The logo for Cosmically Unlucky; a sad bee in a honeycomb shape
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Curious what the studio looks like? Here is your virtual behind-the-scenes tour!

A photograph of the embroidery machine workspace. Several objects are shown, including the embroidery machine, a cutting and ironing mat, a pegboard with embroidery tools, and stationery supplies

The above image shows the space where most of the work happens. For a sense of scale, this middle section of the table is about 1.5m/5' wide! This space is where we cut and prepare fabric, and of course where the machine operates to make our patches. This machine is relatively small compared to a lot of commercial embroidery machines, but she's still powerful enough that we had to put vibration-absorbing feet designed for washing machines on her so that she wouldn't destroy the table (and our floors)! This is also where we do any finishing work required on the patches, and put together orders using our little shipping centre. We put our abundance of cardboard to good use by turning it into custom boxes and shelves whenever we can!

A photograph showing more of the embroidery workspace. The embroidery machine, thread rack, and fabric rack are pictured.

Here is the other part of our main workspace. We can't work without thread and fabric, so we keep it nearby so it's always handy when we need it.

A photograph of a custom thread rack

This thread rack is a one-of-a-kind, built by Cody using a design created by Robin. Robin was frustrated that they couldn't find a pre-built wall-mounted thread rack which fit all the variety of threads and cone lengths we use regularly at Cosmically Unlucky, so they designed one in SketchUp that met the requirements. Cody took the design and made it come to life - thank you, Cody!

A photograph of a fabric rack. The rack holds fabric and embroidery stabilizers, embroidery hoops, tools for the embroidery machine and supplies for art markets

Our fabric rack holds more than just fabric. Every patch we make is embroidered on stabilizers, which ensures the patches embroidery consistently by keeping the fabric from moving around too much. We also keep the embroidery hoops for the machine on this rack when they are not in use. You can see the small one is hooped with a test pattern fabric. Every time we boot the machine up, we run some basic satin stitch tests to make sure stitches are running evenly and the machine is properly oiled before we make patches.

A photograph of another storage rack. The rack holds a serger and small embroidery machine, as well as books and manuals. Hanging off the side of the rack are embroidered jackets.

On the other side of the room, we have the less-used but still important machine rack. On the right-hand side of the top rack is the first embroidery machine Robin bought to start Cosmically Unlucky - you can even see the reference card Robin stitched out and inserted into the machine, so they could easily see what sizes and densities to use for embroidered patch designs. This machine is mostly retired now, but still gets used occasionally as a sewing machine (such as attaching patches to the embroidered jackets hanging off the rack on the left). We keep our machine manuals and sewing patterns on this rack as well. Finally, the bottom shelf holds Robin's favourite graphic design reference books and the Cardcaptor Sakura manga Robin is currently reading through with a beginner's Japanese book club.