Really Cool Applique Script!

A few days before Christmas a picture popped up in my Facebook feed that really intrigued me. I quickly purchased the Applique Script Alphabet once Hang To Dry Applique released it, and finally today I got around to using it!!

Cool, right? And how about that adorable model?? ;)

This alphabet is really neat. The letters are individually digitized with gaps so that when you merge them together in software it creates the appearance of a continuous stitch. Since it's a simple running stitch for placement and a triple bean stitch for tackdown, it can be resized. Dashiell has such a long name--I had to shrink it to 77% to get it to fit on his shirt, and it stitched just fine!
At the machine, this goes very fast. Run the placement stitch, lay down the fabric, then stitch the final color. All the trimming is done at the end, so I took the shirt off the hoop and trimmed it out while watching a movie with my daughter. Here's what it looks like right out of the hoop:

Lots of little jumps to trim, but when they are gone, it looks like one big continuous stitch. At first I thought about just trimming around the outside like this:

But I felt like the details needed to be trimmed more. The openings inside the letters are small (especially since I reduced it in size) so some of them are just tiny slits. But it makes it look more legible.

 And confessions of a cheap mom... I finally joined Applique Forum (which I'm really enjoying!) to get a coupon code for the design set, this shirt was a free hand-me-down, and I used a scrap of knit left over from making Dashiell's birthday shirt.

 I really like the look of this and I'm anxious to play with it more!