I was showing my big sister how to use the MC11000SE machine yesterday and she asked what people used the built in stitches for. I must admit that I have used very few.
Today I had a look through those on my new MC15000 and discovered washing instruction symbols which could be useful, but also lots of decorative ones. I stitched a row of the little sheep on a length of cotton tape. My daughter customises hoodies by replacing the binding covering the seam around the neckline with something more interesting. As she is a sheep fan, this should be just right!
What do the rest of you use these stitches for?
The front is patchwork with an embroidery design in the centre.
I used the alphabets to label the tShirts in our house as four adults wearing two sizes of clothes tended to become confusing at folding time. My tShirts had a pretty bow or something on the neckline while the fellas had their names stitched on the hem line in a matching colour thread. You had to feel for the name before you could read it (as they blended n well) that was so that it wouldn't embarrass the young ones when out with their friends.
They are also great if you are making anything in the style of Crazy Patchwork.
Twin needling with some of them looks good too. The computer in the machine takes all the 'guesswork' out of doing that. As you may gather, I have been doing that for over 30 years and have broken a few needles when using the 'wrong' stitch for twin needles on my older mechanical machine. Now, the computer just adjusts the stitch!