Rachelle Keller

As with any learning curve there can be a lot of “oopsies” along the way. Now that I finally got a fairly complex job to run beautifully, it's time to make the stitches even better. I have driven the needle into the hoop a few times as well as run the foot into the side of the hoop. This can wreak havoc on the fine adjustments to the machine at best! So into the Big Bad Barudan I went. I now know which covers I can remove to do what is necessary—thankfully I don't have to do that very often! It takes three sizes of hex keys (Allen wrenches), a Phillips screwdriver, and two sizes of standard slot screwdrivers to do everything I need to do. A flashlight and a friend were listed as “optional”. The picture shows the inside guts of the machine where the needle bars live. The needle depth adjustment was really off and to set that correctly there are two screws that need to be loosened to make and adjustment of about 2 millimeters! I just made sure to crank them down really good when

A custom piece that I stitched today. Of course BigAl created the art and the digital file, I made the magic happen on the embroidery machine. It turned out way better than expected. Usually we have to make some color change somewhere because it turned out to be lighter, darker, or a different tone than anticipated. This went well, very well. A minor easily-fixed file glitch that was all. Was it easy to do? Nope, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it. Enjoy!