I know that there are embroidery forums on yahoo but I like being able to come here so it'd be nice if they'd add us to the list along with the machines, recipes and organizing, etc. I think we should blend in just fine.

these are really pretty and I think the price is great. I can see me ordering some before the next holiday season rolls around. Thank you so much.

According to Fons and Porter the poly isn't as good as the cotton for QAYG.

Hi, Crafty,
Yes, I, too, have an embroider which I haven't used yet for my Bernina 440QE. I also have a Brother, about 15 years old, which I have used in the past for some fun things. Emjay

I have a futura, the extension you want is for pes files. Go sign up with OPW and you can get free patterns to start out with until you get used to the machine and the also have several good people who digitize the patterns.

I have a Brother Innovis 4000D and use Embird software for all my embroidery needs - changing formats, combining patterns, decreasing/increasing designs and generally viewing and unzipping zip files. Don't use it for digitizing - enough embroidery patterns out there without my bumbling effort. :-)

I bought the Floriani Suite Pro digitizing software in
January when I bought my new Brother 1500D, but
so far the only thing I have done is installed it on my
desktop computer.

Haven't learned how to use it yet, when I have the time
to go take some training classes I don't have the extra
money, but when I have the money there isn't any time
(been working 2 jobs last few weeks).

It IS my desire to learn how to use my software so that
I can convert my logo into a digitized design and put it on
items.

I bought the florani software also. I have not figured it out yet! Sure is not as easy as the demonstrator made it look! I did make a label got it sent to my machine and it sewed out great...then I looked closer and discovered I spelled the name wrong! So I quit, will wait till I have time to play with it!

I think I would use Floriani's iron on mesh. It stabilizes without ruining the drape.

Whoops - when I suggested the Floriani iron-on mesh, I forgot that it's a scarf. Use a lightweight tear-away stabilizer such as Floriani's tearaway mesh in the hoop so you can remove the extra stabilizer when you finish the embroidery.

I bought Pfaff's Creative Sensation in December in Tucson from my great Tucson dealer. I told the gals there that I was going to spend the next 4 months (before I left Tucson for CT) making as many mistakes as possible so they could show me the RIGHT way to use the machine. It worked! Plus we were able to work out a few kinks in the machine. A few times I was ready to throw in the towel - burn-out from spending so much time learning the machine - but it was worth it. Here in CT, the nearest dealer is about 45 minutes away, so if I have a problem, I'll be calling Tucson!

I LOVE this machine. It embroiders beautifully AND it has a HUGE throat for quilting. I've even started taking baby steps to FMQ. There are a lot of quilting designs built in AND it's very easy to re-size any design right in this machine. I can re-size a commercial embroidery design, too. Piece of cake. I bought the Grand Dream hoop, 340 x 350 (I think - hoop is upstairs) - which is a hoop on which you can split designs. Amazing. You start sewing on one side, take the hoop off the machine, turn it around and reattach, and sew the other side. Next, I'm going to buy the continuous hoop. I have that for my 2170 Pfaff, and it was the hoop I used the most - and not just for continuous designs. I found it to be the easiest one to line up designs - my least favorite part of embroidery.

Oh boy if any of you are into the "antique" themed things go
see what Embroidery Library has on sale this week.

So many designs so little money.

LOL
Enjoy!!!

I love Embroidery Library! It's addictive! When you look at how much other sites charge, you just have to go back to those great deals. And they all stitch out so pretty!

Nice all three, you do great work.

Love Embroidery Library - but I also love Oregon Patchworks. Lots of beauties there, too.

Thank you. The silk thread looks great. Do you use a large embroidery needle so the thread doesn't shred?

Louise-
I love the Floriani software. They offer so much help with videos and webinars. They have an online forum that offers great information as well.

Good luck with your software. I'm glad to know you are out there.

I too have the Floriani software. I haven't digitized anything from scratch yet, but I've used it to edit purchased designs - through which I've become pretty comfortable with the software and how designs are constructed. I have had a few issues that I've reported - not always 100% satisfied with the response,

But lonestar, could I ask you a question:

In the help guide, it says that the menus should operate using the ALT key. For example, Alt F brings up the File menu, then pressing S saves a file. Does that work for you? It doesn't for me and I reported it but did not get any kind of satisfactory response. I prefer it since I try to limit use of the mouse due to issues with my hand. Just wondering.

Thanks,
Cathy

I have a Janome 10001 and love it. This is my 3rd Janome, having upgraded from an 8000 to a 9000 and to the 10001 4 or 5 years ago. Now that I've retired, I hope to put it to much more use than before!

After taking a stabilizer class with Floriani, I found that the general rule of thumb is that you need one layer of stabilizer for every 10,000 stitches. Since I started following that rule, my embroidery is much better. You don't necessarily have to spray a floated stabilizer with adhesive, I never have and don't have a problem with it moving once you start stitching.

I do this with my leftover bits of stabilizer. I put them in a jar with some water and then have a thick starch that I paint on my free standing lace designs. I use a paint brush. It adds a nice body to the lace.

I use PES format with mine. It should have come with some software to download to your machine.
Snownannie

Margie,
I am trying to decide between Babylock Elegante 2 and Bernina 830E. what do you say about the quality/useability/sturdiness of the machines. I have always used Bernina but their price is daunting. I have a 165e currently that the embroidery module is dead on.
thanks for your opinion.
Rosiesews

[QUOTE=rosiesews;5210146]Margie,
I am trying to decide between Babylock Elegante 2 and Bernina 830E. what do you say about the quality/useability/sturdiness of the machines. I have always used Bernina but their price is daunting. I have a 165e currently that the embroidery module is dead on.
thanks for your opinion.
Rosiesews[/QUOTE

Rosiesews,
I don't have an Elegante 2, wish I did, but I do own the Babylock Ellure Plus and the Melody. I own 2 other babylock machines and they are user friendly. I don't know anything about Berninas but I can say that Babylock do have good sales right now according to the nearest dealer to you. Good luck!

Bettysew; Thanks so much for posting this guideline!!

Just a suggestion; Since we don't have individual subject lines here maybe it woud be less confusing if we hit 'reply with quote' when responding to a specific post. Sometimes our responses get posted a few pages away from the intitial posting and it's confusing to understand what is being referred to in a posting. Just a thought.....

I know Bernina's are a proven workhorse. However, I am going to stand up for my Babylocks!! They are beyond awesome!! And... as you have noticed...slightly more affordable. Just my 2 cents worth

Not a bad idea, but if you choose to do that ... trim!

I would like to know more about your stabilizers. What KIND do you use for dense stitching of 60,000-80,000 stitches? You say your don't float and you don't spray. I've never had any float, but I do have some trouble with my fabric getting some puckers when I embroider with these dense designs. I have started basting around the outside edge of the area before I hoop my fabric and stabilizer and I find that that has helped. I think some of my problem may be caused by lack of strength in my wrists to pull the fabric taut enough in the hoop. When I get a small pucker, I toss the fabric and start over again and that is expensive since I am doing very large designs on suede place mats.

Today I stopped by the sewing machine store and they had loads of designs stitched out. Several I already have and it inspired me to do more with my embroidery (baby lock) machine. I like to use the designs for quilt blocks but would like to be a bit more brave and perhaps personalize some clothing.

I have the Viking and Pfaff sewing/embroidery machines, but also have the Brother 10 needle embroidery machine. If you already have a good sewing machine and want something for embroidery I would go straight for the 6 or 10 needle machines (BablyLock or Brother), in which the 6 needle is probably equal to the Elegante, and the 10 needle is probably less than the Bernina 830.

After 3 years I upgraded from 6 needle to 10 needle. Until you use these wonderful machines you don't realize the time they save, as well as the absolute perfect embroidery you get each and every time. For some reason you just never seem to get any puckers ever, and I do designs that are stitch intensive (last one was 70,000 stitches), and love to do FSL.

Since they do not have the bed that a sewing/embroidery machine has, you can hoop cloth grocery bags, pillowcases, socks, etc. with no effort and no fussing with the material. And I just finished embroiderying quilt motiffs on many many blocks, as well as doing the entiere border on the 10 needle for a quilt that was about 36 inches wide and 60 inches long.

It takes a bit of time to thread 6 or 10 needles at one time, but after that is done I just turn a baby monitor on in the room and can leave it to do its thing while I do mine elsewhere in the house.

KarenSue

That's a great idea,.. and,if someone does not know how to trim a post, then perhaps reference the post they are replying to.

The kind of stabilizer I use depends upon the type of fabric I am embroidering. For a non-stretch like the suede you described, I would use a tear away. For the number of stitches you are doing, I would hoop 2 layers with my fabric and then float one piece under the embroidery. The suede is rather stiff and should not need additional stabilizer.
You will just have to test and see what serves you best. Definitely I would baste before I stitched. Sounds like you are on the right track.

I have the 830. It does beautiful embroidery. I also have a Janome MC11000SE, which also does beautiful embroidery. I use my SE for smaller quick projects because there is no separate embroidery unit to attach to the machine and it takes up less space. have you tested the new Janome 12000? It's much quieter than the 830LE and also does beautiful embroidery. I like using the magnetic hoops that came with my Janome. Don't know if other brands have them. I prefer them over the magna-hoops I purchased for my Bernina.

Bettysew wrote this:
After taking a stabilizer class with Floriani, I found that the general rule of thumb is that you need one layer of stabilizer for every 10,000 stitches. Since I started following that rule, my embroidery is much better.

TanyaL wrote this:
I would like to know more about your stabilizers. What KIND do you use for dense stitching of 60,000-80,000 stitches? ___________________

I watched all of the stabilizer videos on the rnkdistributing.com site (Floriani products) and looked at the stabilizer workbook and resources on florianisoftware.com. (Very good resources.) The videos indicated that the 10,000 reference is for a 4 x 5 design. I'm doing a 60,000 stitch design in a 6 x 6.5 space. So the sq inches of my design are two times the 4 x 5. So I divided 60,000 by 2 = 30,000. Then divided 30,000 by 10,000 and figure I need 3 layers of stabilizer.

I haven't tested this yet but wonder, does anybody see a flaw in my calculation? I did test with 2 layers and still had a very small amount of puckering.

Most of my embroidery lately has been with FSL, to which I LOVE
making.

In my OWN personal preferences I have discovered what seems to
work best for ME, this is by no means what others may like or dislike.

When I first started with FSL I had many issues, after talking to my
local dealer, they gave me some tips that I tried and this is how I
come to be on the right "path" for making my lace.

Most of the tips they gave me was when I was using metallic thread
but I have been using it for ALL of my lace and I like the results.

I start with a SHARP TOP STITCH needle
Use 2 layers of water soluble stabilizer (3 layers if the designs is really dense).
Slowest embroidery speed as I can get.


Lots of patience

I have over 100k designs and I KNOW that using them all will never
happen, but at least I have them if I need something (if only I could find
it when needed).

I finally stitched this out. Used a layer of fusible tearaway and floated two layers of medium tearaway. I added a layer of water soluble to the top. It came out PERFECT!! It is a little stiff but I don't think I could have done anything else without 1) changing the density and sacrificing the design or 2) accepting some puckering.

This experience certainly helped me be more confident about stabilizers. Now I have only 8 more blocks to stitch and then need to make a quilt by...ummm...June 25. Yes, call me nuts.

Would you show a picture of one of your blocks or tell us the name of the design?

So glad your design came out perfect this time.

This is the stock image from the vendor - emblibrary.com - and my design came out just like it. :)
I stitched it on a white on white that had very small lines through it that made irregular squares through the fabric. It's perfect for the designs because it has a bamboo-y look and all of the designs have an Asian flare. There will be nine in total - 6 florals and 3 others - crane, panda and butterfly.