????? For all you embroidery machine / computer techs......hubby thinks instead of me saving all the designs to a flash drive that I shoul be able to save them to an wxtnal hard drive, then hook that up via USB plug (I place of the flash drive) and us this. Can that work? OR will having all the designs saved to the hard drive bog down the EM or can 8 just pull up the folder I want say ... Flowers and open that one folder up on the EM and it not bog down the machi e?

Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks so much!!!!

Sorry wish I could help you with the answers to that question.

But neither of my machines are USB my smaller (older) machine
can only use the memory cards (rewritable) and my newer one
uses either a memory card or connects to a computer directly
which is usually how I work with this machine.

LaQuita, my machines both use a flash drive, but I cannot imagine keeping all my designs on one! After collecting designs for two or three years I have thousands and they wouldn't fit. I have them all on my computer (backed up on disk, on a second computer and to an online backup service).

This helps in several ways:
1. I have a program that visually displays PES and other files so I can see what they are
2. I can open the color charts and convert their colors to the threads I have on hand
3. I have all my designs organized in folders by category and by what makes sense to ME.

Hard drives will fail eventually, so be sure you have several methods of back up and do it once a week.

Hahaha! Yup. I have lots of those "someday" designs, too!

LaQuita, what format does Janome use?

Bernina also has free designs often.

I am about to embark on a quest for my first embroidery machine. I would like a combo machine because it is time for me to ditch the mechanical sewing machine that I use daily. So, I am going yo test drive Baby Lock Elissimo Gold. Any coments, pluses and minuses would be very much appreciated. I do not like machines that are picky with types of thread I use. I prefer Glide for quilting, which is embroidery thread, so the machine wound have to be able to use it. Thanks a lot!

I am so envious of all you tech smart people. My husband did everything computer in this house. IBM retiree and then taught computers at local university. Then he had the nerve to die!! Im lost in many ways without him!!

My machine won't accommodate more than a 2g flash drive. I keep my designs on an external hard drive then transfer them to the flash drive when I am ready to stitch.

I keep a backup of my designs on DVDs and CDs.

Awwww, Snip. So sorry. Data aside, that's a tough loss. Sending hugs.

NanaCC - if you join www.cuteembroidery.com you'll find literally thousands of designs by members and also daily links to freebies. Bernina Russia has tons of them.

Tashana, my first one was a combo that I originally purchased for sewing. I didn't want an embroidery machine but hubby talked me into it. Now I never take the embroidery piece off. To each her own, but I would personally opt for an inexpensive sewing only machine and an embroidery only one. I love my Brother PE770.

I Love the Embrilliance Thumbnailer and made a screen shot of some of my designs displayed in a folder. This will give you an idea of what you see when you open a folder, a zip, or just what your desktop or Documents page will look like---depending on where you store designs. I save mine to MY DOCUMENTS, and then sort into category folders. Hope you find a program you really like![ATTACH=CONFIG]420560[/ATTACH]

That's what I use, too. You can see everything without the hassle of uploading it elsewhere. I don't remember where I got it, but it was very inexpensive and they send you a disk -- which I need to attempt to clean from the flood muck so I can put it on my new computer.

I don't remember where I got it, but one of the embroidery Yahoo groups has a download of file folders that make sense. I'm pretty sure it was DesignsbySiCK. Anyone remember if that's correct? I basically have a top level folder called embroidery and under that are the main categories with subfolders under those.

Oh I am sorry for your loss! Hugs!
Sandy

That is where I learned the most on how to use my 9700!! My dealer was worthless! Probably why I am not worried about dealer loyalty...never had support!
Sandy

"
"I don't remember where I got it, but one of the embroidery Yahoo groups has a download of file folders that make sense. I'm pretty sure it was DesignsbySiCK. Anyone remember if that's correct? I basically have a top level folder called embroidery and under that are the main categories with subfolders under those." (quote-krystyna)

I got an organizer here http://www.secretsof.com/content/608

I don't save all of my designs to a flash drive. I save the ones from class or that I'm stitching out and then every so often I go in and clean it out saving them to the appropriate folders on pc. I also have a CD backup too. Having all of your designs only in one place is scarey, especially if its a flash drive. They've been known to get corrupt and of course they ae easy to lose. If you don't have enough space on your pc to save them and have it run right then by all means get a portable hard drive. You can get one that's fairly small for 70 to 100. Worth it if it not only protects your designs, free or other wise. Alot of times the designs we get free aren't free later on and not all companies keep track and will let you down load them again. I have a folder called orders and under that are folders for each company that I get designs from. The designs in these folders keep thier orginal names so that if something happens to them I can contact the company and give them the orginal name (important especially if they've been archived) and I can redownload them. I save these designs again in folders to what they are like Holidays, then Christmas or Easter, whatever needed, then I create a folder under that with the company name and that's where they are saved. I don't change the name since the folder tells me what they are for. I save all of these folders, the orginal ones and the ones in each category to a cd so that if something happens or I need to put them on a new pc, I can just copy them over and don't have to do all of that work again. They are all where they need to be. I also have very little saved to my machine even though I've been told that I have lots of storage there. I like knowing where they all are and having them protected is very important rather on a separate CD or a portable hard drive. Good luck.

Maryellen2u,
I have the Florinai image viewer and this is its only purpose, you save all the files to the folder and they all show up as pictures, you can click on them and they'll pull up the design. I bought it and then realized I didn't really need it, 5D pro can do the same thing. If you or anyone is interested I'll sell it for 50, it runs 100 normally. Its very easy to install and use and it will show all designs so even if you have designs from different formats, as long as they are in the folder you can see them. It's kind of like the Embrillance Thumbnailer but I'm not sure what it runs. The good thing about using a program like this is that you don't have to remember what the design name is or what folder its in. Its funny how fast we can accumulate designs even the free ones.

I have all of my designs (thousands) on a "Seagate/My Passport" by Western Digital. I actually have 2 and have everything on both. ( just in case one dies or breaks I have everything backed up again.) I put my design in pre-designated folders, and back up every time I add new designs. I plug in the Seagate and drop the items directly to the 2g thumb drive and use it directly on my Quattro, or I have other items I am working on in folders on my desktop, things I want to make changes to. Once the changes are made, I make sure I name it, and date it (to know changes were made), then add it back to the appropriate folder. I know the original from the changed design by the name and date, that way I can alway go back to the original, copy and paste to my Florian software and make new changes. Original is always safe. I also have Floriani image maker, very nice program, give you thumbnail pictures of each design without opening your design software.

I so totally agree with this. I have all my designs saved on several flash drives, a datastick, and external driveS and than some.

Although I have gotten a ton of free designs I also have invested a good amount on other designs and not about to lose any of it.

I just this past week spent the time to organize them in folders and named many of them so I could easily find them in various categories. Had not done this earlier on and it was a mess trying to find things. I even color coded my flash drives by where I bought the designs so if something happens I can go back to that site and re-download it if need be.

What I did this evening...
 

I machine embroidered these two kitchen towels that I purchased a while back and put teapots on them. I thought they came out cute and for the first time I did something for me!

those are adorable! Makes me want to get to my sewing room and firgue out my embroidery machine.

Cute! I love to emb on towels.

Those are so sweet! I'm a sucker for embroidered kitchen towels!

What type of stabilizer did you use? I want to do these too!

These are great. I'd also like to know what stabilizer and where did you get the pattern?

On occassion the thread gets caught on my cutter. It usually because there is a loose thread in the bobbin area. My machine will tell me there is one there. I hope you get your problem worked out. Nothing more frustrating than a machine the doesn't work.

Thank you for the compliments. The embroidery pattern came from the website Embroidery Library www.emblibrary.com. The stabilizer I used a tear away stabilizer that I bought at Jo-Ann's I think the cost was $2.99 a yd. but I used a 40% coupon. The kitchen towels I bought for $3.99 for two of them at Old Time Pottery a while back.

This sounds like the problems I had with my Brother 4000. They replaced the blades twice and finally replaced the entire cutter unit. Took 4 trips and 3 months but finally it is working like it should. When it would act up during an embroidery design would rip stabilizer and throw the pattern off. I was ready to throw the machine out of the window.
hope you get yours fixed

I would not recommend a Pfaff. I bought mine about 8 years ago and have had so much trouble with it. I bought it specifically (well not the only specification) for the thread cutter. That only works about 1/4 of the time depending upon how much thread is on the bobbin and if I hold my mouth just right! Husquvarna, Viking and Pfaff are all the same manufacturers. Someone else might have a different recommendation but I would never recommend another Pfaff.

Does anyone use a mini iron and if so do you like them. I am using heat topping most of it comes off except a few small places it was recommened to use mini iron. what would you do?

well, after about 30 broken needles I got the Brother PE500 really jammed, so I took it to the local dealer. Needs a bobbin case and she recommended sending it in to check it out since it's under warranty. Well, couldn't wait forever so I bought a 780D while I was there! The only thing I didn't think of is that the hoops are designed differently, so I had to quick order from Amazon for delivery today (It's over an hour drive back to the shop). I'm working on a Disney Princess quilt for GD, and so far (just embroidered blocks) she is ecstatic. She wants to sit and watch as I do the embroidery (aka change thread a thousand times).

Changine thread question? My least favorite part to machine embroidery is the thread ordeal...at least for me, it is an ordeal. I gather the thread then sit it next to my machine and the fun begins. I haven't invested in the thread stand just one spool at a time so they are in a little plastic thing and I rotate next to the front and just finished to the back. I would be so interested in learning a better method. How do you do it?

I did invest in a heavy metal stand for the larger cones that won't fit on the machine spindle. It was less than $10 and after having one of the plastic ones I found it to be an excellent investment.

I have one but don't like it.

I have been thinking of making my own thread stand
using 1x3 wood strips and wooden dowels cut to size,
but so far I haven't figured out how I want to the "T"
section at the top for my thread guide.

I use one from time to time, but usually my sewing space is so cluttered ... well, need I say more?

Question about prewound bobbins. Someone gifted me with a huge box of colored pre-wound bobbins. They are Style L. Wondering what kind of machine uses these? I am not in the mood to jam my machines today.

K,
I found this chart. Hope it helps.


Bobbin chart

Thanks Louise. It helps. Foo. No good for me. :thumbdown:

Awww darn K so sorry to hear that those prewound bobbins won't work for
your machine.