Freehand Machine Embroidery

 When you lower the feed dogs on your sewing machine you have the freedom to move the fabric in any direction you wish (left, right, forward and backwards). This is freehand machine embroidery.  I spent a little time today playing with this technique.
You need a darning foot, a embroidery hoop, to hold the fabric taut, thread and of course fabric to start.
To lower the feed dogs refer to your machine manual, on some machines you need to cover the feed dogs instead of lowering. I practiced on scrap fabric using a straight and zigzag stitch until I ran out of bobbin thread. I began with a small 5'' hoop but this was not big enough.On the red sample below I used a 12'' hoop this is a good size for my machine.The fabric is mounted on the hoop the opposite way to normal.
 The stitch length is determined by how fast you move the hoop. If you move the hoop slowly the stitches are short, quickly and the stitches are very long.
It's fun and easy to freehand machine embroider, try it.