I agree with what is said with purchasing an embroidery machine only or combo sewing/emb. machines. She needs to do her research and focus on what she will be using the machine for. Quilting, sewing, embroidery? Also prices do vary state to state and dealer to dealer. It is an expensive hobby, with threads, stabilizers, software and other items it can be costly. I also agree if she wants to embroider the 4x4 is a good one for beginners however as one continues the embroider the field may be too small to do larger embroidery. Its a matter of taste, $$$$, and contentment. I'm content with what I have now and won't change any of my machines at all. Oh let me add these photos of what I did over the weekend. Then again maybe not...it keeps telling me uploaded failed https://d326oobcc22bax.cloudfront.ne...82/1508472.GIF

You just have to keep up with it and do it on a reg basis...Did you get all the manuels with the 4D...What I did I went thru each book at a time and did it step by step to learn each...I'd be happy to help if you have any specific questions or problems...just PM and ask...

Maybe I can try to be clearer. My cousin wants to buy a new machine (not used) and would like to stay in the $1000.00 range for the purchase of the machine. She is not planning to digitize her own designs, but will buy them online. So, she needs a machine that can transfer designs from her computer to the machine without having to buy an expensive digitizing software. If she needs to convert or tweak designs we know that there is free and/or lower cost software to do that. She is aware of the costs of stabilizer, threads etc as I have an Pfaff embroidery machine myself. My machine is over 10 years old and I haven't looked at any of these type of machines since then, so I don't know what is available or good out there now.

As I live in a very rural area, our research has to start here on the Web as dealers are 2 to 6 hours drive away. Once we have narrowed down to a couple of machines, we could then travel to a dealership to actually test drive some machines.

What we are hoping that we would be able to get here on QB were some suggestions as to particular brand and models of machines that you think could fit her requirements. Then we could research those particular models in depth. So can anyone help us with actual brand/models that they like for primarily sewing, but can also do embroidery?

Thanks.

OH! Okay. She can find quite a few combo machines under that cost limit--new. My favorite is Brother. She will be able to find a model with port connection to her computer or for using a flash drive to transfer designs . The reason I like Brother machines is because they are so user friendly..have great features, and mine make the prettiest, easiest buttonholes of any machine I've ever owned. Just advise her to buy a model with larger hoops than a 4x4 only...she'll soon be wanting to trade up, otherwise. This is just MY opinion.

Well i love My Janomes. I would make sure that she is able to transfer designs from her PC to the machine via USB stick. My Janome 9700 is old school. The newer mdels Use USB.

I would check out all of the manufacturers websites to compare models. They will not tell you prices though. Head to www.patternreview.com and check out the embroidery machine reviews. They will often share the price paid but use this as general info. You will negotate the final price you will pay unless you finance the purchase, most likely.

Another avenue for checking out the MSRP price is to do a search on Ebay. Use this as a guide too. They only publish the manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) on ebay if new. Your final price should not be MSRP if you pay cash. Again, you negotiate.

By the way, the new machines listed on Ebay are bid on....check out the target price which is the "buy it now" price in small print under the current bid price
You will get many replies on favorite brands but it is a personal decision. Do a search on ths Board too. There a wealth of info in the arhives.

Keep a file on the models interested in and take lots of notes, ask questions.

One thing that I thought was important was the number of built in designs....it was not. I never use my built in embroidery designs . Fr me, a large hoop is not important. 5x7 s the max I use. It takes time to embroider. If the design takes more than 45 minutes, I dont do it. 45 minutes of stitching time transates into over an hour taking into consideration thread changes. I mostly do designs on tees ad polo shirts. I mostly sew on my machine.

Seems like a lot of work? You betcha! But so worth being informed before you show up at the dealer.
Sandy

If you look at the bottom of Vikings website you'll see where you can either email the software or hardware group. They are really good at getting back to you and helping find a solution. I work in the IT field and alot of things still aren't compatible with Win 7 and Win 8 came out so fast that it'll be awhile for some software to catch up and be compatible with it; plus I haven't heard a lot of people saying good things about Win 8; that could be an issue or that they just haven't played with it enough. Some have gotten their Win 7 to be set up with a dual boot and run XP on it as well. When you boot up you chose which system you want to run. I pulled my old XP out of the closet to use for some of my software but you can also still find some XP pcs out there fairly cheap.

I'm not sure what version of 4D you have or what modules. I know that the manuals that come with the software is limited but does have great tutorials in them. Depending on if you have a version other than the organizer that comes with it you can go on your pc under programs/4d Embroidery and you find reference materials, additonal info that came out after it was develeoped and then there are also Main Modules, this has the manuals that came with the software but a whole lot more, where the paper manual might be 50 pages the main modules PDF files are over a 100, you can even print them out if it's easier. Viking let me know about these and you'd be amazed the added infor in them. On thier website you can search and still find some info for your machine. There is also a great website called mrpatience.com, he has lots of free tutorials/videos on 4D and 5D (which are almost the same) plus he offers classes at a cost. This website was recommended to me by my embroidery teacher. What part of VA do you live in because the store that I take classes at is great. It would cost you 40 a yr for monthly emb club plus the cost of the kit for that month. You could also set up sessions with her for one on one if needed. She's great and has lots of knowlege on machines as well as the software; she was trained by Viking. Out of all the stores in my area they are the farthest away but my favorite and I have no problem traveling there because everyone on that store is great. If you have a certain question I'd be happy to see if I could find the answer with my books, personal experience or thru my teacher.

I have a Janome 9700 and use it mostly for embrodery work. Use my Janome 1600 for sewing. All the above advice is great. Taking notes is a good idea. I believe a software that you can understand is very helpful. I have been looking for a different software myself.
Good luck in your search.

I have 2 Brother combo machines and I love them both.
My oldest (about 6 years old) is the Innov-Is 1000 largest hoop size is 5x7.
My newest machine which is almost 1 year old is the Innov-Is 1500D (the
"D" stands for Disney) and the largest hoops size is 6x10.

When I purchased the 1000 machine it cost $1500, but with some discounts
and such it ended up being $1200.

My 1500D machine was $3500, but with discounts and such cost was $2500
but by the time I left the store I had spent $3200 (thread, more stabilizers, etc.)

I could have gotten "trade-in" discount also IF I had wanted to give up my older
machine, but since I wanted to keep both I didn't that discount.

I also have a Janome MC3000 sewing machine (NO embroidery) and I totally
do NOT like that machine for me that was the biggest waste of money I had
spent, that taught me to NEVER buy a used machine, I could have added $50
and bought a new Janome.

Well you know what they say about hide sight.


I agree with everyone else, research, research, research, and take LOTS
of notes. Discover what kinds of features each machine has, and research
more about them. After your research is done take your list to the dealer
and "test" drive the machines.

DO NOT let them try to steer you towards a machine that is way out of
your budget, stick to your guns and your list.

I know MANY people who have the Brother PE770 & PE780D series machines
and love them. They are less expensive machines that are user friendly.

Here is a link to the Brother website if you want to read more about them.

BROTHER-USA

I have been looking at my thread to find out what weight they are and it doesn't seem to be listed on the spools, no matter what type or brand of thread it is. Do you have any suggestions for getting this type of information?

If you purchased Sulky/Gutterman they are on the bottom side of the spool. Madeira would be on the bottom of the spool. Not sure of the others...

I agree with Mermaid. I have 2 Brother machines, 3000 and 4000 and cannot fault them. Very user-friendly. They also have a couple of embroidery machines for less than $2000AUD, usually including software [PE Design or similar name]. Not sure if they do ordinary sewing or not. Check out sales around special times, Xmas, Easter, especially Mother's Day, machines are often better priced with extras, But yes, if your cousin has an interest in embroidery, in 12 months she will be wanting to upgrade, to more features and larger hoops. I have the larger quilters hoops from Hoop-it-All [ more expense]to go with my 4000 as Brother don't cater for these, but I can sew a 12" quilt block in one hooping. What more does a girl want?

Hmmmm. I do have sulky and I have read the spools over and over again and can't find the weight. Is it in some kind of code?

The sulky rayon thead that I purchase at Joanns are 40 wt. Check where you purchased them from.

You may have sorted this problem out by now, but I've just read your post. Am not familiar with this machine, but I'm assuming it has an embroidery unit to attach. I had the same thing happened to me, and sent my Brother - with emb unit - for servicing, only to find it didn't fix the problem. The repair guy didn't realise that the embroidery unit has to be serviced as well, and after doing this, everything worked like new.

I have checked my sulky spools many times over thinking I'm just missing it, and I can't find the weight, and they are from JoAnns. So, yesterday I, of course, ran out of thread during a project and went to JoAnns for more. So I stood there for quite a while reading thread spools. Wow! Was that exciting!
Anyway, their sulky selection has gotten pretty dismal so I checked on others, and the other brands had the weights listed. And a huge selection. So now back to my project.
Thanks for all your help. I love the interaction here.

Making labels
 

I am going to try and stitch out labels and am wondering if anyone has any advice.
I just read an article in a very old Threads that suggested using a sticky stabilizer and grograin ribbon.
By sticky stabilizer I mean the kind that has a paper cover over the sticky.
The article said to hoop the stabilizer, draw a line on the paper for centering the ribbon, removing a part of the paper to stick the ribbon to. It went on to suggest that to do several labels, don't unhoop the stabilizer but tear away the ribbon and cover the hole.
I'm wondering about it holding the next ribbon firmly enough to stitch out.

Suggestions anyone?

I have a friend who made some labels & ribbons using the ribbon.

But I myself have not done that yet.

However I would think that laying out several strips of the ribbon
than doing the alignment and stitching would be "easier" and not
leave you with a "hole" to cover or "sagging" stabilizer.

But like I said I have never done it before so I really don't know
if that would work or not.

You can just cover the hole with another scrap of the sticky stabilizer--stick it on from the bottom & you've still got adhesion.

I went ahead and tried a couple of labels. I used grosgrain ribbon and tear away sticky stabilizer. I am really happy with the way they turned out. Very little pulling in and the stabilizer doesn't feel stiff when finished. I started out with a regular hoop and it was really tough getting the stabilizer in it, so I think the next go round I'll try it with my magnetic hoop.

Can you post a picture of what the labels look like? I'm very curious as this might keep me from ordering custom labels for my purses. Thanks!

I would love to see the labels, also

Trouble hooping the sticky stabilizer?? OH Please, don't say you were removing the paper first before hooping. hahaA friend & I were talking embroidery with another lady--she said she hated the sticky stabilizer and refuses to use it. Said it was so hard to hoop--it kept sticking to everything and she couldn't even get the hoops together! We've discussed how sad she had no instruction about stabilizers.

Or you could hoop a piece of tear away or WSS in the hoop and then cut the sitcky the size of the inside of your hoop, spray the WSS with 505 or something like that. lay the sticky down and then the ribbon. You can buy the WSS at JoAnns on the bolt and use a coupon and it's alot cheaper than the sticky stuff. Or you can not use the sticky and just go with WSS (might have to use 2 layers) or tearaway and have the spray hold down the ribbon. Which would be even cheaper too.

I haven't used grosgrain ribbon for labels but did try satin ribbon. I did not have much success with that at all. I had alot of pull and shrinkage....However, after doing much research and purchasing a tiny font instead of trying to reduce a font I had I am hoping I could still use satin ribbon. There are many good tutorials out there in internet land that people rave about. So if you are wanting more information just google, 'making your own embroidered labels'.

I have a Viking Designer Diamond and a Pfaff Creative Sensation.......and absolutely LOVE to combine the machine embroidery with quilting ( altho I do a ton of embroidered objects like bibs, kitchen towels, monogrammed bath towels, monogrammed shirt cuffs, etc.).....such a creative outlet! Check most recent post for the fairy frost baby quilt that I added on 2-7-13 for pictures of one of my projects.........

You guys are too funny! I actually left the paper on the sticky so that wasn't the issue. The problem is that it is so stiff with the paper making it hard to hoop. Once it's in there, it's there!
I have tried the WSS for labels, but it doesn't seem to hold very well. I had to hoop the ribbon along with the WSS. I did get lots of pulling and shrinking, but I also did not adjust the density of the design.
I will try and figure out how to post the pics.

i have a singer at HSN BIG MISTAKE HAVE NO TRAIN ING I HAVE A SINGER FUTURA XL-400 NEED TO LEARN EMBRIODERY

[ATTACH=CONFIG]393935[/ATTACH]
Here's a picture of the label. This was the first try so I have since resized it to fit the width of the ribbon and to decrease the density. Also did some editing to get the lump out of the bottom row of satin stitches. I am thinking now I need to add a vertical row of satin stitches on either side (white) so cut along and to help in stitching to the garments. This is also a trial in digitizing my own designs. Whew!
I had tried satin ribbon but it really pulled in; however I didn't use sticky stabilizer. It would definitely be less expensive than the grosgrain.

You can do it! i've been doing machine emb. for about 20 yrs and I taught myself with the manual and keeping my ears tuned to others...reading forum questions, hints, and asking a few myself. I only had a brief demo from the shop I bought from--then got on a plane with my machine and flew home . Ask away...there are many of us to help you.

\

Yes I have one. I love it. What would you like to know?

I'm relatively new (1 year) to embroidery, however, and am mostly learning by doing as I had a 20 min. demo on how to use the machine by the lady I bought it from (I got mine used) and that's it except for on line help.

Congratulations. If you can I'd go to different stores and try out different ones to see which is a good fit. While you are there check out the store and see if you get a good vibe from it. Most have free classes and are good for support after the sale and this is what you want. I love my Viking Dealer store and people come from all around because they are great. They have an embroidery class once a month and even though they are a Viking dealer, anyone who wants to come is welcome no matter what machine they own. I took a quilting class and had the lowest grade machine and the only comment on my machine was on how quiet it was and then they showed someone who was interested in taking the class on how me and my machine were doing everything that the high end machines were doing. I now have a high end Viking Diamond Deluxe but have kept my little Kenmore. Good luck on your hunt; do check out a few.

What I made for my Feb. SP swap
 

This is a quick stitch Angel. I made on a blue tea towel for my secret pal this month. She loved it. Thought I'd share with you. I got the design from emblibrary.com I have the whole pack which is the days of the week however I didn't embroider the day on it. Thought I'd share.

Lets see if this one is clearer...

Those are adorable towels.

I am thinking of making some embroidery block sets to sell.

But still just playing around with that idea though.

Yeah I know what you mean I LOVE embroidery library.

I am totally addicted to their designs. Over the weekend I
spent about $50+ on more designs.

Me too and the stitch perfect.