Tips & Techniques

Omnigram Stitching (Without Hoop)

Always use the "S" foot. It is the widest foot you have.

When you use the S foot for omnigrams, it has 3 grooves in the bar across the front of the foot. I find those very useful. I actually took a permanent marking pen and colored the center slot RED. That makes the center stand out when you are trying to follow a line of stitching. NEVER WATCH THE NEEDLE, ONLY WATCH THE SIDES OF THE FOOT.

The omnigram stitches move sideways sometimes to the right and then to the left, but they also go backwards and forwards too.

When I want to stitch a long line of these stitches, I draw a line with a water soluble marking pen and my ruler at least 1" from the edge of the fabric. As the stitching starts, it will move sideways so you will need that extra space. Practice on a piece of muslin or something and make sure you have stabilizer under it.

Now, put the foot down on the fabric with the center groove of the foot on that drawn line. Now draw a line on each side of the foot too. You can use a ruler to extend those lines.

As the stitch starts it will move right and left, so you want to feel the rhythm of the stitch as it moves. Each time as it moves to the right and then starts coming back towards the left, the center of the foot will touch on that center line. The important thing for you to watch is the sides of the foot. You always want that foot to stay straight with those drawn lines. Don't let the fabric slant. Just hold it gently so you can make sure it is feeding straight at all times and you can see the sides of the foot are always parallel to those lines.

You might have better luck keeping it straight if you use the "stop" button to do one omnimotion stitch at a time and use the needle down, so that at the end of each stitch, the needle will be down and the foot will rise to the pivot position and you have the opportunity to straighten the foot a tiny bit to keep the foot parallel to those lines.

It will just take some practice. Each stitch will move slightly different, so you should practice first to feel how the stitch moves around. The drawn line is very important so you can see that the foot is always straight with the drawn line.

You can program in an omnigram flower and then choose the same design, but this time, mirror it horizontally to give it a wavy look when stitching one after the other.

You can program a flower and then a vine and then press "repeat" and it will sew flower, leaf, flower, leaf, etc.

You can change the sizes of these designs by changing the "stitch length and the stitch width". Or just change the "stitch length" or just change the "stitch width". These omnigram stitches can look so many different ways just by changing sizes of them.

If you only want one flower to stitch out, just choose the flower and touch "stop" and it will stitch just one and tie off. This looks wonderful on collar points. Try sizing it. You can easily decorate a cuff on a shirt or blouse or down the placket of a blouse or shirt.