Friday, August 31, 2007


In the example above I used a floral design (Hibiscus from my Fabulous Florals and the fern from my Taste of the Tropics) to reinforce the curved front seamline in the fitted blazer. What this does is to force the eye first to the embroidered design and then the eye is drawn to follow the seam to the hem of the jacket. This is a great way to underline an important design detail and to reinforce its impact. To see how easy it is to build your own custom embroidered design using Compositions project based embroidery design software go to the demo at http://www.annthegran.com/kparsons/SWF/KP%20Compositions%20Web%20Final.html

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Thursday, August 30, 2007


Try creating an inverted triangular design and place it at the waistline to create the illusion of a much slimmer sillouette. You will be pleasantly surprised how flattering this can look on just about anybody.

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Monday, August 27, 2007


Although Summer is coming to an end the grilling season goes on long into the Fall. To keep the grime off of you clothing a barbeque apron comes in very handy. To easily and quickly create this custom apron design I combined the delicious apples from my "Perfect Produce" collection with a fifties style boomerang motif and then I added the lettering Delicious and I used the translation function to change the lettering form English to French. The result is a fun design which takes the apron from funtional to fabulous.

Friday, August 24, 2007


There is nothing wrong with using the same design within multiple locations on a garment. In the example above I used two coordinating floral borders from my "Dress Up Your Designs" collection and by copying, reversing and rotating them, created a very rhythmic larger border design. I then used that same design on both the side of the trousers and the alternate side of the jacket. Even though the placements on both the jacket and the trousers are both very vertical, because the are placed on opposite sides of the two garment pieces, they create the illusion of a diagonal design. This can have a very pleasing and slimming effect. When you are embroidering on different coordinating garment pieces make sure that you take into consideration how the two embroidery designs and placements will work together to create a pleasing whole. I used Compositions project based embroidery design software to create this design because it is the only software program available that allows you to plan out your design on the actual garment. At a price of only $164.99 it is an affordable add on the your suite of embroidery software. To order the software so that you too can quickly and easily acheive perfect placement and proportion every time go to http://www.annthegran.com/kenparsons_index.html

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Thursday, August 23, 2007


You might find that when you are starting a project in Compositions embroidery software that after you choose the fabric, machine format and garment pattern, the pattern is not available in your size. This is easily remedied. Just choose the pattern size closest to the size you require. Once you choose the size the pattern, the pattern pieces will appear on the screen with a sizing window on the right. Choose the pattern pieces one at a time and in the Sizing window either add or subtract (depending on the size you need, 1 inch in width and .5 inches in height for each size increment you wish to go up or subtract the same amount for each size you wish to go down. For example if you choose size 16 and the size you need is 22 then add 3 inches to the width and 1.5 inches to the height. Following these steps you will be able to make sure the proportions of you design are perfect for the garment upon which you are placing it. To see the full range of features that are standard in Compositions project based embroidery design software go to the demo at http://www.annthegran.com/kparsons/SWF/KP%20Compositions%20Web%20Final.html

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007


When we design embroidery for children we often take a whimsical approach, choosing cartoony designs and primary colors. But you are not limited to that mode of thinking, more traditional types of embroidery can be just as effective and much more subtle and visually pleasing. Traditionally children's embroidery was just a scaled down version of adult embroidery. Why not try a more taditional design scheme the next time you consider children's project. In the example above I combined designs from my "Fantastic Flora" collection and then chose a monochrome color pallet. An even more subtle effect could have been achieved with a tone on tone color scheme. To see the entire colection go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007


One factor that is surely going to affect the quality of the embroidery you create is your choice of needle. If you use a sharp point on a knit you will cut the yarn and cause the knit to run and unravel. If you use a ball point needle on wovens you will not acheive a clean, crisp edge to your column stitches and if the fabric is thick enough you could actually break the needle. When you start creating a design within Compositions project based embroidery design software you are prompted to choose the type of fabric you will be embroiderering on and based upon that fabric it will tell you what type of needle and what size you should use, along with the backing and topping and anything else you need to know about embroidering on that fabric. to see how this works go to the full demo at http://www.annthegran.com/kparsons/SWF/KP%20Compositions%20Web%20Final.html

Monday, August 20, 2007


My most popular design collection over the past few weeks has been the butterflies entitled "All Aflutter". So I thought that I would combine 4 different butterflies in a simple asymmetrical neckline design. I used the larger butterfly in its orginal size and re-sized the others to make them fit into the design but maintain less prominence than the blue butterfly in the center. To see the entire 'All Aflutter" collection go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

Friday, August 17, 2007


I talk alot about color and proportion and combining designs with lettering and creating an oveall negative space for the final design that incorportates a shape which relates to a specific area of the garment. Well, it is not alway so complex. Sometimes it is just all about placement. In the design above I simply placed the Tattoo design from my "It's a Boy's Life" collection" on the sleeve of a t-shirt. The resulting project makes a simple and very now back to school staple, that every teen and t'ween will appreciate. To see the entire colllection go to www.kenparsonsdeigns.com

Thursday, August 16, 2007


When you are using traditional embroidery design software you are designing embroidery in a computer screen window. This tends to make you plan out your designs in one placement and limits your concept of exactly how that design is going to work on the finished product. When you are designing within Compositions project based embroidery design software you are actually not only designing the embroidery but you are also deciding on the placement, seeing how the thread colors are going to react to the base fabric color, and evaluating the proportions of the design and how the finished prduct looks as a whole. Because you can do all of these things simultaiously you not only save time by avoiding trial and error, but you can also try out some non-traditional placement options. The most overloked part of most garments is the back. I think it's a mistake to assume just because we can't see our backs that no one else can. A garment should be designed like a sculpture to be appealing from all angles. So as with the design above, try designing an embroidered garment and not just a piece of embroidery. Treat each project as a whole and you will end up with a more apppealing and cohesive end product. To see how Compositions helps you to do this please vist my website at www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007


I have spoken about this before but I feel it bears repeating, as I think this idea is terribly underutilized in embroidery design. Lettering is more than just a detail of your design because inherent to its nature it means something by itself. It is a great way of underlining the message of a particular design. In addition to that each language has its own unique personality. When you combine lettering in various different languages with images, you have the ingredients for a very rich and multi-layered design.

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Tuesday, August 14, 2007


To create this asymmetrical poker design I merely combined three copies of the suits design from my "It's a Boy's Life". After I combined them vertically I flipped the center design to give it a better flow and then used the align tool to make sure they were placed evenly. What's more cool for back to school than this Texas Hold'em design.To see the entire design collection go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

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Monday, August 13, 2007


To create a quick and easy golf towel design all I did was to combine the Laurel leaves and antique golf clubs from my "Create A Create A Crest" collection with the lettering "Cresthollow Golf Course". Instead of doing the lettering in two sections, I just put spaces between the first word and the second two, so that I didn't have to line then up. To see the entire Create A Crest collection go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

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Friday, August 03, 2007


One of the great aspects of embroidery is that a little bit of embroidery goes a long way. Using embroidery as an accent as I have on the kitchen curtain in the design above, gives you a great and powerful look without having to cover the entire curtain with stitching. When planing out your next home decor embroidery project see how you can pare down your design to get the maximum appeal with a minimum of stitches.

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Thursday, August 02, 2007


One of the most powerful tools that you have at your disposal when you are designing embridery is your control of the direction of the stitches within the design. By changing the direction of the stiches you can create a separation between the different elements within your design. In the example above this is even more important because even though all of the separate flowers that make up the Hydrangea are the same color they have to appear both as separate flowers and as a hole to look like a Hydrangea. The whole look is created by keeping the colors uniform, the seperate flowers are achieved by changing the direction of the stitches, so the stitching in the individual flowers are generated outwards from the center of the flowers. This makes each flower look three-dimensional and unique. When you are planning out the stitch direction for your next design consider this simple rule, parallel stitches will blend together, perpendicular stitches will separate. Good luck.

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007


Often when we are designing embroidery we forget that it is not possible in embroidery to faithfuly render an image diectly into embroidery. The main reason for this is that embroidery thread has a specific width and that width is the thinnest line you can make. If you place too much detail in your design the details tend to blend into each other and you not only loose definition but you will also cause thread breaks. When I am planning out a design I try to use a medium with the same width as the thread that I will be embroidering with, this allows me to figure out what degree of detail I can add or must simplify and elliminate. In the example above (the unicorn from my "Flash and Fantasy" collection) you can see how I used running stitches to define the major details of the design and then used large simplified fill areas to create volume and three dimensinality. This technique also gives you more flexibility when you want to re-size your design either larger or smaller. Remember, when you start your designs, to think about them in the final size of the embroidery and make sure the degree of complexity of the design is not going to compromise the end result. To see the entire collection go to my website www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

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