Just select the format you use with your particular machine.

Hi fellow embroiderers,
Has anyone used any of the Anita Goodesign Mix and Match Quilting Patterns. Which one did you try? How do you attach the batting and backing to the quilt?

Some machines can use any type like mine. I normally try to get the VP3 format because the colors will show up more accurately on my machine. This used to be really important before I got my 5D Pro and I can now tell it what brand of thread I want it to show as a default. I know that at least some Pfaff machines use VP3 but not sure if they use others as well; like my Viking uses hus, vip and vp3. If you look at these designs and scroll to the bottome you can see the formats and then just click on the format that goes with your machine. For this company (and many others) you have to create an account and then the files will be put in your cart and you'll check out. They then send you an email for you to download the designs to your pc. Do a save as and then chose a folder to put them in. There are many ways to do this. I'm assuming that you got an organizer type software with your machine. What I do is I have a folder called orders, then in it I create folders for each company that I download from; like this co would be orders_JuliasNeedles and I save it to that folder. I leave the zip file in that folder but save the design out under the organizer into a folder for that design, like if it's for kitchen or for holidays and then I'd have folders under holidays for each holiday. I create a name that will let me know what it is but then add to that the company and orginal name of design. The reason I do it this way is that most companies will allow you to download the designs as many times as needed but sometimes the designs may be archived and unless you know the company and orginal file name you won't be able to get it. I've also recently noticed that some companies will only have it available for download a couple of times and then delete it from you cart but if you let them know the file names they will put it back in your cart for downloading. OregonPatch does this; its a great website because it sponsors tons of sites on it. For them even though my order goes thru Oregon Patch I make sure to get the name of the co that I ordered from. My teacher has given me tips for organizing files but also says that after over 6yrs of doing it she's still fine tuning how she does it; alot by trial and error.

I'm taking a class in Oct for her designs. I use spray to attach the batting and the backing to all of my quilts or tablerunners. It's so much easier than pins. I just tried Sullivans spray adhesive but it has such a strong oder to it. I've used June Tailor from Walmarts and got really good results with it and I've used 505; both of these don't have the strong oder that Sullivans has. But it seems to hold well.

When you click on the download, there will be a choice of different ones, such as PES, DST, HUS, etc. Pick the one that your machine uses. If you don't know yours, search for your machine on line and it will tell you. I have a Brother PE770 and it uses PES.

Mermaid, is zip hard to use? Do you have to have a certain program on your PC Seems like I had trouble with zip in the past.

Sale alert! Secrets of Embroidery has a $1 set hunt going on. Lots of very nice designs.

for Casi's question
 

Sent you a pm..sorry I didn't just say "zipped folder". It is very easy to use. After opening the downloaded zipped folder, just move your designs into the appropriate sub-folder. You can rename the folders to accommodate the designs you have.

Thanks Mermaid, I got your PM. I will check this all out. I downloaded a very large complex program last night and your suggestion might be more what I need right now.

Julias needles has a great sale going on 80% off. I got around 80 worth of designs for $14. When I was adding things to the cart every so many design sets were free, so I got lots of really cute ones. I also ordered the CD from Watts; it's $20 for all the designs they have on their site. Sounds like a winner to me.

Yesterday I took the plunge and bought a Singer Futura Quartet at Hancock Fabrics (it was on sale). So far I have stitched out two embroidery designs. One was the sample that came with it, the other was a cross-stitch design I had on my laptop.

My only peeve with this machine is that it does not have an automatic thread trimmer. I've also learned that to prevent false thread breakage errors I have to use the stretchy spool cover to keep the thread from coming unwound from the spool to quickly, causing looping.

Thanks so much for the detailed information. I found out what my machines format is so thats a big start. I also checked out Julia's Needle and I love so many designs. Think I may be in trouble. I am going to try a few out and see how I do. Thanks again!!

Thanks Krystyna! I found my format and now I can go shopping for some great designs. Haven't had a chance to check out Secrets of Embroidery but I will soon.

Your towels are adorable.

Just curious, did you wash them first?

Where do you get the Thumbnailer program?

New 301
 

Look what I had in the mail today. My newly purchased 301. Runs like a dream. Has a bit of a musty smell, but is very clean. Fits in the table perfectly.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]360229[/ATTACH]

I'm still confused! First, will Thumbnailer all me to see what the emboidery files are on a CD. I have a Embroidery CD for Brother PES. Brother says that it is not their CD, but that is what it says on the CD itself. It is copyrighted. If I get the Thumbnailer program, will that allow me to see the files or is it just a way to organize? I'd really like to get the deal at Tucker's today!

Very nice! Enjoy!

Whoops!! Sorry I posted the pictures on the wrong thread. Guess the excitement of the new machine kept me from reading right! Or maybe it was a senior moment!

Casi! Go to this site and look what it does... http://embrilliance.com/products/embril ... humbnailer Yes, it will show you the images of the designs on your CD. You must 'open' the CD, if the images do not display, then select and ';copy' them to your Documents folder---or desktop. Then go to your Docs, or desktop. etc and you will see the design images right in front of your eyeballs!!! Browse the site I've pasted--see the demos. PM me if I have not made myself clear. At any rate, you have to get the designs from the CD to your machine---and they have to go thru the computer, right? I usually just copy the designs, save in a folder on my computer (you still have them backed up on the CD), and from that point you can choose from the folder what you want to embroider. It IS NOT a program to organize--just lets you see what you have to choose from. If you want a free program http://redmugs.com/html/viewer/download/index.php will show you images, but you have to open the program each time. The thumbnailer is always on. I open my Documents page and there are pictures of all my designs that are not in folders or zipped. I open a folder and see the images inside. Cannot see zipped unless you unzip first.

For Casi...Sorry---the web url was for the product when it was on sale--so here is the page with a video for you to see the program explained. http://www.dzgns.com/shopping_cart/i...oducts_id=1315 I saw that it is $5 more than when I bought it on sale. They mailed me a CD for installing myself. No problem.

Thanks so much Mermaid for the info. I may just have to put the Thumbnailer on my wish list.....can't spend the money for that right now. As I mentioned before, I downloaded a free program, SEU....Stitch Era Universal, it is a Sierra program that I guess they are trying out and offering free. It does all kinds of stuff but is very complicated and like you said about the redmugs, you have to open the program each time. I will use it for now, I guess. So, to go thru the designs on the CD that I have I have to open each one to see what it is and then I can save it to my folder.

I made the mistake of putting some embroidery on waffle weave towels
and did NOT wash and iron them before hand.

This was before I had bought some waffle weaver to use in my kitchen
hubs HATED those towels he started tossing them into the "rag" box
each time he pulled one out.
Personally I love them as long as they are not washed and "crinkled up"
LOL.

The stitch ERA Universal is a digitizing program. You can enlarge, delete, etc. It has a great learning curve, but I have time till I die. I use it more and more, but have a long way to go. It is not a trial. I got the CD version for $14.99 shipping. Best money I spent so far. They also have the version Liberty, but that one you have to purchase. The freebie does fine for me.

Mermaid, sorry to keep bugging you....I got the download from Tuckers. I can refer to her index which she will keep on her Yahoo group, so at least I will know what the design is supposed to be and I can see their finished size. The problem is I can't tell which ones are in my format. Any ideas? I can't see that it tells me when I open it up in the SEU.

Can you R-click on the design icon..in the box that comes up is "properties" on the bottom...L-click on that and get your info. It will say .pes, etc...or whatever the format is. I usually note if the pes file is the 4th display or 5th or etc. Then the next design icon I will start w/that one in the sequence (cking properties) I do not save the files I don't use. I will copy or move to an emb folder I've created/named the pes files. If you want to save the remaining formats, then leave them in the orig. folder. I like to delete all but one copy (I save jef) and put those in another folder for ''just in case''..cause I can convert them to pes if my orig somehow gets lost or corrupted. With me??

Hurrray!!!!! That worked!!! It will take me awhile but I will be able to sift thru these!!!! Thanks so much!!!!

Okay, now it won't let me delete the files from the original download. I did make a CD of the original download. I thought I could play with the one that was on my hard drive. Now what?

You are talking about the ''Tucker's..."? I didn't get those cause they looked like for kids, mostly. Did your download install to your hard drive? If so, then it's an uninstall. But you should be able to delete the original folder you downloaded --after you took the pes files from it. Hmmm???

I wasn't trying to delete the download, just the files that aren't the format that I need. On a page previously there was talk about deleting the ones that weren't wanted, wonder why I can't do it?

Casi, put all your .pes designs in a seperate folder, then leave the other formats in the original downloaded folder. You should be able to delete it then. If not, then I am stumped!

Just picked up my Janome 350e. Can't wait to start using it !!!

LilaKay, you are going to love it! I've had mine a little over a week and am so happy I got it! Now I need to stop buying designs! LOL! Enjoy and have fun!

Any tips out there for embroidering on towels? Just use the stabilizer? Thanks

I use Floriani "heat n gone" or the "water soluble topping"

Use a tear away (two layers) on the underside of the towel
than lay a piece of heat soluble on top.

You want something that will "disappear" under the stitches
but still keep a separation between the loopy nap of terry
towels and the thread.

At least this is what I finally learned how to do towels
(took me forever to learn this).


I know others will have their own methods so don't take my
advice as a "must do". it's just what works for me.

I use the same stabilizers as Quilty Louise does. I also always use colored bobbin thread to match the top thread since the back side of a towel is always seen when a person is using it. I have seen towels that are embroidered with a solid color back which I think is not attractive at all. Ok for pillow cases but not for towels IMHO. Just looks more professional when they are reversible.

I just purchased a Husqvarna Rose that the lady said she bought new and never used. I am still waiting for her to find the rest of the parts that go with it. She is missing the back part of the table that comes off and also holds the feet, etc. I paid less than half price for it. My youngest is here and leaves on Sunday and she is helping get things organized at my new house (don't live there anymore) so I can go up and pin/tie quilts and just leave it all set up, til my new addition is put on the house I live in now.

Thanks for all of this info. I just bought a Singer Futura and haven't started embroidering yet. Busy quilting, but this is getting me excited.

Sorry to butt in..Could I get a bit of advice form you embroidery experts?My birthday is coming up and hubby would like to get me a relatively (!) inexpensive embroidery machine.
My dealer has a choice of a Janome 200E, a 350 and a Viking H 600E. Do you all have any thoughts of which you prefer. I have the Janome Horizon 7700 which I love but would love to be able to do some machine embroidery on my quilts. The dealer has offered me a 20% reduction on the Vking..but I have heard a few stories on the internet about them, plus I dont really need the sewing capabilities as I have the horizon, so I dont really know which ones to bear in mind before I try them out. The software is extra on the Janome but is included in the Viking and I think the Viking has a bigger hoop. So I am really puzzling about it!
Anyway thanks again folks, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am really confused at this stage and would like to have a few ideas before I go to the shop!