Hellfire Club Hoodie using Bernina Embroidery Software 9

Description

Hello again! Like most people with a Netflix subscription right now, I’m really enjoying the new season of Stranger Things and the addition of the new, eccentric metalhead and DND enthusiast, Eddie Munson. And, after working on cosplays for the entire month of June, I wanted and quick and easy project to practice using my new Bernina embroidery software 9. So, I ordered an oversized black sweatshirt online and made myself this quick Hellfire Club hoodie!

This was my first time using the embroidery software, and though I haven’t had the time to go through and do the tutorials to learn about how to use the software, with my background in photoshop and illustrator, I found it pretty easy and intuitive to figure out how to upload an image and digitize it for basically instantaneous use on my 770 and embroidery module. I had visited my Bernina store where the owner, Gale Schliemann, had made a Hellfire Club t-shirt of her own and was nice enough to tell me where she had gotten the SVG and sent me her embroidery file of it. But, because I wanted more practice with the embroidery software, I decided to make my own for this project.

I started by buying the SVG of the Hellfire Club logo online, which cost me about five dollars. Though there are a lot of good versions of this image free on Google, I want to make sure the image was nice and crisp because I also plan on using the design to make an Eddie Munson/DND inspired quilt, so it was worth it to me to spring for the SVG. I uploaded the image into my software and scaled it to the size hoop I planned on using and just like that I clicked “auto-digitize” and I had an embroidery design ready to be loaded onto my USB and stitched out onto anything!

So, I hooped up my hoodie into my maxi hoop, which was honestly the hardest part of this project. The sweatshirt material was really thick, so getting it to stay snug in the hoop took some time, and I ended up having to use a lightweight stabilizer just so there wouldn’t be too much bulk. Once that was good to go, I attached the embroidery hoop before putting on foot and needle so I had enough room to mess around with the bulk of the sweatshirt so the embroidery module could move freely without getting held up by it, and then I put on my #26 foot, an embroidery needle, and began stitching!

As you can see in the photos, I decided to do this on a black hoodie, which posed a bit of a problem because the design was made to be done on white fabric. But, I used this as an opportunity to get creative with colors; since the design is so recognizable to anyone who has seen the show, I figured making it in a different color palette would be a cool way to make this design my own and not like something I could have gotten easily online. For the skull and flames, I stuck with red (isacord 1904), which is true to the original design, and then for the parts of the design that would be black– weapons, skill details, dice, and words, I used a light pink (isacord 2363), and for the fins and eyes on the skull, which should be yellow, I used a medium, warm toned pink (isacord 1840). I really like how this color palette turned out though if I had to do it again, I would have gone with a hot pink for the skulls and flames!

With the time it took to embroider the hoodie, I think this project took about two hours, and by the end of the afternoon, I had a super comfortable, personalized hoodie to snuggle into. I found that the lightweight stabilizer was really good because it wasn’t too stiff and was easy to tear away once I was ready to wear it, so I have no stray edges of stabilizer scratching my skin when I wear the hoodie.

I would definitely recommend this project if you are a beginner with the Bernina embroidery software. I have yet to play around with it too much, but, learning how to use the basic auto-digitizing function has already opened up a huge world of creativity for me to add personal touches to all my projects. And, if you’re just a huge fan of Stranger Things, having a DIY hellfire club hoodie would totally be Eddie Munson approved!

If you have any questions, please let me know! I would love to answer them!