Patent ID: 8161895

Claim:
A method for free-hand embroidering on a sewing material with a sewing machine which has access to a memory for stitch data for a sewing pattern and a processor for reading said stitch data and for causing the sewing machine to execute stitches according to stitch data, which sewing machine has a needle which performs a reciprocating movement along substantially a perpendicular to the sewing material, and a sewing material feeder for moving the sewing material in a direction which comprises at least one of a component for a first coordinate and a component for a second coordinate, which processor, when an automatic mode is selected, guides movements according to said direction with respect to the position of the needle and synchronously with the movement of the needle for the execution of stitches according to the sewing pattern, and which method, when the sewing machine is switched to a free-hand mode, the method comprising: storing stitch data in said memory for at least one stitch type for use during said free-hand embroidering, choosing a stitch type, generating first control signals, indicating a requested main sewing path by using a hand-operated control, detecting continuously said first control signals in a processor, using, in the processor, said first control signals and stored stitch data for the chosen stitch type, to generate second control signals, and controlling the sewing material feeder by the processor, via said second control signals, for the execution of stitches in accordance with stored stitch data for the chosen stitch type and the requested main sewing path indicated by the first control signals.