Flicken Sticken
Problem
My dachshunds chewed a hole in my jacket pocket. Not just an ordinary jacket, but a kind of Janker, a type of Bavarian traditional jacket, mostly knitted from wool. Beautifully crafted, with contrasting felt patches and a few embroidered traditional motifs. And I'd only worn it three times.
Of course, the dachshunds chewed a decent-sized hole through the wool from the outside, which can't just be sewn up.
So the most obvious solution was to patch it up. With felt and, of course, embroidery. Visiting several specialty stores did not yield satisfactory results: hundreds of patches, but nothing suitable, many of them too banal. Edelweiss, roaring deer, or mountain panoramas.
Than, the
Idea
Picasso created a whole series of pictures drawn with a single line. One of them features a dachshund as its motif. What would it look like if you drew a dachshund yourself and used a piece of felt with the pattern generated in TurtleStitch and edited in Inkscape? It would be a “nice” reminder of the evildoers, look good, and of course combine different tools and techniques.
Let's get started. What do we need?
Hardware
- Embroidery machine: In this case, a Bernina B 590, but any other embroidery machine will do. The Bernina has a bit of a learning curve, as the display controls are far from intuitive.
- Felt: There is a wide selection available, but it should, of course, match the color of the jacket.
- Darning needles, embroidery needles, and pins
- Embroidery thread and wool
Software
- TurtleStitch: A simple yet ingenious software program that uses a block-based programming environment to generate files for controlling embroidery machines. Based on Snap!, it allows you to create very complex shapes in your browser and, with the appropriate code, implement modules for “tracing” templates, for example.
- Inkscape: ... is an open source vector graphics program. To control embroidery machines, you also need the “Ink/Stitch” extension, which can be installed with little effort.
- and for creating some tools: TinkerCAD (no direct link, because it's not FLOSS), PrusaSlicer and OctoPrint
Realisation
- Drawing a template with a felt-tip pen: First, we need a template that we can scan and then trace on the screen. In principle, you could of course use Picasso's original, but with a little practice, you can do it yourself quite neatly. It's just a single line...
- Create the pattern using the “Line Drawing” module in TurtleStitch. This module allows you to use a hand-drawn sketch as the background for an embroidery pattern and trace this template with the mouse. If you are looking for a detailed description, you will find it in the wonderful Elaine Wolfe's blog post Coding in TurtleStitch – Drawing Like Picasso. There, she explains in simple steps how to trace a scanned image, make initial adjustments, and then export it.
- However, this project is also about exploring other tools. Therefore, the basic function of transferring the line into a running stitch is sufficient. To keep various editing options open, we export the result in both .svg and .dst or .exp format. This depends on the embroidery machine used.
- The “Ink/stitch” extension for Inkscape offers a simple but powerful way to edit embroidery files. With the tools provided by Inkscape, a vector drawing program, it is possible to alter or expand the motif transferred from TurtleStitch without additional programming by rotating/scaling/moving it or adding text. The YouTube channel “Project Anonymous” (no, not what you think, just father and daughter) provides an excellent introduction, and it has an extensive playlist on Ink/Stitch.
After a few attempts, it was clear: there had to be three dachshunds, and they could be different colors. Green tones were preferred, of course, as these already appear in the other appliqués on the jacket.
- Cut out and sew on with rough stitches. Sounds easy at first, but it's not. How big should the patch be? What shape should it be? Will it fit the hole? These and other questions need to be answered. An easy way to find a good size for the patch and check the fit and position is, of course, to use a template. Fortunately, a well-equipped household has a 3D printer, so TinkerCAD can be used to quickly draw a suitable shape, which is then sliced with Prusa Slicer and printed on the 3D printer with OctoPrint. With the printed template, you can now quickly check whether the hole is covered, whether the motif fits reasonably well on the patch, and then also create a mark for cutting the patch.
If everything fits, it's time for the final step: sewing it onto the jacket. Since the hole is above the pocket and I didn't want to cut it out and then sew it back in again, I had to do this by hand. Secure the patch with pins and then slowly sew it on all around with a large needle and matching wool.
Finished!
This is the result
And here is the restored jacket, which is now socially acceptable again 😄
Insights
- Never forget to take the dog treats out of your jacket pocket.
- Learning is always a journey.