A Show!
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Our Booth At The Expo!
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The weekend of April 5-7 was the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Cleveland. It was the first time in years that I had done a show. I was there with my friends from
Accomplish Quilting. We were demonstrating
Innova's Innovative Quilting Systems™. The machine on the right had automation with Grand Format Embroidery™ while the one on the left was free-motion.
That date also corresponded to our first longarming for a customer using Innova's
Grand Format Embroidery™.
What is "Grand Format Embroidery™?"
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Our 1 inch monogram
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Imagine an embroidery hoop for your embroidery machine that is 144" x 23"! That expands your horizons significantly.
I personally have stitched designs from a border that is 21" square to monograms that are 1" round. I have also used it in conjunction with Innova's Draw function to write "Ruth" in script and then apply hearts to the lettering.
Two friends from Accomplish Quilting have used the embroidery to make and reverse-applique large letters and designs to a large four foot sign [you can see that sign in the photo of the booth].
Quite a variety!
Why would you use Grand Format Embroidery™ as opposed to an embroidery machine?
There are several reason.
The first reason is size. If you have something really big to embroider, this fits the bill, because the quality is second to none.
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The name of the quilt creator
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The second is the look when longarmed. Many people have not wanted longarm stitching over their embroidery. This embroidery is beautiful. This fits the bill, too, as it is stitched over the longarming. This is one of the ways we have to solve the problem of longarm-stitching over embroidery.
The third is the look on the back. The customer mentioned above wanted the name of their grandmother, the creator of the quilt, to be prominently displayed on the front and to show on the back, even though on the back it would be reversed on the back.
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The reverse side of the W
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That's cool! But most embroidery that I've seen looks terrible on the back - Innova's looks as good on the back as on the front. This can be seen on in the picture of the reverse side of the "W".
The fourth reason is border treatments that are embroidered. This means that some of the scroll- and applique-work that has been done on the borders can now be embroidered.
The fifth reason is that it is another tool in the arsenal of the avid quilter. Innova has many such tools, such as: PantoVision™, which allows scale-able electronic pantographs; Sequin Stitcher™ to apply sequins to your stitches; and, E Cording Multitech™ Automatic Couching attachment to apply decorative couching.
Additionally,
Accomplish Quilting reports that the majority of their machines are now sold to individual purchasers. These purchasers are not professional longarmers or quilt shops. These are quilters who want to get the most out of
their art. Whether it's to win shows, express and experience the joy of their own capabilities, warm hearts, or to win the hearts of their grandchildren with sequins in the stitching, Innova has the solution.
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Small portion of Mary's free-motion quilt
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As an example, at the Fall Paducah show I met Mary Olson from Oregon who won a ribbon for her quilt "
Perseverance". She related to me that she had spent an entire year free-motion longarming her quilt on an Innova. That's art as well as dedication in addition to perseverance!
The last reason that easily comes to mind is obvious to me: I don't have an embroidery machine. I've wanted one since we first opened
Forever In Stitches. I envisioned embroidering blocks to sew into quilts. However, I never had the time to justify the investment in an embroidery machine. Now I have an Innova that does embroidery and I have learned how to create designs to boot! Cool!
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True-type script font with embroidered hearts - "just for giggles"
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The pictures show a couple of the tests I performed to test various capabilities of Innova's Grand Format Embroidery™. [We never experiment on customers' quilts!].
In case you are wondering, we can stitch any true-type font that we have with our Innovas [with or without the hearts]. This example of the true-type script "R" was "just for giggles," But, you never know, someone may look at that and say "That's just what I want!"
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