Breencation Sewing

 

Napkins for grandma and grandpa

     This year for Breencation, I decided to make napkins for everyone.  When we take these family vacations, we stay at Wyndham Resorts and the units have full kitchens.  This allows us to eat most of our meals in and save a ton of money.  We were always using lots of paper towels as napkins and I just didn't like wasting them.

Spacing of the letters is off

     I bought red fingertip towels to embroider.  I chose red to match the red t-shirts I made the grandkids for their birthdays.  In my software, I typed out 'Breencation' and arranged it vertically.  After I stitched the first one, I saw that the T and the I were too close. In the software, I adjusted the spacing.  I did all the Breencation stitching first and then I added the names.

Hooped for the name embroidery

     I again did all the names in the software, I did have to narrow 'grandma' to fit in the 4 x 4 hoop but otherwise no adjustments were needed.  I centered the name on the bottom of the towel between the center fold of the towel and the word Breencation.  I used sticky paper to hoop the towels as I was embroidering close to the edges. This also made placement super easy.

Close-up of the hooped towel

       The pin I used to mark the center spot was placed at the little arrow on the hoop and the bottom edge I placed at a line.  This line was found by placing the hoop on my cutting table and lining up the arrows with the lines on the table.  Then the edge of the towel was placed on the line I could see through the sticky paper.  Then on the embroidery machine I moved the design up from center slightly, the same amount each name.  This kept the names straight and all in the same place.

Hoop after stitching the names

     Each time I hooped a napkin, I only had to cut a small piece of sticky paper to patch the hole.  I also placed a dissolvable film on top to keep the loops of the towel down while stitching.  The napkins were a hit and we will use them again next Breencation.