Fri, 21 Apr 2023

It's that time again: I need more folks to test my patterns/designs. People who have different embroidery machines, different experience levels, different stabilizers, different threads... whatever variables might be introduced, I’d like to run into them up front. Here’s what I’m looking for.

• someone who has never made a stuffed animal

• someone who has

• someone who has never made a jointed artist-bear style animal

• someone who has

• someone who has little to no conventional-sewing experience

• someone who has little to no embroidery-machine experience

• someone who has a lot of embroidery-machine experience

• someone who has an old weird home machine

• someone who has a multi-needle machine

And here’s what I’m offering:

• early access to all the membership patterns, and a free copy of the final versions (Ko-Fi doesn't have a way to comp actual tier memberships yet, but basically that)

• a free copy of the final version of the pattern(s) you test, if it's not a tier pattern

• never-ending fame and fortune (okay, just credit in the pattern)

• preferential "hiring" if I get to actually pay real cash money to testers down the road 🤞

And here’s what you’ll need:

• an embroidery machine, 4x4 and up, that can read PEC, PES, EXP, DST, JEF, VP3, or U01 files (if you have the wherewithal to convert from one of these to your machine’s HUS or whatever, that’s fine)

• assorted threads

• some minky or fleece or reasonably stretchy fabric

• possibly some bits of other fabrics

• poly stuffing

• a needle for hand sewing

• a way to take pictures to send me (nothing fancy and nobody but me need see them; they’re just for "is this right?" or "look at what went wrong" or "look how it came out" purposes)

• a willingness to join whatever weird communication platform I settle on for tester-group communication (probably Mattermost, bridged to Discord and/or Slack)

• a willingness to (heavy sigh) post about your creations to Facebook or Instagram if you're there (but if you're not already there, don't join)

And here’s what I need you to do:

• not flake (I mean, I get that life happens, I just mean don’t take a free pattern and run)

• tell me what your skill level is

• tell me what machine(s) you tried it on, what thread brand, fabric brand, stabilizer brand, etc. you use (as much as you’re able)

• tell me how many tries each piece took and what caused any failures

• tell me anything else you want to tell me about the pattern ("I got frustrated and gave up" is valid!)

You'll be sewing things like the orca, which is a simple little three-square critter and a good intro to how the three-dimensional ITH plushies work. The only hand sewing on that one is closing up the tiny little turning/stuffing opening, though the more advanced designs get, well, more advanced. If you’re interested, drop me a line.