I would use a sticky wash away. the two I like best are Floriani Wet N Gone Tacky. It peels like tape and sticks to the back of the fabric. Then I hoop and sew. It rinses out completely leaving a nice embroidery. My second choice is the Inspira version. I've used Sulky and ruined sooooo many projects I won't buy it any more.

I have a Husqvarna Viking Designer Diamond Deluxe and use the professional 5D embroidery system. A gentleman named Tim Frost, known as Mr. Patience writes instruction books and conducts online classes for this software. I'm currently working on quilted car trash bags. New to quilting and hope to use the EM to crate quilt squares with the floral designs for my next project. New to quilting and just finished a t shirt quilt.

I have done quite a few quilts. I make the entire quilt top and sandwich as usual. I pick a one or two pass design (redwork o.k.) and put all three layers in the hoop. Loosen the screw of the hoop, until you can get the 3 layers in. (No stabilizer is needed.) Make sure that there is no drag on the quilt area, because the quilt is heavy. I use warm and natural and have no problem. I use the 5x7 hoop at all times, because it is my largest one. When quilting is completed I bind as usual.

Hi everyone out there!!
I use MAC and have the MacBroidery lettering software which was a gift. I like this software but now am trying to convert downloaded designs and find most of them are not recognized and are really for PC windows. I think I need to buy conversion software but am not certain. Can anyone advise? I was looking at Convert it Mac and I think this is what I need (or something similar)I am using OS X 10.8.4. mountain lion. Research tells me that this is compatible with Lion but what about Mountain Lion? Any help is greatly appreciated.

My question to Freddie is how do you make sure there is no drag on the quilt? Does the machine have to be set down into a table top? How big of a quilt have you done? What machine do you have?

I am so interested in this idea...

In the first place, make sure that you have tables, a bed or anything that will hold you quilt up and not hanging down on the floor. I have my bed in the back, table space on the left of my machine and a smaller table next to me on the left and beside my chair. When hooped, have the quilt puddled around the machine hoop. When I am quilting a large quilt, I have put my arms on either side of my machine and held the material off the table, so it would be even with the machine. Just slightly lift, don't push. I don't have the machine set into the table, therefore I do it as above. I have the Brother PE770, embroidery only and use the 5x7 hoop.If you have any questions, e-mail me private, and I'll try to help you out.

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement and your suggestions for searches and d/l videos...a really good idea. I didn't know you could do that. Can you tell me where to learn to d/l videos from youtube? Thanks again.

Be careful with the new Vikings. Most dealers are telling customers to stay away. They are now made by Singer. I have the Designer SE LE and the Diamond LE. I love them both. I have been making a lot of table runners, wall hangings and potholders. It is a lot of fun.

Also check your machine brand's website. Most of them have lots of patterns, instructions, etc available to watch and/or download.

Not even so. I have the Diamond Deluxe that is made in Sweeden by Viking. Just because Viking now owns Singer and Pfaff doesn't mean they'll let anyone else bring them down. The key is; Viking owns these companies, not Singer or Pfaff. I don't know any Viking dealers that would say that, it would be like cutting off their nose to despite thier face. No profits in making that statement and if it was a different dealer for a different machine then that also sucks. I think the love of machines rather emb or regular is so great and each company has many true blue customers that no dealer should be downgrading another. Each company, offers things that another might not. I love my Vikings and I'm so looking forward to the new ones coming out next month along with the upgraded software.

Finished today embroidered on my Janome 300e. Designs from Embroidery Library. Snowball and 9 patch idea came from this board. I really like it as a way to set embroidery designs and will do it again.

Cheriami that is a beautiful quilt! Great job!

Beautiful quilt! I love the look of embroidery and quilting. Right now working on a stamp postage quilt with redwork blocks of week days with farm animals.

Where did you get the emb designs?

Snipforfun, you can find the designs and more at www.emblibrary.com. They're running a great sale till Monday.

did you get the 4x4? What size background squares did you use? I did a cute sock monkey quilt and used the 4x4 image in an 8x5.5 rectangle. It was the Mod Pod pattern

Thanks for another idea to put on my "bucket list". Your quilt is beautiful!

I love your quilt! I want to do a quilt with embroidery but am so confused as to which stabilzer to use. Can you please tell me what stabilzer you used?

Im not the maker of this quilt but made a similar one recently. Stabilizers are so confusing! However, for this quilt I used a medium tearaway and a floating lite tearaway. The reason I made this choice is because a local quilt shop displayed the same quilt and I asked the quilt maker. All that being said that design was a filled design and the one we are now admiring is redwork. Hmmmm That has prompted me to investigate. One thing I can advise us to pre wash the background fabric to take care of any shrinking before embroidering. Im going to do a test with the redwork and 2 tearaways. I dont like using a cutaway with white fabric. It will show wont it?

I have a bro pe770. sometimes the thread breaks and I need to backup bit. how do I do it on this machine??? this is the ony machine I 've had that I can't figure it out. thanks in advance.

I used the 5x7 designs from Embroidery Library. I made each design 4 times some I reversed if possible.

I used iron on interfacing the thin cheap kind is my best description. I purchased it packaged at Hancock Fabrics for less than $1 per package. That was the only stabilizer I used and it does add weight to the quilt. I ironed the stabilizer to the entire block.

I hooped 11" square of Kona cotton and then trimmed the squares to 9". This was my first try at embroidery blocks so I was flying by the sseat of my pants.

Kona cotton (pre washed) is what I used too. Except I used a full width of the fabric, marked off the squares, pt a dot at the middle of each square with a washaway marker and just kept moving the hoop forward? Saved alot of fabric and stabilizer. You did a great job! Have you washed it yet. Would be interest how the embroidery looks using the fusible interfacing. Hope to figure out how to post a picture of mine. Its not trimed or bound yet and orobably wont be gor awhile. Actually Im not going to use a traditional binding but rather a facing.

After you rethread the machine you should see an "adjust" button on the screen. Press that button and you'll see 4 icons. The bottom two have a needle with the "-" or "+" sign. Tap the one with the "-" sign and just keep tapping it until you get back to the embroidery design where your thread broke (or bobbin ran out). I always tap a few more times to make sure I'm back a few more stitches than necessary. Then just start embroidering you design. Hope this helps! (The two top icons will take you back to the beginning of either a previous color change or next color change...you don't want to hit those!)

So, I have a Brother Disney 780D embroidery machine, and a Baby Lock Crescendo for regular sewing/quilting. Took the Crescendo in for service and saw this Unity combination machine. OMG I traded the Crescendo and took it home. I have to be out of my mind, but I'm having a BALL!

This is the machine I now have too. I had the Ruby but got such a great deal I had to trade it in. I just finally purchased the Magestic Hoop, largest one made. I'm going on an Embrodery retreat next weekend. We are making the quilt A Duck Says Quack by Smith Street Designs. I 've also done her greeting cards in the past. I'm so looking forward to it. Then animals on the quilt will be done in textured fabric. mypatience does have some great things, as well as Craftsy.com. and I go thru all the tutorials on Vikings website. I don't know if you know it or not but if you go under your Start, EMB 5 and then go to main modules. These are not only copies of the little manuals you got with 5D but offer so much more and lots of tutorials to practice on. good luck with you machine, I love mine.

snipforfun, no I didn't buy the 4x4 I just use the 6x6.

I am getting ready to download and notice there are redwork and vintage. Do yor or anyone know the difference. I see they are different sizes from each other.

Take some classes, you will find you love it after you get into it. I do a lot of tote bags with all likes of things on them. I have 3 jackets that I have done also as well as other things.

I am sure glad that I waited to get one that has the large hoops for most things you need a large hoop to do things.

I have a group of friends that are all over the country that all were from here (QB) and if I don't know how to do something, they will help me with it. They also can enlarge the designs or change them to my Font for me.

If you have any questions that I can help you with let me know (PM) me. One of my friends also has a Husqvarna, some have Brothers, Baby locks, Janomes, and they are very helpful.

All the machines use their own Font. When you download designs, most of the time it will ask you what you want.

Example: Babylock and Brothers takes (PES) Singer I think takes XXX, some take a couple different ones, your book will tell you what yours takes.

I have downloaded a lot from Embroidery Library and they always have great deals for may be a 1.00 or so.

Their designs are very nice I have used a lot of them. To me that is one of the best site and very affordable. You can put something in your wish list and when it goes on sale then you can get it for around a 1.00. I have many designs and they are already digitized when you get them. All you have to do is download them and put them in a storage place like a external hard drive. Sometimes they are in zip files, you would have to open them and then put them in a folder. If I decide to embroidery, I just go into my external hard drive and transfer what I need to a flash
drive (2 gig), then take it to my machine. Your machine will be able to read the design, tell you what colors they select for the design, but I choice my own colors. Sometimes the colors the machine selects are nothing like what you would select yourself, you use the colors you want. You can always PM me if you need help. I have lots of designs and thread, found good deals on all of them mostly online.

Red Work or Blue Work is just an outline of the design. Vintage means some of that age, (old). To me Vintage is better type older style designs.

I have a Brothers Quattro and I live it. I use it to sew, quilt and embroider. I've had it for about 2 1/2 years and haven't had any problems. I owned Brothers Pacesetter 8500-D for over 10 years and just sold it to my sister-in-law. Still going strong. I also purchase a lit if designs from emblibrary. Their designs always stitch out great.

Lame photo of ekmbroidered quilt
 

Here is the photo of my first and only embroidered quilt. Im not too good at this camera thing. Forgive me, but I think you can get the idea. I got the designs from juju and did them in the 4x4. As you can see its isnt trimmed or bound. Just came back from longarmer. Im going to put a facing on instead of traditional binding.

I also have a Mac laptop. I purchased a program called Parallels. It turns your computer into a windows program. I use this for all my embroidery programs and designs. Then I flip back to Mac for the rest. It's not very expensive either. I think it was around 89.00. I had purchased Windows 7. They have an update for Windows8 but I don't want to upgrade. Check on line for Parallels.

I think I will just go ahead and order all versions and test them out. Only .75 cents each on sale today and tomorrow

thanks for the help with the pe-770 it works.

Lace patterns
 

I'd like to put lace onto some plain knit tops: around the neckline or to add a cap sleeve. What sites do you find this type of pattern?

for memory stick I go on internet = around 7 dollars. 2mb

I have been purchasing designs from Embroidery Library since
Feb. 2009. I knew I had spent a fair amount of money on designs
from there, but yesterday I was "curious" as to just HOW much
that I have spent.

The total is staggering, and I have to say it is more than what
I spent on my Brother Innov-Is 1500D machine.

I need to do what Krystyna did and go on a moratorium from buying
anymore designs, but how does one ignore all the awesome designs
that are being produced daily?

Step One: Unsubscribe from all of the embroidery companies
Step Two: Organize all of the designs you currently own
Step Three: Vow not to buy until you stitch through everything you already own.
Go back to step one: Unsubscribe. If you don't see it, you won't buy it.

My BIGGEST downfall is embroidery library.

But I have already let all my subscriptions expire, or as
they come up for renewal I bypass that.

I have OVER 175,000 designs that are not duplicates
and I have been trying to work on organizing the designs.
The way I am organizing them now (or have been for the
last year or so) is by saving the designs in a folder with
the website name (Emb. Library, Cute Emb., etc...).
For all other designs that I do not know/remember where
I got the designs from they go into category folders such
as seasons, holidays, animals (sub folders are: air, water, etc.).

Since I have the Floriani ESP software I get about 5 free designs
per month from there, and so far I LOVE how well those stitch
out, very very FEW jump stitches to contend with I LIKE that.


By the way K it is good to see you, I haven't seen many posts
from you lately hope you are doing well.