Creating a custom pillow that will complement any interior is quick and easy. I have chosen to add the lettering Lemon Lime in English and using the Web Translator I also translated the phrase into Spanish, Italian, and French. I placed the lettering around the main design withch consists of the Lemon and Lime from my "Fresh From the Grove" collection along with a background of an abstract 50's style boomerang. The colors in the resulting design can be changed to match the colors in any room. You of course could choose any other design as your main design, for example use Plums for a purple color palette or Apples for a red color palette. Use your imagination and create your own unique masterpiece which also serves to coordinate the various different elements and colors in the room.

It is quick and easy to create a custom crest with
Compositions project based embroidery software and my "Create A Crest" collection of designs. A crest can be more than decorative, it can include your monogram and also your favorite sport, hobby or pastime. I created the crest above by combining the chevron basic crest with the star and tennis rackets. I then added the monogram and finished it off with the crown border. To see all of the design elements in my "Create A Crest" collection go to http://www.kenparsonsdesigns.com/designables.php

Nocloe Locher is a Swiss born designer who operates an atellier in Paris. While most of her designs are a little risque to include in this post I have included two of the tamer ones. What particularly drew my attention to her Spring 2008 collection was her combination of embroidered designs and lettering and artful embroidery placement in all of her designs. As I have spoken about this many times it was great to see such a great example in an upcoming collection. For the more daring among you go to her website to see the whole collection at http://www.lochers.com/about.html

Often drawing attention in the shoulder area of a garment can serve to make the waistline look slimmer. In the 40's and again in the 80's shoulder pads were added to most jackets to create definition and demand attention to this area. Belts were also employed to further slim down the waistline. Well in much the same way we can use embroidery in lieu of the shoulder pad to create that same illusion. In the example above. I have created an upper sleeve design from various elements from my "Paisley Passion" collection to draw attention to the shoulder area of this jacket. Try his technique which works even better on a belted jacket. To see the entire "Paisley Passion" collection go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

In a continuation of my point from yesterday's discussion, since I found a design that fit perfectly within the space on the gore of the skirt that I decided to make the focal point of the garment, all I had to do was to re-size the design. I then clicked on the garment color and chose a color from the same section of the thread pallette, and this proved to be a quick and easy design solution for this project.

Sometimes when it comes to choosing thread colors for a particular garment color can be a challenge. This challenge is minimised when you are designing your embroidery with Compositions project based embroidery design software. Based upon the machine format you choose at the start of your design, it automatically sets up your color pallete to the brand of thread recommended by your machine manufacturer. It then goes one step further. When you click on the garment piece upon which you plan to embroiderer it will shift the pallette to the colors which will blend well with the fabric color you have chosen. You can then scroll through your designs on the left and match them up with the colors on the bottom of the screen. To see the others ways in which Compositions software helps you to design perfect embroidery every time go to http://www.kenparsonsdesigns.com/software.php

Why not create you own embroidered labels for your custom creations. You can simply combine your name or the name of your company with one or more stock designs. In the logo to the left I combined the lettering in "Bellagio" script with the abstract rose and rosebud patterns from my "Fantastic Flora" collection. After a little bit of re-sizing copying, pasting, rotating and reversing I came up with the above logo. You could choose somthing modern, classic or antique, whatever you feel is appropriate for the feel of the projects you create. Try it, it is fun and adds the perfect finishing touch to your unique creations.

It is incredibly fast and easy to create a monogram border out of any design you have in your library. Just choose the design, click on the circle template and it will automatically create a circular border for you. This function also reorders the colors to minimize color changes. Now every design in your collection is a perfect candidate for creation into a uniquely personal monogram border.

I combined one of the vases from my "Create a Centerpiece" collection with the peacock feather from my "Best Of The Barnyard" collection and fruit from my "Fresh from the Grove" collection to create this still life in the style of the French Impressionists and suitable for framing. Why not satisfy your creative urge to create your own unique embroidered masterpiece today. See all of the many embroidered elements I have available for you to choose from and to mix and match in your own personal artistic style, at www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

In the very simple design to the left I merely combined three copies of the sand dollar design from my "Seaside Memories" collection and arranged them arround the neckline of the blouse. I then used the automatic basting function to sew a running stitch around the entire design to secure the fabric to the stabilizer before the design was stitched out to make sure that the flimsy base fabric would not shift during the embroidery process. To see how this function and others work within Compositions project based embroidery software works you can now go to www.embroidery.com and download a free copy or order it at an introductory price of $149.99 at http://www.embroidery.com/product.asp?sid={88E142C8-EB52-458B-8B61-9EE1A618C3B6}&EFID=84&productsetid=95844&shopstop=1

Using the embroidery components from my "Beads, Baubles and Bling" collection I created the charm and pearl necklaces on this blouse. This collection includes jewels, clasps, charms, chains and pearls which can be combined to create necklaces, bracelets and even belts in very much the same way that prestigious design houses, such as Chanel and Dior have embellished their garments throughout the years. To see the entire collection go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

In the example to the left I combined four different flowers from my "Fabulous Florals" collection with four different butterflies from my "All Aflutter" collection to create this diagonal design on the shell blouse above. I placed the flowers first so that it gives the illusion that the butterflies are landing on the various different flowers. To see all of the butterflies and flowers in these collections go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

In the example above I combined a vase, fern frond, and two different eucalyptus branches from my "Create A Centerpiece" collection with a rose and fresia from my "Fabulous Florals" collection to create the still life above. By copying, resizing, rotating and reflecting the various elements I was able to create an asymmetrical but balanced composition. To see all of the designs in the collections and to create your own unique composition go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com

In the examples above I have tried to illustrate the different layers that were created to acheive the three dimensional form of the apples. The apple in the rear was digitized in it's entirety first so that the apple in the foreground could be easily removed and used as a seperate design later on. The first layer is the medium red tone of the apple, it is them folowed by the two darker reds which create he shadows the hightlights are then added with the lightest red shade and the details are finally finished off with the two shades of brown. The most important part of the process is the density which was used to create the different layers. The first layer was the most dense (aprox 50 SPI) and the subsequent layers are less dense (approx 35-40 SPI) A layer of underlay was placed first stitching opposite to the first layer to acheive better coverage. to see the finished design and the whole "Fresh From The Grove Collection" go to http://www.kenparsonsdesigns.com/viewables.php?cat=0&list=fresh_from_the_grove

Provided you have the proper authority you can quickly and easily create a logo for any number of businesses by merely combining a design with any of the 5 different styles of lettering provided with Compositions project based embroidery design software. In the example above I merely combined the eyebrow pencil and eyeliner applicator (from my Flash and Fantasy collection)with the company name in our exclusive Bellagio script. To see all of the designs in this collection or to see a software demo go to www.kenparsonsdesigns.com