Machine Embroidery Goals for 2018

As I started thinking about New Year’s Resolutions, I was challenged to think of some embroidery “resolutions” — though I would be more inclined to call them goals — for 2018. It was an interesting thought experiement; does one really have goals for embroidery projects? I don’t generally think of embroidery in those terms. But once I challenged myself to think about it, I did come up with some!

First of all, I like to challenge myself. About a year ago, I tried to embroider velvet and it went very badly. I tried again recently, better prepared with some advice from contributor Katrina Walker, and I succeeded in making an embroidered garment that I am quite proud of. So, this year I would like to push myself farther in embroidering on different and more difficult fabrics. I recently received some Kraft-Tex paper fabric, which I’m anxious to play with, and I was given some beautiful cork fabric for Christmas. I’d like to try embroidering on both of those. If I’m very brave, I may even try out the technique from the Jan/Feb 2018 issue — embroidering on sequins.

I, like many embroiderers, have a digital “stash” of embroidery designs that I’ve purchased or downloaded for free that I’ve never found a use for. Or I have an idea/plan, and I’ve never implemented it. I’d like to follow through on those plans and/or find a way to use some of those designs.

I’ve also been playing with the idea of making a small embroidered quilted object — probably a wall hanging  rather than an actual quilt, which I don’t have the patience for. I think conceiving a full-fledged plan for this project and following through is a reasonable goal.

So there you have it! Those are my embroidery resolutions for 2018. I think they’re sufficiently challenging without going above and beyond what I can realistically do (keeping in mind that a lot of the embroidery I’ll do over the year will be for my job and fall outside my ability to choose for myself what I’m working on).

How about you? Do you have New Year’s Embroidery Resolutions?

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