and these were to be gifts for the family of my DIL to be! It isn't in the same spot on each bell so it must be my machine throwing off the design a bit! I am just ticked off and needed to vent!

Debra, I think you have been given good advise, so I'm just going to say. I LOVE your new avatar! LOL... Hope your bells do better. I have tried the bell ornaments here and had similar trouble, but when I washed them and let them dried I was able to sort of correct them. :)

1 comment

by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

Thank you, all I did was crop the pic in a bit closer so you can see my grouchy face better. I don't smile a lot, my eyes disappear and I don't like my teeth. Got 2 good bells and hoping this 3rd one is good too! Small wedding, won't need many.

If they are the bells I am thinking of I had the same sort of problems with the stitch-out and I gave up on them.

Before I washed out the WSS I stitched all around the area that didn't catch, using a stitch on my machine the I thought would blend in. I did this while the design was still hooped.
Hope this helps. Hugs n roses, Meganne

2 comments

by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

It looks like the bells are good till after I wash out the wss and I think extra stitches would show on these, especially since they are gifts.

by mariahail 07 Oct 2010

what I do when having a problem like that is use Fabric Fusion, it is a glue, let it dry for 24 hours and it works great.

Debra, I am so sorry you are having so much trouble - I wished I could just send you out some bells and make it right for the wedding for you - I wished I could come and sit with you and we could figure out what is going wrong here. I will be praying for you and your FSL Bells.

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by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

Thank you Shirlene, you are always there with your smile to cheer me up!

by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

Oh, it's a small wedding so I don't need too many. got 2 good ones done using 4 layers of fiber wss, ready to rinse out the 3rd. Since I have a couple of white ones that came out good that I just did for myself I may give one of those each to the flower girl and ring bearer (her niece and nephew), my older son is the best man and she has no bridesmaids cause they don't have any close friends.

I use organza in between my wss and trim cut it out or stiff netting and then if there is a slipped stitch it doesn't tend to fall apart also help with form when doing bells butterfly ect. use a lot of opalesent clear organza hope this helps

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by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

Now where was that idea when I was at the fabric store the other day? Thanks, I will remember this one!

I have done FSL designs/ornaments for a long time. When I get them from a reliable source/site, like K-lace, Dainty Stitches, etc..., their designs are so perfect that they stitch out lovely. Its a pleasure. I use Vilene, usually 2 layers, using Sulky threads and appropriate needle. I have a Brother PE-150 and this machine stitches designs out very nice. I've even had success with free designs from digitizers who offer them as trials. Really never had any problems. If the design is digitized properly for FSL and 'tested' first, you should have no problems. If you purchased the designs and have problems, I would communicate that information to the 'source' where you got them so they are aware of the problems and possibly correct them for you...........worth a try......good luck....

2 comments

by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

It was a free design, either here or DBS but I think here. Each one is coming apart in a different area though so that is why I think it is me or the machine rather than the design. Doing one now with 4 layers of fiber wss pulled tight! Wish me luck, it works or nobody at the wedding gets a bell ornament!

by shirlener88 06 Oct 2010

Oh I wish you luck dear.

It sounds like the stabilizer is shifting in the hoop, it may not be hooped tight enough. I have found I have better luck with the vilene stabilizer that looks more like cloth than I do with the clear type. Also how many are you doing in one hoop. Too many at a time can throw it off also. Hope this helps.

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by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

Seem to be hooped tight enough and only doing one at a time.

Watch as it is sewing and see if there is extra tension on the thread as it pulls off. With my Janome particularly I had huge problems similar to that till I realised that I was using cones upright and that little extra tension on the thread was enough to upset it. I myself a mini thread stand so the thread lifts off rather than pulls off an my FSL since has been perfect.

1 comment

by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

My low end Brother lays the thread on its side. Thread comes off the spool easily.

Make sure you are using enough layers of stablizer for the design and that your hoop is holding the stablizer taunt.

1 comment

by leenova54 06 Oct 2010

I am using 2 layers of the fiber type wss.