borderKaminari Kataginu

Posted on by Elliott Evans

Recent experiments applying the mon of Clan Yama Kaminari to fabric have demonstrated to me that I am most happy with machine embroidered versions. They are durable, attractive, and can be made by a robot. This last is handiest because I want to embark on a project to make probably several dozen of these so that when we do something like march in a festival parade or rocess into court as a group, we can have a uniform look. Here are two prototypes I made over the last few days.

Embroidered Kaminari Kataginu

Even with a robot to do all of the embellishment work, it’s still labor intensive to get the fabric loaded onto the machine just right to get good results exactly where you want them. It also takes about ten minutes to complete each mon, so that’s going to be a lot of time if we make a whole bunch of these.

bookmark_borderÆthelmearc Orders Belt Favors

Posted on by Elliott Evans

When you are recognized for your achievements in the SCA, you are typically inducted into an order, and you receive both a scroll and a piece of regalia. Usually, the regalia is a medallion or belt favor that displays the heraldry of the order. Making belt favors is one of the main uses to which I put my embroidery machine. I’ve designed stitch patterns for most of the kingdom orders, and try to set aside some time and resources each year to make some for donation.

Millrind, Sycamore (2), Alce, Gage, Keystone, and Fleur

New for this batch is the Gage. The symbol of this order is actually a black glove, and the regalia given is often an actual glove, but I figured someone might prefer a belt favor.

bookmark_borderAction Embroidery

Posted on by Elliott Evans
  1. Download the bitmap image that contains the part you want as embroidery.
  2. Crop and edit the bitmap image to isolate the part that you want.
  3. Simplify the color palette in the bitmap image to decrease thread changes.
  4. Convert the bitmap image to a vector format.
  5. Simplify the vector image to reduce the number of shapes and decrease shape complexity.
  6. Export the vector image to a common format.
  7. Import the common vector format into the digitizing software.
  8. Generate stitch patterns for vector shapes.
  9. Save resulting embroidery file.
  10. Copy the embroidery file to the thumb drive.
  11. Set up the embroidery machine and insert the thumb drive.
  12. Hoop fabric and mount hoop on embroidery machine.
  13. Load embroidery file and first color of thread.
  14. Press the “START/STOP” button.
  15. Wait, change thread colors when the machine asks you to, resolve any mechanical problems that occur.
  16. Try to fix problems with the physical expression of the embroidery pattern.
  17. Curse everything, and the horse it rode in on.
  18. Take a picture of the resulting embroidery.
    Bob the Angry Flower
  19. Post about it to your blog.