Hello Bernina Lovers !

Embroidery is something that I have always loved. I remember being a little girl ad spending hours with my grandma doing cross stitch. I was amazed by the beauty a few color threads and organized stitches could create.

So when I finally dived into the sewing passion I decided to buy a dual machine that could do both sewing and embroidery.

I then purchased a machine that could do both embroider and sew.

I did some cute embroideries with it, I specially remember embroidering a Hello Kitty at the back of a cute bomber jacket I had sewn for my then 3 years old girl. Her favorite jacket of all times…

A few years ahead, I got my Bernina Q570, wow, what a change! You can see that this sewing/embroidery machine is much sturdier than the one I had previously. I have done some embroideries with my machine and I just love it. So a few months ago, I decided I would make a special gift for a special friend. She lives in Amsterdam (where I lived for a few years and where we met) and I live in the South of France so I thought I could make something sweet I could sent her by mail.

Our daughters were besties, and at some point they started saying the non-sense sentence “Chee Chee Lanka”… So us, adults, we started saying the same non-sense sentence all the time… literally all the time… So much, we decided we were the Chee Chee Lanka team (of what? Who knows).

My friend always wears black clothes so I thought that making a black t-shirt with a special embroidery could be a good souvenir of our times together, something she could wear to remember our friendship.

The Chee Chee Lanka Tee-shirt was born

I chose a black t-shirt and red thread so the sentence would be visible.

At first, I was afraid to embroider on a t-shirt, because of the elasticity of the fabric, but with the correct materials and my machine, everything went smoothly.

Here are the simple steps I followed in order to get this personalized tee-shirt thanks to the embroidery option that my Bernina Q570 offers. I used the smaller embroidery hoop and a sticky embroidery paper, that would facilitate my first time ever embroidering on a t-shirt.

It is so satisfying watching the embroidery become alive once you press the start button. Once the embroidery was finished, I just had to remove the extra paper underneath and I did it with a sewing pin.

I love how the t-shirt looks. And I also love the idea of having THAT special item no one else can have because you personally embroider it, you choose what you want to embroider, the colors, and of course, the item you want to embroider.

So nowadays, I am thinking on buying basic wardrobe pieces that I like, in different colors and materials, in order to personalize them with embroideries… but I would need your help, what would you embroider on a t-shirt, or a pouch?

I’d love to see your ideas so I can put my Q570 to work!

In the past I used to make handmade gifts, which took me half of my life as there was always a birthday around the corner. It is actually much easier to do a beautiful embroidery on something in order to make a special gift but that doesn’t take all your time, what do you think?

PS 1. It goes without saying that my friend loved the gift. I even thought of making another one for me to be team mates wearing the same Chee Chee Lanka tee 😉

PS 2. In my next article I will show you a cutie I made at the same time for my friend’s daughter, I couldn’t do something for my bestie and not do it for my daughter’s bestie.