School of Fish

I've been working hard with my embroidery digitizing software, Floriani Total Control. 

I had this idea that realistic stuffed fish would make excellent baby gifts, especially when constructed with durable, washable materials.  So far, all of the recipients have appeared to like them, as shown by chewing on them.

(For the fish nerds, the orange one is a flame angelfish, the blue one is a juvenile emperor angelfish, and the black one is a clown triggerfish.)

Next, I had this idea that if the deigns could be perfected, they could distribute the designs.  They are definitely colorful and unique.  None of the designs were perfect the first time.  Honestly, they weren't even perfect the second time.

This little fish is clearly missing a spot.  When I originally digitized it, I didn't use enough points on the curves and the spots were pretty angular.  I redigitized all of the spots, but clearly I missed one.  Oops!

This fin works well with a gradient fill, but extra stitches show through. 

Sometimes, two elements that are supposed to meet, don't.

What did I learn?  Digitizing is hard and takes practice.  My later efforts were clearly better than my first ones.  There's truth in the sew out, and it might take 2 or 3 tries at sewing out a pattern to get it right.  In the future, I will not assume that it's going to be perfect the first or second time I try.  I'm not going to sew on expensive or hard to replace materials without a perfect sample first.

All my attempts have resulted in a whole school of fish.  I'm sure they will all find good homes, imperfections and all.

Come back next week for more fun with a sewing machine!