Pregnancy is a beautiful image but it's especially beautiful if you are about to give birth to a rainbow baby. What's a rainbow baby? A rainbow baby is a baby that is born after the Mother has had a miscarriage or loss of a baby. I personally have not experienced it but I know several Momma's that have. So I wanted to come up with a way I could make special one of a kind embroidery designs to add to the baby's clothes.

This Instructable will walk you through the steps to create the design on Embrilliance Stitch Artist software using a computer. You also will need an embroidery machine that uploads designs from your computer to your machine in order to stitch the design on to your items.

Step 1: Load and Prepare Your Image

1. Click on the preferences tab to set the size of your embroidery hoop. 100 mm x 100 mm is a 4x4 inch design, which is the size most hobby embroidery machines use.

2. Click on the create tab so that it switches over to create mode. A new bar will appear so you can load your image.

3. Click on the image tab, and find your image that has been saved to your computer.

4.The tab that is next to the Image tab will show or hide your picture that you are tracing.

Step 2: Create Your Silhouette

1. Click the create with points tab. A large black arrow will appear on your screen and you will left click around your picture where you would like the silhouette to be.

2. Trace it completely around until you are back to the spot where you began. Then right click to end making the design. You will see in my example picture all the white dots around my image. Those are the spots that I clicked as I traced it.

3. After you right click the design it will show up as an outline, you will click the fill tab so that the design is filled with a fill stitch instead of an outline.

4. You can select the hide background image tab because you are done with the photo you loaded now that you have your silhouette design created.

Step 3: Add Hearts

1. Click the merge design tab and a box will open with options of different shapes. Scroll down on the left until you see the heart and click on it. Then find the heart shape you would like to use and select it.

2. Use the fill tab to fill the heart with a fill stitch just like how you did the silhouette.

3. Go to the right edge of the screen where you will find the box with an option to change colors. Make sure you have your heart selected and change the heart to the color you will be using. In my example I used rainbow colors. So the first heart is red.

4. You can move the heart into the desired place over the top of the silhouette at this time. You can move the heart by clicking/holding the green square in the center of the heart and moving it to the silhouette over the Mommy's prego belly.

5. You will copy each heart by right clicking it, selecting copy, right clicking again, and selecting paste. Your copy will arrive directly over the top of the original, so click the and drag the green box to move it around. You can size the copy heart smaller by clicking and dragging the black corners of it.

6. You can move and adjust the copy just like you did the other, and change the color (just like before) to the next rainbow color. Which would be orange on this one.

7. Repeat (last two steps) the copy, sizing, and color adjustments for all the other copy hearts. So you should have a red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple hearts.

Step 4: Add Text

1. Click on create letters tab. It will open a box in the bottom right corner. Type your text you want to add in the box that has ABC in it, and then click the set tab next to the box.

Note: You can upload your own embroidery fonts if you have a software like sew what pro (I used custom fonts in the design I stitched out).

2. To change the color of each individual letter you will double click the letter on the center green square that's over the letter. Then change the color just like how you did for hearts.

3. If you would like to move the text so it's arched, double click the letter you would like to move on the center green square that's over the letter. Then click and drag the green square until you move the letter to the desired area so the text appears to be arched.

Step 5: Stitch Time

1. All there is left to do is to save your design. Click file, save as (stitch and working), and then click the correct file type to save it for your machine. My machine takes PES files.

2. Follow the directions for you individual machine for uploading it from your computer.

3. Stitch your design to your desired items. (I chose a cloth diaper for the new baby)

I love that you can create custom designs for each individual Mom, and use her own silhouette to make the design unique and special.