Embroidery machine info
 

For Christmas I received a SE-400 machine..I'm having loads of fun, but need some help. (1) how do I keep the spools of thread from unraveling,is there a gadget or something to tame these things? (2) Is this just a fun thing or what does a quilter do with the little pieces of embroidery? I guess I need to have some ideas to incorporate into my craft. Thanks for any help.

There are all sorts of products out there for managing spools. I'm fond of a product called Hugo's Amazing Tape - it's plastic that is stretchy and self-adhering but not actually sticky. Sort of like Saran Wrap, but much thicker and on a roll like tape. I wrap my spools in a length of that stuff and they stay nice and contained. It's not cheap but it's endlessly reusable.

What to do with your embroidery? All sorts of things! If you're going to embroider on quilt-weight fabric, look for less dense designs; otherwise you have to add stabilizer and that can change the feel of the quilt. I've embroidered fairies and monkeys onto quilt blocks for boy and girl baby quilts. I've embroidered herbs onto kitchen towels as Christmas gifts. I've embroidered names onto the cuffs of handmade pillowcases. I embroidered old stereos onto patches that I made into hot-cup cuffs for my DH. And that's just barely scratching the surface of what you can do...

You can get patterns for "free standing lace" where you embroider onto wash-away stabilizer - then you wash away the stabilizer and you're left with a lace doohickey - maybe it's a coaster, maybe it's a Christmas ornament, maybe it's a lace cuff for a shirtsleeve....so many crafts and ideas are out there!

florists throw away the nets that come on the flowers. my florist is happy to just give them to me. the thread net tames the spools on the thread storage on the walls and also keeps them from unraveling when on the machine.

i have used the embroidery machine to quilt small quilt blocks since i'm not that good at fmq. it also does great redwork... here's a small redwork wall hanging i did for my sewing area http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...k-t260563.html

I love the hugo amazing tape also. You can also use pony tail ties
(the terry kind).

There are thread nets I use on my spools while I am using them
on the machine.

You can incorporated you little pieces into a miniature quilt.
https://www.google.com/search?q=embr...wQAJkQ_AUICCgC

I keep thread nets over all my threads. You can acquire them free at your local floral shop or if your grocery store has a floral shop within ask them if they would keep the nets for you. They are usually longer than you need but you can cut them in half for the shorter 1100yd spools and they're tall enough for those larger than life cones. Keeps the threads from unravelling when not in use. I have a drawer full of the nets when my older cotton thread nets bite the dust. They seem to unravel themselves in time. The flower nets do not even after cutting them.