Wow! I'm finally figuring out my new machine (Brother PE 770)! And I'm having a ball! I downloaded some Irish flowers from Embroidery Library and I've decided to make a quilt with the squares. I'm managing one flower per day, but they are absolutely beautiful! Here are pictures of the first two:

Sylviak, so glad you're having fun. They are beautiful designs. I have the same machine and love it. I'm sure many of our members will share sites where you can load up on free designs, too.

Sylviak,
Those flowers are gorgeous! There's more designs on sale from emblibrary.com this week. They always post the new designs every Tuesday at 3 pm. I usually buy my designs from them since I don't have the time the check on the net for other sights.

Keep an eye on your emails because if you buy from them once a month then they'll include you in the special of the month; it can be either any 10 designs for $10 or something just as great. This month is my birthday so I can get design packs for %50 off and it's a good thing that I have all month to chose because Im so undecided. My wish list is filling up fast.

I save all of my bits of stablizer for mending when my stabilizer tears during the embroidery process. I just spray it with a little June Tailor spray adheasive and attach it; it even works on the water soluable one. Or if I need to make it more sturdy for a design I do the same thing by doubling up on the areas that need it. It saves alot. Also when doing free standing lace and you need to go back and starch it to stiffen it up if you don't have starch just dissolve the stablizer in water and you have your starch medium. The other thing that I use almost every time I embroidery is the painters blue tape. I normally use my 200x320 hoop and the stabilizer on the roll (since it's cheaper) but it just barely fits so I run tape along one edge and this gives just enough extra width after hooping to pull it tight and then I stick the tape down on the side and it holds it secure. I actually used tape along alot of the outside edges before I knew what the little clips were for that came with my Viking. Hope this helps someone.

Now, I could call the dealer and get an answer, but so much more fun to get answers here. Question 1.. I have a Janome 9700, do I need to buy embroidery software for the designs I download? If so, what kind? Question 2..When I try to open designs I've downloaded , my PC will tell me they can't open the jef. file exe. without the right file association. I have no idea how to correct this. Actually, I have no idea what it means!!LOL I've never been taught anything technical about computers, just bought one and learned how to send emails and surf the web. You should see all the free designs I have on my PC, and after 1 1/2 years of having the machine I still haven't tried to embroidery anything!

Great tip. Someone just sent me some tiny clips and I had no idea what they were for!

I have a Janome 350e which is great. I wish it could take the larger hoops because I am limited in size.

It uses jef patterns, and I have heard that some digitizers say no one uses .jef anymore. I think they recommended .pes instead. Has anyone tried other patterns with it such as .pes?

On my hoop around the edge there are areas every so many inches that the clips fit into; they will only go in on way on mine which is good or I'd probably put them in backwards. My book that came with the machine mentioned the clips as coming with it but didn't say for what. I had figured out the tape before I went into the store and was talking to the rep and telling her some issues I had and she asked me if I used the clips. She then showed me how to use them and what they were for. My Viking #1 has great big teaching books with it and it's funny now that machines cost an arm and a leg the books are almost none exsistant. Good thing I have a good LQS/dealer; this board and the projects and videos on emblibrary.com to help me out. The other thing that I finally got figured out this past weekend was getting my free standing lace done with the cone thread, polyester without breaking all the time. I was told to use an 11 sharp needle but that didn't help. I was using the right stablizer and going slower but had been battling this since Christmas. I went this weekend and got a larger needle; not a sharp since they were out, I have it going slow and problem solved. The thing the sharp helps with is that it keeps from tearing the stablizer so I had to double up on it; another great way to use those extra pieces. I just sprayed them then adheared them to the stablizer in the hoop let dry for a few seconds and it's all good. Hopefully this weekend I can get the sharp needles; right now I'm using the embroidery ones.So this has been a learning experience for me as well as frustration. On the other hand I have a head start on the lace ornaments for Christmas and the Easter baskets that I got frustrated with and quit doing because I ran out of time. They'll be ready for next year.

My machine came with a baseline software to save the files in so that I can see them. There is a free program called ERA Universal that is supposed to be a full digitizing program; I'm sure there are others this one sounds really good. I'm going to download it this weekend. If you save your files in something like that you'll be able to see them. The other thing that I suggest is that when you download them create folders like one that says holidays then create a sub folder in it for each holiday and do a save as for the design and name it for what the design is; like Easter Bunny.jef (depending on machine) in the Easter folder; DO NOT change the file extension names. Most designs are named by numbers and then if you can't see them you have no idea what they are. I download all of mine into a folder called Orders and then separate them into their own folder. You should check your area to see if your LQS has a embroidery class that could get you started in the right direction. Good luck with it all.

romanojb,
Lol! Yes I get those deals as well. I think I have close to 300 designs loaded on my usb flash drive and have used some. I want to do the freestanding lace myself, I did one long ago and they are so beautiful. I wanted to get the Easter designs but was late in getting them at the sale price. I didn't know that for one's bday you can get 50% off! Is that automatically sent to you or do u have to sign up for it? I haven't done much embroidery lately since I'm in the process of moving and I can't wait!

You know, I'm really enjoying this thread and since we are on page 53, I suppose there are a lot of us enjoying it. Just wonder if our administrators could make this a separate section? I have it bookmarked, but would love to find the thread with one click!

thanks Judy, will try that.

When I setup my account and set up my profile I entered the info. Recently I went up and updated my profile but couldn't find the birthdate field and so I emailed them and they assured me that it was set up. They'll have the baskets up there all year and there are even some that don't have a holiday design so they can be used for just about anything. I'm going to keep on working on mine. When I first started doing them they said that polyester was stronger than rayon and I had lots of cone thread so I was excited. Now they say use rayon. I like the cone thread because I can set up my machine and wind a lot of bobbins and then not have to worrry about running out of thread. They look really nice too. I've almost got it down pat using the cone thread without any problems and with a cone of thread on sale being 3 to $5 that's a great deal. I also did some lace ornaments at Christmas and tried to make the lace bags for Valentine's day; now I can make more. I just wait until they have a great sale going on. Good luck in the moving; I don't envy you. I was military for many years and did some moving of my own. Here's to a speedy move and quickly getting back to sewing.

I have a babylock EMP 6 I just love it

I too was a military wife for 23 yrs so I know the pain of moving! This is my final one unless later I can buy a home but right now its going to have to do. Joann's recently had their cones (serger cones??) on sale for $1.00 each. I didn't buy any since I have enough, if this is the type of cone you are referring to. The rayon threads gives a pretty "gleem" to the embroidery but I have seen some done with just regular thread. I did however purchase cotton thread (when it was on sale at Joann's) and will try that as well for freestanding lace. And btw, Joann's will have ALL of their thread on 50% off I believe starting April 15-18th. I usually buy sulky thread (never had a problem with it) and at 1/2 price its a deal.

I have the Babylock Ellisimo, I love it. Have made decorated lots of sweatshirts, table runners, a couple of quilts,pillowcases. Havent had a chance to do much with it lately as my mom has been critically ill since Christmas. I lost her on March 12, so she has been gone a month today, she was my biggest fan. I made the Embroidered quilt for her and she absolutely loved it. Hope to get back to quilting and embroidering soon. With this machine I learn something new about what it can do every time I use it.

My hubby and I have a Singer XL5000 that we bought used and I do the embroidering for the inserts for seats that my husband sews he's an upholsterer. I also do little stuff for us at the house and am wanting to do a quilt top but haven't started it yet.

Do you all put your designs on discs or flash drives so that they don't take up as much room on the computer? I have over 4000 designs on the computer but not sure how to do this without losing any of them?

I have all of my designs on my computer and another computer in the house has most of them. My computer is backed up online twice a week, so they should all be there. I need to make some time to be sure everything is in it's proper folder and then I will burn a DVD or two just to be safe.

Yes, that's the thread. It works for baskets and the ornaments. When I do things like my daughters nativity scene I used the rayon for the reason you said. I also used it for my change purse and for other things that I want to have that shine

After I have downloaded about 20-30 embroidery files, I download them on a separate flash drive and do another backup on a rewritable disk. I lost mine once and a lot of them at that were freebies, because I wanted to try them out and had to start all over. Some of them I could never replace, because they were only available for a certain time. Most of the ones I purchase I still back up. Some companies will let you download again, but others don't.
I save all mine by category (animals, flowers, etc) and number them as I go. I do save a picture of them in a book ( also by category), so I can take the book and look them when I don't have my computer with me and am looking for a design. I also have the ERA program and use it to look at the designs, instead of on my embroidery machine. I have the Brother PE770 and the picture is mostly a blob, so I look at it on that prgram on my computer.

QUOTE=sewred;5134913]Do you all put your designs on discs or flash drives so that they don't take up as much room on the computer? I have over 4000 designs on the computer but not sure how to do this without losing any of them?[/QUOTE]

Freddie: what program do you use to view your downloads? None of my are viewable on my computer and I want to do as you have done and have a picture of my designs. PLEASE help me. THANKS in advance. Diane

Freddie, what size monitor does your computer have? ERA says it needs at least a 17" screen and my laptop is only 15". Would I have a problem seeing everything?

Diane,

This is a new program that I just learned about, sounds like what you are looking for, hope the attachment works!

http://embrilliance.com/products/emb...ce-thumbnailer

Bev

Bevsie: Thanks, I'll check into this. Diane

I have a couple. I use ERA Universal the most. It is a free programming system, but I send away for the disk and that cost me 14.99 Type in ERA Universal or free Sierra software (then click on dealers. I bought mine from Brown pixelprint.com, but there are others. Two pages) You also can enlarge and make smaller and of course digitize, but I don't digitize that much. They do haveLiberty too, but that cost money. Then I have Wilson true sizer, also free.

I have mine on my laptop, the 15.3 inch. No problem. It has Windows 7. I had it also on my desktop one, but that computer crashed. I have a new 21 inch desktop now, but my husband uses that one the most and therefor I have not downloaded ERA on that one. I did like the bigger better, but the laptop is handier.

I just woke up, because it is Btownpixel, not Brown. However, I just typed in my embroidery mentor (Deborah Jones) and she has it. You have tp pay $14.95 for shipping and handling.It is quite a program and there is a learning curve, if you want to learn digitizing. However, it is great for slight enlarging,reducing, taking out parts of the embroidery and viewing without a lot of problems. I am starting to use it more and more for doing my own thing. Play with it.


u QUOTE=Freddie;5139745]I have a couple. I use ERA Universal the most. It is a free programming system, but I send away for the disk and that cost me 14.99 Type in ERA Universal or free Sierra software (then click on dealers. I bought mine from Brown pixelprint.com, but there are others. Two pages) You also can enlarge and make smaller and of course digitize, but I don't digitize that much. They do haveLiberty too, but that cost money. Then I have Wilson true sizer, also free.[/QUOTE]

Just started experimenting with using my embroidery machine for quilting and am very happy! Here's my first project - for the April Doll Quilt Swap.

did you put it in a hoop? with all three layers???

Yes. It was so easy and I really like the result! Here's the back. I did some initial stitching on my sewing machine to hold it in place, but I think that next time I'll just baste by hand.

Freddier what is wilson true sizer?

jUST AN FYI: www.emblibrary.com is having a wonderful sale! use the coupon called Rebate4U (as it is typed) and you can get ten (10) designs for $10.40! It expires on Sunday April 15th at 12:00 midnight CT.

Another great sale at Heartstrings Embroidery - singles on sale for 75 cents! They have lots of prim designs that I want to use on a muslin quilt. I stocked up on crows and samplers, too!

trusizer..
 

Do you mean wilcom? www.wilcom.com/truesizer is a free program (after registering) for resizing and converting formats of embroidery designs, and shows pix of the designs. I do not use it because I have PE Design software that does all that. But I have a viewer program for quick scan and printing off the design I want to stitch. I hope this answers your question--IF this was what you asked.

I have the older Pfaff 7570 and 2140...haven't done much embroidery lately...but do several craft shows in fall so will have to get busy. I've done kids quilts that are really cute! also lots of flour sack teatowels...especially with "dutch" designs as we live close to a dutch town.

Do you know if this program will convert from HUS or PES etc to ART format?