The only person I know who has an embroidery foot is my boyfriend's mum, and I gave it as an Xmas present so I probably shouldn't ask to borrow it!

 I like collecting sewing tools though even if I don't use them ha. I've got a heat gun and granite chopping board for experimenting with tyvek, but I still haven't used them. But it's  nice to know they're there

Thank you, I'll post updates when I'm a bit further along, probably with more questions 

Thank you for all the lovely messages :). I'm looking forward to seeing your projects

the back of the work should show a small amount of top thread for the tensions to be right.  Even on a zig zag stitch that would be correct.
@Morrie Brother do a couple of different ones.  And I can’t remember which is which.  -<
Ah just checked it’s my mum who has some.  :). The grey reel is the smooth one.

I can't turn my top tension up any more than it already is, so would that mean I should lower the bobbin tension in order to see more of the top thread on the under side? Thank you for the bobbin thread details, I'll buy it and try it out :)

The sorts of designs I want to do are much bigger than most of the machines embroidery sizes I've seen, so I doubt I'll be buying anything soon! All the more reason to try to get a good result freehand.

Yes the design is chalk - I used carbon transfer paper and traced it on there. The bobbin thread isn't white, it's black, and it can be hard for me to tell if it's bobbin thread I'm seeing or a gap, although I'm taking a lot of care to rotate on the outer side of curves. Thank you, I'll try replacing that thread with the top thread.

Here's a photo of the back:

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I haven't hooped it for a few reasons - I don't have an embroidery foot, so I can't get the hoop under the foot (I'll buy one if you think that would help? I'm using a see-through open toed foot at the moment), I find hooping quite painful (nerve pain problems in my hands), and I'm worried about messing with the fabric grain. I need it to stay straight, as it's for a single layer corset, and if the grain isn't straight, then the pattern will be off and I've heard that could cause problems with the fit. I'm willing to try though as a last resort. It will be quite heavily boned and pulled taught, so I'm hoping that will offset any ripples in the fabric, but I don't know yet.

I've tried reducing the top tension from 3 to 1.5 but it doesn't seem to make any difference to top or bottom sides of the stitching which I thought was weird. I was wondering if the auto-tension function was over-riding it, I should check the manual.

Even though it's for clothing, I don't think people will really see as many problems as I see. Especially as in all likelihood it'll just be occasional evening-wear. But I know it's there, and that's irking me a bit. I'm also planning to submit it as next years foundations revealed competition entry, so that's driving me to push for a bit better too.

I'll let you know how replacing the bobbin thread goes, and I'll have another look at the tension. Thank you for your suggestions :)

That's the corset rather than my body! It's around a 2inch - 3inch waist reduction here

As you will soon find out we are a nosey lot and like to see what people are making, so photos or links to photos are always welcome.

Ah well in that case! This is my most recent corset toile (with masking tape instead of binding to hold the bones) -

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and I'm trying to make the finished corset with this design embroidered on it -

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I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm taking it one step at a time

I'm self-taught so very in need of support when google fails. Happy to be here, and hope I can help others as much as others can help me . At the moment I'm especially interested in embroidery and corsetry, and trying to do both in my current project