THE 18TH ANNUAL

THE18THANNUAL
It’s time for Show & Tell in the
commercial embroidery world.
st tch-off
T
See page 9 for more information on the grand prize winner.
he number of entries submitted to the 18th annual
Stitch-Off Competition was significantly greater
this year, reflected in a diversity of designs that
challenged adjudication on artistic, aesthetic and
technical grounds. Many contestants won high marks for
fulfilling certain sewing principles well, but those who attended to all the details were the ones who won the judges’
esteem. The seasoned arbiters were Joyce Yost of Digitalflash in Golden, Colo.; Jerry Hunt, owner of A Creative
Place in Castle Rock, Colo.; and Donna Lehmann, digitizer
and owner of NeedleUp in Thornton, Colo. The winners
were the best at addressing five rudimentary embroidery
categories: creativity, technical execution, use of color,
suitability of design and overall appeal.
Alternative Brews, a jacket back by Joel J. Rapp at
Bison Embroidery in Williamsville, N.Y., was awarded
Grand Prize honors. The judges were impressed with
Rapp’s use of multiple embellishment techniques—felt
appliqués, chenille and embroidery—and found their
execution flawless. His consummate accomplishment
merited Rapp a Pulse Maestro Digitizing Software package from Pulse Microsystems, Mississauga, Ont., valued
at $17,500.
The much anticipated entry by Italians Loredana
Mariani and Antonello Ascione, the “Flying Princess,” a
Western-style hat, not only topped the Fashion category,
but wears the Creativity award as well. The latter distinction earned the Neapolitan pair an EOS Creator software package worth $5,000, compliments of Compucon
USA in Greensboro, N.C.
The People’s Choice Award will be determined by
attendee vote at the Embroidery Mart in Nashville the
first weekend in August. That winner earns a $10,500
Wings XP Pro software package, courtesy of Wings
Systems Ltd., Thessaloniki, Greece.
First-place winners in each category received a $500
gift certificate from the following industry suppliers:
Madeira USA, Laconia, N.H.; Melco Mart, Westminster,
Colo.; Hirsch International Corp., Hauppauge, N.Y.; The
Embroidery Store, Greensboro, N.C.; Focus Sourcing,
New York; Robison-Anton Textile Co., Fairview, N.J.;
Creative Design, Hiawatha, Iowa; Stahls’, St. Clair Shores,
Mich.; and Stitches Magazine, Greenwood Village, Colo.
Dalco Athletic Lettering in Dallas awarded its Stock
Stitch IV software and a $200 gift certificate to the
winner of the Appliqué category. Second-place winners
in each category received $100 from Stitches Magazine
while third-place winners were awarded $75. ■
By Gary Snyder
accessories
Accessories
1st Place: Easter Dinner Napkins
Lisa Calder
Hardrock Embroidery, Vidor, Texas
Calder had previously embroidered a tablecloth with
place settings and wanted to do a companion centerpiece
for the holiday. “I was playing around with a dinner napkin and thought something with flowers would be nice.”
Knowing what she wanted, but not quite how to accomplish it, she enlisted the aid of a family friend who works
in a floral shop and creates arrangements for weddings
and the like.
Besides the dinner napkins, floral wire, Easter grass
and basket, Calder used Isacord 40 and a tearaway backing to bloom the approximately 88,000 stitches. The
Great Notions designs took her two hours to sew on her
Melco EMT 10T. ■
2
2nd Place: Tied Pillow
Louise Baron
Lou’s Logos & Letters, St. Charles, Ill.
Baron is a big fan of polar fleece fabric and was
attempting to create embroidery as soft as the fabric
itself. She succeeded well with this cushy cushion
that elicited universal “oohs” and “ahs” from the
judges for its tactile attraction. The pillow was primarily embroidered using Robison-Anton rainbow thread on
a 2-head Barudan Profit machine. The roughly 40,000
stitches took her a few hours to produce. ■
3rd Place:
Embroidered
Purse
Tanda Bundy
and team,
Starbird Inc.,
Plymouth,
Minn.
This thirdplace triumph,
embroidered
on a difficult
fabric, achieved
its intended
goal of suggesting a handstitched look in the eyes of the judges. Its 6,100 stitches were
sewn in an hour and a half on a Barudan machine using Sulky
cotton thread and 80/12 sharp-point needles. A cutaway backing and natural wooden handles added to the handcrafted
effect of the unaffected grip. ■
appliqué
3
Appliqué
1st Place: Purse Pillow
Thomas Moore
Strawberry Stitch Co., St. Louis
“Slumber Girls is a line of young
girls’ bedding, for which Strawberry
Stitch oversees the creative development of the embroidery products,”
says Moore of his winning submission. The licensed line focuses on
stylish and stimulating fashion pieces,
and this winning Art Deco pillow is a
vibrant example. A raw silk back and
41,448 stitches of Isacord 40 thread
compliment the Stahls’ metallic appliqué. The entire design took a mere
two hours to sew on a Melco EMT
10T using a tearaway backing and a
fine ballpoint needle. ■
2nd Place: Daredevil
Thomas Moore
Strawberry Stitch Co., St. Louis
Also created by Strawberry Stitch for a contract customer,
this dynamic design took four hours to produce. The colorful
87,959-stitch image was also sewn on a Melco EMT 10T
embroidery machine using Isacord thread and a fine needle.
This time Moore used a Stahls’ poly-twill appliqué and a
mediumweight cutaway backing. ■
3rd Place: Baby On Patterned Blanket
Diane More
Sew More, Vernon, Texas
A photo of More’s grandson when he was less than a
day old inspired this image which features a vermicelli stitch that gives life to the infant’s face. Using a
baby print material for the background added to the
newborn feel.
Two pieces of tearaway backing were used for
stability along with an off-white piece between the
background and the embroidery that was appliquéd
first. The 23,682 stitches took four hours to
digitize and sew on a Melco EMT 10T model
using Isacord thread. ■
cap
4
2nd Place: Camping USA
Lisa Calder
Hardrock Embroidery, Vidor, Texas
Calder didn’t have a clue when it came to embroidering on
mesh, but she did have plenty of trucker caps. And she wanted
to see if she could do it. Amazingly, sewing the open plastic
weave didn’t give her a minute’s trouble. She just ran it normally, pitching some 31,000 stitches over the course of an
hour using her Melco EMT 10/4T machine, Isacord 40 thread
and a basic tearaway backing. ■
Cap
1st Place: Trout Slayer
Trey Bates
East Coast Headwear, Indian Trail, N.C.
“Simplicity kills in embroidery because you can
make things look so clean and sharp,” says Bates
referring to the subtle nuances in this otherwise
overt juxtaposition of two sports. Layering the
cowboy’s cap and turning the satin stitch the opposite way on his sleeve turned this production design for a Montana fishing team into a gold medal
catch.
It took the digitizer about three hours and
almost 12,000 stitches, three-quarters of
them on the front, to land this image. It
was sewn on a Happy machine using
Isacord 40 polyester thread, 3-ounce
tearaway backing and a Broz-Beckert
75/11 needle. ■
3rd Place: Delaware Jeep Association Logo
Tina Freudenberger
Mountain Dog Designs, Elkton, Md.
Freudenberger’s response to a
friend’s request to embroider a logo
for a local club cruised into
third place. She was a little
concerned with the detailing on the Jeep looking
right once it was reduced to cap size, but
compensated by
removing a lot of the
shading from the
original artwork and
using column stitches. The 9,838-stitch
design took only 12
minutes to embroider
on her Brother 1210 machine
with Madeira polyneon thread and
tearaway backing. ■
children’s wear
Children’s Wear
1st Place: Bzzz Sweatshirt
Joel J. Rapp
Bison Embroidery, Williamsville, N.Y.
A perennial winner in this category,
Rapp again wraps up top honors for his
rendering of a Russell Benfanti illustration. Working in conjunction with the
renowned artist, he re-created one of his
children’s characters by applying a larger
design to a smaller garment to make it
appear more fun. Some pillow stuffing
added relief to the bright 31,545-stitch
image which was embroidered using Robison-Anton rayon thread, felt appliqués and
heavy cutaway backing. “The digitizing
was easy, the sewing wasn’t,” Rapp reports for this particular piece, which took
him a total of 10 hours to complete. ■
5
2nd Place: When I Grow Up
Thomas Moore
Strawberry Stitch Co., St. Louis
This arresting piece is part of a
line of designs that not only humors the children’s game of dressup, but also serves to honor various
adult professions. The cute cop and
badge image totaled 12,200 stitches and took only two hours to
execute. Moore used a
mediumweight cutaway backing,
Isacord 40 polyester thread, and a fine
ballpoint needle on a Melco EMT 10T
embroidery machine. ■
3rd Place: Waves
Marion L. Cornett
m.c. designs, Fowlerville, Mich.
Cornett saw this toddler’s jumpsuit and thought it would be
cute to create an outfit using the full design for the garment, then
applying a portion of the design to a coordinating bib. She also
thought it could inspire word play between a parent and child.
The jumpsuit took 29,000 stitches and the bib 7,000. They
were sewn on a Tajima TMEX-C1501 machine using Madeira
thread and a heavyweight cutaway backing. The effort took 12
hours to digitize and two hours to sew. ■
fashion apparel
creativity prize
Fashion Apparel
1st Place and Creativity Prize:
Flying Princess
Loredana Mariani and Antonello Ascione
AMG Progetti Industriali di Antonello
Ascione, Naples, Italy
Having won the Grand Prize two years
ago and the Accessories category last
year, this pair amazed the judges once
again with their limitless imagination,
unique style and flawless execution. The
crowning achievement of another unconventional concept features a winged
woman flanked on each brim by birds
embroidered in an Art Déco style.
The elaborate piece took eight hours to
sketch and color, four hours to render on
the computer, six and a half to digitize, 11
to sew and another 10 to cut, construct
and finish. The 334,632-stitch design was
embroidered on a Melco Amaya machine
using Madeira polyneon thread in red and
two shades of gray. Embossing and some
430 pieces of black diamond and light
Siam Swarovski crystal further enrich the
hand-assembled hat. ■
6
2nd Place:
Native American Jacket
Lisa Calder
Hardrock Embroidery, Vidor,
Texas
Her husband’s Indian heritage plays a significant role
in Calder’s life and is reflected in many of her projects,
such as sewing hats and
other objects for tribal powwows and reservation
events across the country.
Her “Native American
Buckskin Dress” placed
second in this category to
last year’s Grand Prize
winner, and the experience gave her the
courage to hazard this
garment. She embroidered
the 230,000-stitch jacket on
her Melco EMT 10T using
Isacord 40 thread, watersoluble topping, heavy
tearaway backings and, of
course, leather needles. ■
3rd Place: Denim Shirt
Teri Laux
Promotional Designs Inc., Green Bay, Wis.
Laux says she was attempting to manipulate stitches to simulate a realistic basket that appears to have depth. Her efforts
took about 18 hours from initial artwork through
digitized design to final sewout. The 17,700-stitch
design was sewn on a Tajima 12-head machine
with a combination of Ackermann Isacord
polyester and Madeira rayon thread. Both
cutaway and mesh backings were used. ■
7
2nd Place: Firebird
Lana Rabinovich
Fine Embroidery Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.
framed
Known for her creative style, Rabinovich
turned her focus from the flowers that won her
top honors in the Appliqué category last year to
visualizing a fairy tale. She has no idea how many
stitches are involved in the image, but does know
it was a lot of hard work.
The hand-made interpretation took the talented
embroiderer three hours to design and 12 hours to
realize on her trusty Singer treadle machine. The colorful
piece is comprised of 11 colors of Madeira rayon thread
sewn on a wool background. ■
Framed
1st Place: Mandela
John Sleeper
SJS Embroidery, Cripple Creek, Colo.
“My friend is a North Mountain Ute
and while talking about Indian lore one
day I decided to try a headdress and this
was how it came out,” says Sleeper of his
winning entry. The craftsman creates not
only native but natural pieces and specializes in embroidered animal designs.
The Mandela is entirely authentic down
to the colored beads and notched feather.
Its 67,000 stitches, sewn on a Brother
machine using ARC polyester thread and
1.8-ounce cutaway backing, presented no
particular problems. The replica did,
however, take 10 hours and a couple of
tries to mount in its wooden frame. ■
3rd Place: Brother & Sister Hugging
Diane More
Sew More, Vernon, Texas
More was moved by a brother and sister hugging at a wedding
and sought to capture the feeling with thread as well as the lace
in the sister’s dress. It took her just over 38,000 stitches, four and
a half hours of digitizing and an hour of sewing to do so. She used
Isacord thread and two tearaway backings on the tightly woven
material, which was sewn on a Melco EMT 10T machine. ■
home furnishings
8
Home Furnishings
1st Place: Dog & Cat Quilt
Sherrill Hardcastle, Cherly Hildebrand,
Pat Capps
Monograms Unlimited, Lebanon, Mo.
After taking this category with a quilt
last year, it took Hardcastle nearly a
month from start to finish for this year’s
replication. “It takes a long time to decide
on your plan, pick out your fabric and cut
out and sew all of those little squares,”
she reasons.
The quilt was a donation for a fundraiser for the local Humane Society. The
images of some of the designs had to be
enlarged and others reduced to fit in the
squares of fabric she had cut. They were
sewn on with Madeira thread using a
Happy machine and cutaway backing. ■
2nd Place: Ethnic Rhythms
Nancy Sedar Sherman
Nancy Sedar Designs, Denver
Prompted by a quilting class, Sedar Sherman took an exercise
in abstract design and expanded it by adding embroidery. She
made the most of the two most basic colors by taking advantage
of the natural pattern of the fabric, flipping and reversing the
panels so that they flowed. The rhythmical design took her some
20 hours to complete as a wall hanging. The 31,381 stitches
were sewn with Madeira thread on her Tajima machine using
a cutaway backing. ■
3rd Place: My Dog
Laurie Bazil
inThread, Clemmons, N.C.
Bazil just started quilting and wanted to combine the process
with embroidery on the same project. “I chose our dog (as the
subject) because he is a very important member of our family,”
she says.
The embroidery of her 84,000-stitch pet was performed on
a Tajima TMEX-C1201. The larger fire hydrant and dog bone
pattern were done on her Juki sewing machine, and the quilt
itself on a Singer. The entire piece took a span of several
months to complete. ■
jacket back
9
Jacket Back
1st Place: Alternative Brews
Joel J. Rapp
Bison Embroidery, Williamsville, N.Y.
“I really enjoy the category of Jacket
Back because it allows the designer a
broader canvas to complete [his] vision,”
reasons Rapp. This year’s Grand Prize
winner (and last year’s People’s Choice
honoree) was looking to do something a
little different, so he chose a local pub as
the theme for his design and, along with
the illustrative help of Jon Aroix and the
chenille work of his friend Bella, created
an old-time appearance using carefully
coordinated colors and materials.
The jacket, which was created solely
for the contest, incorporates 10 wool and
felt appliqués as well as nearly 340,000
embroidery stitches. The long and intensive sewing took Rapp 35 hours to complete, but left him quite pleased in the end.
The judges were impressed too, finding
nothing wrong with Rapp’s technique
or execution. Subtle features such as
the tone-on-tone approach to the
sleeves and finishing touches, like the
distinct lack of stitching in the lining,
distinguished it as “striking” and “beautifully sewn.” ■
2nd Place: Corporate Landscaping Logo
Stuart Schulman, Knockout Punch, S. Yarmouth, Mass.
According to Schulman, a customer came in to his shop
displaying a photograph of the side of his truck and looking to
duplicate it on a jacket back. Knockout reproduced the request
in about two and a half hours and 103,592 stitches.
The design was sewn on a Barudan machine by Damon Collins
at Advanced Embroidery Designs using Robison-Anton rayon
thread and an Emblematic cutaway backing. It necessitated a
staggering 60 color changes. ■
3rd Place: Oklahoma Wind Storm
Shelly Olinghouse
GoldStar Graphics, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Olinghouse cites several local
inspirations for her third-place jacket
design: living in Oklahoma all her
life and experiencing several
tornadoes first-hand; The Wizard
of Oz, a favorite movie since
her youth; and last but not
least, the name of her
daughter’s volleyball
team.
Digitized on Pulse
Artist Plus software
and run on a Tajima
TMEX-C1201
singlehead machine, the 57,738
stitches took
Olinghouse two
hours to digitize and
another two to sew using
Madeira and Robison-Anton
threads. ■
knit shirt
Knit Shirt
1st Place: Wildflower Basket
Carlotta Stushek
Artisans, Inc., Glen Flora, Wis.
True to the name of the town where her
company resides, Stushek reproduced a
breathtaking assortment of wildflowers in
this year’s winning entry. The colorful
arrangement was created at the request of
an Artisans customer.
The blooming Longaberger basket took
Stushek16 hours to digitize the 23,652
dainty stitches that complimented the
textured fabric of the shirt extremely well.
The delicate design was sewn on a Toyota
AD 860 embroidery machine using
Madeira and Robison-Anton threads and
a cutaway nonwoven
backing. ■
10
2nd Place: Two Baskets
Pat Woeckener
Artisans Inc., Glen Flora, Wis.
Another version of Longaberger baskets filled with flowers
took second place in this category. The biggest problem for
co-worker Woeckener was keeping the stitch count down
while still conforming to the popular household decorating
company’s explicit design details. The 12,055 stitches took a
full day for Woeckener to digitize. The piece also combined
Madeira, Robison-Anton and Gunold+Stickma threads, using
a cutaway nonwoven backing. It, too, was sewn on a Toyota
machine. ■
3rd Place: Lionman
Tim Baker
Stitches Embroidery, Whangarei, New Zealand
According to New Zealander Baker, a local wildlife
park that features lions and tigers inspired the most
distant entry in this year’s competition. Its realistic
aspect was achieved on a singlehead Tajima machine
using Sulky and Madeira thread. The colorful lion’s head
is comprised of nearly 15,000 stitches reinforced by a
medium cutaway backing. The design took some four hours
to digitize and sewed out in about 20 minutes. ■
Multimedia
1st Place: Chickadee Pines
Dawn Blackstock
Artisans Inc., Glen Flora, Wis.
11
“There is a strong market for designs portraying a winter
wonderland,” according to Dawn Blackstock, and this
year’s winning multimedia submission certainly exemplifies the comforting side of the season which inspired it.
The softness and subtlety of the colors lend a satisfying
feel to the natural image.
The 10,458 stitches took about eight and a half hours to
digitize, then sew, on a Toyota AD 860 embroidery machine.
Madeira and Robison-Anton thread, cutaway nonwoven
backing and Gunold adhesive spray came together quite
nicely to give life to this far-from-frigid design. ■
multimedia
2nd Place: My Ant’s Shirt
Louise Baron
Lou’s Logos & Letters, St. Charles, Ill.
Baron pulled out all the stops in an attempt to incorporate as
many embellishing techniques as possible in this winner that
imagines a world of bugs. The vision grew and came alive as
she utilized embroidery and free-sewing machines, airbrushing,
appliqué and hand work on a collection of altered stock designs.
Various hooping techniques and fabrics were used as well.
Baron says she had a lot of fun laying down the half a million
stitches over a two-week period. ■
3rd Place: Wilderness Air
Pat Woeckener
Artisans Inc., Glen Flora, Wis.
Artisans create a lot of
wildlife images and this thirdplace winner was no exception.
Designed by the in-house art
department, Woeckener had
little trouble executing his
8,417-stitch vision in a little
less than 12 hours. Madeira,
Robison-Anton and Gunold+
Stickma threads were sewn on
a Toyota embroidery machine
using a cutaway nonwoven
backing supplemented by Gunold
adhesive spray. ■
single-color design
Single-Color Design
1st Place: Picture Of Jesus
David Womack
Custom Chenille Embroidery, Dallas
Womack, who also won this category
last year, found this original pencil drawing by Mark Cannon on the Internet,
obtained permission to use it and the rest
fell into place. “This one did have its
challenges because people are hard to
get right,” is his reverent understatement, “but I think the piece pretty
much speaks for itself.”
He spent 42 hours digitizing the
image, which he then scaled slightly
larger to eliminate excessive stitching. The 176,210-stitch rendering was
done on 50/50 fabric using RobisonAnton thread and a piece of cutaway
backing. It took four and a half hours to
sew out on a Barudan BENSHE-YN 12head machine. ■
12
2nd Place: Haori Jacket With Cranes
Joel J. Rapp
Bison Embroidery, Williamsville, N.Y.
Rapp consistently approaches the Stitch-Off as
a challenge and this winning entry was no exception. Wanting to achieve a classy tone-on-tone look
in a hand-made custom garment, he was inspired
to embroider a traditional Japanese garment with
foliage and the culture’s accepted symbol of luck.
Digitizing the nearly 140,000 stitches that joined
the sleeve design with the back panel was
laborious, requiring most of the 15 hours
Rapp spent on the project. His mother,
Nina, lined and completed the beautifully
decorated piece. ■
3rd Place: Native American Jacket
Lisa Calder
Hardrock Embroidery, Vidor, Texas
An alternative approach to
Calder’s second-place winner
in the Fashion category, this
traditional version emphasizes
the trapunto sewing technique
to give the designs an embossed effect. The 76,000
stitches ultimately impart
more of an authentic look,
a critical consideration because Calder had to receive approval from the
tribal council and learn
their cultural beliefs before she was allowed to
embellish the jackets. Each
took from six to eight
hours and required that she
sew the leather as slowly as
possible. ■
stock design
13
Stock Design
1st Place: Tied Baby Blanket
Louise Baron
Lou’s Logos & Letters, St. Charles, Ill.
“I was surprised at how easily the fleece
took the embroidery without any backing,
and how stable it was to sew without it,”
says the winner of this year’s Stock Design category. Baron deliberately shunned
using backing on either side of the blanket
to keep the medium as soft as possible.
Sewing with the same Robison-Anton
rainbow thread she used for the matching
pillow that took second place in the Accessories category, it took Baron in the neighborhood of 100,000 stitches to embroider
this accompanying piece. It, too, was sewn
on her Barudan 2-head machine. ■
2nd Place: Flowered Towels
Tanda Bundy and Team
Starbird Inc., Plymouth, Minn.
Bundy and the creative team at Starbird brainstormed on
uses for the company’s standard images to come up with this
colorful garden which earned them second place for Stock
Design. The fundamental flora—tulips, pansies, roses and
daisies—took from 7,625 to 10,181 stitches and five hours to
flower. All were sewn on a Barudan machine using Coats
thread and a cutaway backing. ■
3rd Place: Nature’s Wreath
Dawn Blackstock
Artisans Inc., Glen Flora, Wis.
The appeal of wreath-shaped designs
embellished with birds was the inspiration
for Blackstock’s third-place finish in this
category. Seed pods were added to the
image to give it extra visual interest.
Using an assortment of Madeira, Robison-Anton and Gunold+Stickma threads
on a cutaway Pellon® backing, the slightly
less than 10,000 stitches took Blackstock
some 12 hours to arrange. The design was
sewn on a Toyota AD 860 machine. ■
Sweatshirt
1st Place: Sturgis
Toby and Renae Karlquist
K.K. Paddywhacks Embroidery, LLC, Pagosa Springs, Colo.
sweatshirt
The creative process is relatively easy for Toby Karlquist,
as with this original request for some “high-end” designs
to observe the annual motorcycle rally. “I had a mental
picture of what I wanted,” he confirms, “and this turned
out to be my all-time favorite design.”
The judges noted the winning sweatshirt’s crisp, clean
appearance and terrific sewing. It took eight hours of digitizing and three and a half hours to embroider the 144,500
stitches on his Brother 1210AC machine using Madeira
polyneon thread. The only real challenge for Karlquist was
requiring three sewouts to get the spacing and registration
right between the letters. ■
14
2nd Place: Grandma’s Flock
Dawn Blackstock
Artisans Inc., Glen Flora, Wis.
Noting that “Grandma” designs sell well, Blackstock added
birds to the universal statement to provide an appropriate and
colorful touch to this second-place winner. Once again relying
on a combination of Madeira, Robison-Anton and Gunold+
Stickma threads sewn on a cutaway Pellon® backing, it took her
12,555 stitches and 13 hours to present this vintage message
which was embroidered on a Toyota machine. ■
3rd Place: Collie Head Profile
Conlon Hukill
Embroider Bee, Winter Springs, Fla.
The intent of this third-place finisher was to replicate
a piece of artwork that depicted the finer points of the
popular breed in subtle watercolors. Having learned
well over the course of the 36 hours it took him to
digitize his first project, Hukill spent only four hours
punching this single-color Collie profile.
The portrait was hooped using a medium-weight
cutaway backing and sewn on a Happy singlehead
machine. The 14,000 stitches consist primarily of
ARC polyester thread. ■
15
2nd Place: Out in 9 Months
Lisa Calder
Hardrock Embroidery, Vidor, Texas
Calder, who also gets many ideas through observation,
noticed there was not much in the way of embroidered maternity garments. The light went on when a customer came in her
shop and lamented that she was a prisoner of her pregnant
body.
Calder found some appropriate Great Notions stock designs
and induced the company’s digitizing capabilities to conceive
this second-place T-shirt. The 52,450 stitches took two and a
half hours to sew on her Melco EMT 10T using Isacord
thread. ■
T-Shirt
1st Place: Bad Sport
Oscar Battle
Creative Designs—A Digitizing &
Graphic Arts Co., Miami
t-shirt
Battle bases a lot of his designs on
everyday situations, as with his second-place finish in this category last
year. The irony is not lost on this
winning T-shirt. “I’m not a gracious
loser and this is my way of acknowledging I’m a ‘Bad Sport.’”
Watching some kids playing soccer one
day, the partner/digitizer scored an
idea. The rest of the creative
exercise was pretty simple: an
hour for the artwork, three
and a half hours to digitize
and 45 minutes to sew out.
He used Madeira thread
and a cutaway Pellon®
backing to embroider the
9,814-stitch design on his
Tajima 6-head machine. ■