The Art of Innovative Designing

Although I am very busy with our upcoming move to our new house, I have also been helping my brother with his new business venture … a clothing line embracing life and enjoyment. He is an artist in his own right, but his style is definitely not mine. I prefer traditional styles, while his preferences are much more squiggles and pop art. In the world of machine embroidery, the two are coming together quite well.

It started with a font in the collegiate style. But not. It also needed to be radical. As in “different”. Not rad, as in awesome. But it also had to encompass both. Wow. He and his business partner weren’t asking for much, were they? Luckily, there are so many wonderful embroidery designs out there that we could find many ideas for them.

It moved on to digitizing of his little squiggle people. Somehow, his original drawings look much more fun than my attempt to make them work for embroidery. More work is needed there. Luckily, I have lots and lots of thread for machine embroidery to facilitate the testing going on and on and on. Think lots of color.

I tried very hard to be outlandish in some of the applique embroidery designs. I am creating, simply to find out where they would draw the line. It didn’t work. Apparently, the stranger the design the better. While their concept is for young, very modern people, they are loving the idea of adding embroidery to most of their items. And, for that, they need lots of weird designs. Okay!

When I ran out of ideas, I got inspiration from my favorite embroidery design gallery at OregonPatchWorks Machine Embroidery Designs Mall. No, I didn’t borrow anyone else’s idea. I just simply got an idea from a new embroidery pattern that I saw. It makes towels look embossed, with high and low areas in the stitching. I created a similar project using my brother’s main logo. I was quite impressed. My brother’s comment was, “YOU!” I have no idea what this means, but I’m assuming he likes it. Text messaging leaves a lot to be desired in emotional responses!

After that, I am burned out for the week. I got a newsletter this morning from that same embroidery design gallery, and now my creative spirit is at full speed with the great new embroidery designs for offer this week. My favorite is a set of floral designs with sparse stitching that makes the design look like stained glass. These would look wonderful in my new kitchen. Or, maybe my new bathroom.

Looking at this week's new designs explains why I love the world of machine embroidery. Whether one prefers tradition or modern designs, or something in between, there are so many options available. Lots of new free embroidery designs to try to see if I like the style. New ideas and inspiration continually. It can be made to fit projects fit for a queen, or lowly enough for the dog to snuggle on. And, as with my brother and I, it brings very different people together effortlessly.