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Hobby

Embroidery

Family era - ongoing since 2022

I bought a Brother SE600 embroidery machine to make one specific patch that didn't exist commercially - the exact hat and color combo I wanted. Once I had the machine, I didn't stop there. Over about two intense weeks I taught myself digitizing and stitching by making patch after patch: Mario, a Hylian Shield from Zelda, a Jurassic Park logo, a TMNT face, Bendy, American and Texas flags, Air Force wings, even a "Morin" name tape - basically anything I could think to try.

Some of it turned useful fast. I embroidered a name tag for our dog Ella's collar, and it's stuck around as the machine's most practical everyday job since.

The projects that stick with me are the ones made for someone specific: a "Wonka Bar" patch just for fun, and - most recently - a hat patch of my daughter's basketball jersey number, stitched in her school's colors to match her actual jersey.

The embroidery machine mid-stitch on a black Mario face patch
The machine mid-stitch on a Mario patch, early in the two-week binge that taught me how to use it.
A flat-lay of about ten finished embroidered patches on a desk
A flat-lay from that same stretch - Mario, Jurassic Park, a "Morin" name tape, a Hylian Shield, a Texas flag, a US flag, Air Force wings, a TMNT face, and more.
A finished American flag embroidered patch
A finished American flag patch.
A finished Texas flag-shaped embroidered patch
A finished Texas flag patch.
A Hylian Shield patch from Legend of Zelda, mid-final-stitch in the machine hoop
A Hylian Shield patch (Legend of Zelda), mid-final-stitch in the hoop.
A round Bendy character patch, black and white with an orange border
A round Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine) patch.
The Brother SE600 embroidery machine mid-stitch on an Air Force wings design
The Brother SE600 itself, mid-stitch on an Air Force wings design.
An embroidered name tag reading ELLA on a dog collar
An embroidered name tag reading "ELLA" on our dog's collar.
A Wonka Bar patch with purple and gold lettering on black, mid-stitch
A "Wonka Bar" patch, mid-stitch.
A hat patch with the number 14 stitched in green and white
A hat patch of my daughter's basketball jersey number, stitched in her school's green and white to match her actual jersey.
Video: the machine stitching that same jersey-number patch, start to finish.
A San Antonio Spurs city edition logo patch
A San Antonio Spurs city-edition logo patch.