I invite you to watch the online version of It’s Sew Easy TV, Episode 902 beginning on Friday, October 2nd and running until Friday October 9th at noon. In this segment I had the opportunity to share one of my favorite embellishment techniques, couching with the three-slot cording foot. This is one of those accessory feet that have been around for a while. In fact, it was an included accessory with a machine I purchased long ago. I have used it many, many times. The one I used on the show is the Brother brand. This foot is made for 5mm and 7mm Brother machines. It's available for various other machines too. Ask your local sewing machine dealer for advice and help in finding this versatile foot for your personal machine model.
Right about now I wish I had taken a photo of each of those past projects. Perhaps some of you remember when that wasn’t such an easy thing to do. First you had to have film in your camera, and then you had to hope the photo was successful, and alas . . . you had to wait days to find out if any photo on that film strip was indeed a winner. Ahhh the things we take for granted in the digital age!
But back to the subject of embellishing with the cording foot. You don’t need fancy stitches or a fancy machine for this technique. It's likely you'll have lots of options to choose from. Let's talk about various stitches you can use.
But back to the subject of embellishing with the cording foot. You don’t need fancy stitches or a fancy machine for this technique. It's likely you'll have lots of options to choose from. Let's talk about various stitches you can use.
Start with open style stitches that skip from right to left and feel free to experiment. You’ll find that some stitches will be too dense and cover too much of the cord. Other stitches will land on top of the cord in awkward spots, piercing the cord and causing an unattractive look. Choose from a variety of utility and decorative stitches and play with various settings on the machine. Generally I like to increase the stitch length and use the maximum width when embellishing with all three cords.
The featured stitch on the dress is No. 23 from the Brother Innov-ís 40e.
Even though I am a fan of many styles of embellishment sometimes it’s nice to just keep it simple. After all, simple can produce stunning results. You’ll find that this cording technique works with some really simple supplies. I usually opt for pearl cotton, baby yarn, or even decorative serger threads to fill the slots of this foot. On the show I had a sampling of different embellishment cords and I talk about different threads to use in the machine.
When choosing cords, the first logical question is how many to use. The answer for a three-slot foot is one, two, or all three! I usually use thinner cords and fill all three of the slots. You’re the designer, whatever you like is the best choice to make. Speaking of cords, I also shared tips for making sure they feed through the foot and don't cause trouble as you sew.
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Take a close look at this sweet little dress.
You’ll hear me say that this dress featured a lot of techniques. The cording was the icing on the cake and the last embellishment I added to it. I think it provides a nice finishing touch, what do you think?
I encourage you to CLICK HERE, watch this segment, and gather some ideas. Since this was a mini segment project instructions are limited. Next time I'll share alternative projects with more information about the three-slot cording foot so you can stitch even more of your own great sewing machine embellishments!
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