I just got a Janome 350E..total embroidery newbie here :) I was wondering if there are Janome embroidery classes
online? We are moving across the country in June so I will not have physical access to my Janome dealer anymore...

If you know the orginal file name and the company you got the design for you can normally get another copy of the design;even when they've been archived. For this reason, I keep note on this. I have a folder called orders, that is in my organizer, then I have subfolders under that. I name them according to company, like orders_Viking and then I download the orginal design into that folder and then open the zipped folder (just double click it) and save it under a category like beach then again I have a folder with companies name and put all of its designs there. I was orginally taught to rename each design with co name and that can make for a long file name. The only time I make sub folders under the company folder here is when I have a collection that I want to stay together. Singles just go into the main folder. This way, the orginal file remains in the zipped file, which I do backup to CD, plus I have the file saved under a folder to show what it is for. You only need to backup the orders files because that is the orginal design. For oregonpatchworks, which I too love, my orders folder had the company name of orders_oregonpatch and then subfolders with each company that I got the design at; like Oma's, love that place, lots of ITH and they stitch out great. Its not that hard of a process if you keep it up. My worst part is that I'll be at work and download a design to desktop and save it to USB but don't always put it onto laptop right away so then its playing catchup. I'm doing that now. I have a 17in laptop that I'm getting all the files done plus I have netbook that I carry sometimes due to my back. Once the laptop is done then I'll just save those files and resave them onto the netbook and it'll be caught up. My software allows me to make jpgs of each design and save it into the pictures folder and when I get that done, I'll print out thumbnails of each design and put them into a book so that I can just scan the book to find a design. The file name is attached to each picture so it'll be easy to find. Another reason why instead of renaming files to what they are, I just put them into folders to show what they are. If I see a design in my photo album then I just take that file name and do a search. I hate playing hide n seek with anything so this works for me because its easy to find.

Now I do like the fact with emblibrary keeps all of your orders in your history. This saves them time and me too.I don't have to email them with a request to redownload a file and wait for them to email me back and tell me it's ready to download again. Every company that I have dealt with has always made my designs available to me if I needed to redownload them a second time. This has only happened a few times since I keep my orders folder backed up. It's normally when I have saved a design to the USB and either never saved it to the orders folder or when I've saved it as the wrong file format or the design didn't want to open and I had to redownload it. I hope this helps someone, anyone. Julia's Needles is another one that has great sales and freebees and if you sign up for their emails they'll let you know when the sales are happening.

I don't know about online but you don't have to go to a Janome to get embroidery classes. My Viking dealer lets anyone join in on the classes and we also have a Sew n Vac and they do the same way so you might check with LQS there to see if they'll do the same thing. Good luck with your move.

Just catching up on posts. Wow. You've been busy! Don't forget that http://www.embroiderylibrary.com has the new free June designs up and today is the last day for the May designs!

Another one of my favorites for collecting designs is http://www.cuteapplique.com - new one every day and an additional gift each week.

Hubby and I went to the Floriani class today. Wow! That lady was some amazing sales person. Got sucked in to buying a stabilizer set. But it's something I will use. We came away with double sets of the embroidery designs they included -- and being such a design hoarder, I can't see needing any of them so will probably sell them on Etsy to recoup part of the class cost!

So, I ordered a Brother 780D onine that is on its way to me, should be here Tuesday! I hope it doesn't need to be serviced when it arrives.

But now I have some questions. Can I ge embroidery designs from any online design place, or just certain ones? Also, do my designs need to be in a certain file format for me to be able to use them? If so how do I know if a file comes in my needed format? I feel so unprepared! I think I may need to look into taking a class locally if I can get one.

You can get them from anywhere. Just order -- or download - PES format. And if you find some freebies you love, but they're in another format, download the free Wilcom Trusizer

Has anyone made a quilt with embroidered blocks from muslin? I use muslin for backing and just love the texture, the feel, and simplicity of it.

Another question...what fabric would you use for making an embroidered door hanging?

embroidery needle information
 

I just found this site that has lots of information about all the different needles. The link is just for the embroidery needles, but on the page there are all kinds listed and you just click on the picture to go to the different type of needle.

http://www.klasse.com/en/range.php?ID=40

Thanks so much for the list. At the Floriani class yesterday the woman was talking about embroidering on boots! I asked about the type of needle and she said she uses top stitch for almost everything.

Yes, I completed and have 4 others started. Some are done with cutwork and others are done with embrodery while others have fancy stitching. I used Southern Bell muslin. Great quality and less than $5 a yrd. I had bought some from Walmarts on the bolt and it was such a let down but since it was so cheap, its my practice fabric. Muslin lets your designs. The first one in class we used thread to match the fabric. The ones that I have started I used mostly varigated thread and it really lets the design stand out against the muslin background.

For a door hanging you might want something a little more durable if its going to be outside. Maybe broadcloth or something sturdy like that. Some upolestry fabric might work as well. I want to make a flag so I'm checking that out because I don't want it to end up fading or mildewing.

I have a Brother 1250D. I love it. [ATTACH=CONFIG]416533[/ATTACH]Bucket bags I made for my grandchildren.

Love the questions.
I made door knob hangers - is this what you mean? I did them with felt since they got a bit of use as play things for the grandbabies. They stood up to the abuse!

I did a redwork block on the cheapest unbleached muslin available from JoAnn's. I did iron on a bit of light weight knit interfacing, and I really like the results. I've always wanted to do a redwork quilt and I just might actually do it now.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Jane

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Love the bags and designs!

Thank you! :) I hope I can figure this all out. I got the truesizer, now I need to figure out how to use it. Can it be used to edit designs or just for reformating designs?

Okay, already my novice status is showing. I was checking out cuteembroidery.com and thought I'd try downloading a design just to see if I could figure it out. Well, I got a member ship and chose a free design to try out, but I can't open it because I don't have any embroidery software. So, my dumb question is, shouldn't my machine come with a disc of the software I will need for this, or do I need to download something from somewhere?

My machine should be here Tuesday, but I was hoping to at least figure out the computer end of things b-4 it came. I guess if I have to wait for it to get here to have the software than I won't get to figure that out ahead of time.

See, I totally don't know what I'm doing! LOL!

Mooshie, I have two embroidery machines and they did NOT come with any software. Somewhere along the way software wasn't even mentioned. Had to go back in and purchase some. There are several types of software free and I strongly suggest trying some of it before purchasing. It will make it so you can view the design before transferring it to your machine. I recently purchased one with the ability to combine designs and it did not come cheap. Before purchasing the first software I should have done lots more research. Perhaps your machine will come with software. I believe some of them do. By he way, congratulations on your new machine!

I'm not sure about editing designs, but you can resize them a bit. I wouldn't play around too much with dense designs as they can get REALLY dense.

Mooshie, I was lucky both of my Vikings come with an organizer that allows you to quite alot including adding jump stitch commands. I've read on here though that alot of companies don't do that. I don't figure that one out.

Last yr a Floriani's show they had a software imaging program that they said was great. You could either go into the explorer and open it or they used an icon on their desktop to see all designs on their pc. No more searching thru folders. Even though I have software the thought of going one place to see all of your designs just by scrolling down was great. Well, after many emails from company and searching I found out, yes the program will do as it says. With just a few steps you can view your designs as they appear. The catch is that they all have to be in the same folder. Mine aren't like that, each category, each company, etc have thier own folder. Now when I click on the folder the designs will show as promised but to see them all in one folder, I'd have to go back and copy them all into one folder. I'm not going to do this because my software also allows me to make jpgs of all of my designs, save them to the picture files and then I'm going to print thumbprints and put them in an album so I'll have them all in one place. The software doesn't do any editing, its for viewing only and it is for all formats, so no matter what format you have designs saved in as long as they are all saved in this one folder then you can see them. You can save them into different folders like I did and still see them but you have to go to each folder.

Just found free embroidery software that looks cool! It is from Amazing Designs Embroidery website. There is a tutorial that explains its features.

http://amazingdesigns.com/free-downloads/free-software

It sounds great especially for doing minor changes which when you first start that's all you really do. There's another one that's free but its a full software editing program but I can't remember the name off hand. You can either download it or order the CD for 14. I've been told the CD is a good deal because it has lots of installation advice plus lots more.

Ok, just found it, here's the link. Even if you have software its worth checking out some of the free ones because they may do things easier.
http://www.freesierrasoftware.com/

Judy, thank you. I downloaded the free Sierra software. It looks wonderful! Again, thank you!

SingerSewer
You are most welcome. I plan on downloading it too even though I have 5D Pro, you never know what will be the easiest way to do something until you try it. Good luck with it. I know they don't have alot of support since its free but they do have a FAQ section that helps alot.

I purchased the disk a couple of years ago, but it made my embroidery files behave oddly so I deleted it. Anyone else experience that?

Krystyna, What disk are you talking about.

The Sierra software

Oh, ok. I've heard good thing about it. I was going to get it last yr then the Viking rep came to our store and had such a great deal on the 5D Pro and I loved the features like photostitching, cutwork, especially creating and a few other things with the whole package. Now to learn to use it.
I've been thinking about downloading the Sierra onto my other laptop but have to find out what the specks are for it.

It came! It came! It came!!!!! :) My Brother PE 780D is here!! :) I have already embroidered a little piece with mine and DH's names on. :) The only thing is it appears that a piece for the needle threader has come off. I don't know how or if I can put it back on. Not the end of the world, I can thread my own needle, but it would be nice if ALL the things on it worked. The little piece doesn't look broken, but I've never had a machine with a self threader b-4 so I don't know what it's supposed to look like. Other than that it works just great and seems rather straight forward. I mean, I've never had an embroidery machine b-4 and I was able to start using it w/in 10 minutes of having it out of the box. :) Now I need thread!! And I need to figure out how to get designs from the web to my machine because I like lots of the designs it comes with, but I can see myself wanting others. :)

So, anyone have any ideas on how to get this piece back on for the needle threader? Would posting a pic help?
Woo hoo!! Love my new machine.

k, I took a pic of this piece to see if anyone knows how it goes back on. Any clue?? I'm lost.
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And another angle
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No ideas??

Sorry, Mooshie. I rely on my son and husband for all things mechanical, but I would think the spring has to be vertical.

I recently purchased a Husqvarna Viking Designer 1 (floppy disk style) . It didn't come with templates to the hoops and wondered if anyone knew where I could find some. I thought I saw somewhere that someone had created some that could be printed from my computer but I can't find it. Thanks in advance for your help!
Judy

Did you check with your local dealer or at Amazon. I got mine for my Diamond Deluxe from my LQS and they weren't too much. Even though there are lots more sizes now they still have the olders sizes. All of mine, even for the large hoops were under 10.

I have a new BabyLock Unity which has left me extremely frustrated. I was excited to have it to work with while I am recuperating from knee surgery. I can work with the limited built-in fonts, but have not been able to successfully work with fonts I've downloaded online. I have Embroidery Works Everyday software but feel like I've wasted my money at this point. Sorry, but needed to vent. Does anyone know how to convert Word fonts to a .pes file (or if that is possible)?

My challenge is that I'm trying to get small, easy to read, fonts to use to make quilt labels. Thanks for listening and for any input.

I have a babylock several levels below the Unity and I have no problem getting small fonts. Actually the smallest ones are in the sewing machine not the embroidery. Arent you getting lessons with your new machine. I think too that you are jumping way far ahead using software, downloads, etc. before you master the machine itself.

Thought I'd share what I did today. this is for someone in the June Secret Pal swap that I'll be sending to.

Does anyone know how to convert Word fonts to a .pes file (or if that is possible)?

You are going to need special software for that mpepperm37. I suggest you look for Embird software. It allows you to import TTF fonts and convert them to PES format. You might also just purchase ready made embroidery fonts from any of the hundreds of embroidery sites. It would be cheaper that way if you only want it for quilt labels. HTH ~ Pat

OMG that is so cute!

http://www.drawstitch.com/index.php/...ads/my_editor/
This is a free program that will let you view designs on your computer. Does your new machine have a usb port or card slot? I would have to research that model to know how to get designs into the machine. Happy sewing.

Ok just looked the machine up and it does have a usb port and a card slot. Brothers use pes file format. Just copy to the memory stick and the machine will open it.

That's so sweet! Is it Embroidery Library?