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Posts Tagged ‘Sewing Machine’

How long have computerized embroidery machines been around?

November 15th, 2012 4 comments

And are there new technological advancements in terms of embroidery?

In the early eighties, designs where still being hand punched and the stitched out in factories By the late eighties some where switching to computerized machines.

Few individuals are talented enough to do elaborate free hand embroidery with a sewing machine.http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3833/video-manuels-free-motion-embroidery-technique

New technologies would include downloading designs from the Internet, software for the home embroidered to digitized their own art work and editing of commercial designs and the USB flash drive which provides large amount of storage space, and connectivity from the Internet to the embroidery machine.

The home embroidery machine has been around since the nineties.

I bought my first one early in the current century.

What is a good sewing & embroidery machine for a beginner?

November 11th, 2012 7 comments

I would also like to know what embroidery software I can use for different sewing machines as well.
Well, I do not want to spend over $1000.00. My husband might have a heart attack if he knew that I said that, but I really want a good one that will sew and embroider.
It is so hard for me to choose a Best Answer because you have all been so helpful.

I have the Brother 270d. It is a little work horse. It does bother embroidery and sewing. It comes with a set of built in designs, including some Disney patterns. You will want to get the PE Basic so you can embroidery patterns that you download offline. You can find some sites with nice free ones – they are samples to entice you to buy their sets. I really like www.bunnycup.com (sorry for the tangent).

You do not need embroidery software to use the Brother 270d. You can begin embroidering and sewing right away.

You will want to get other necessities (stabilizer, thread, and maybe some more needles). The machine comes with a set of needles to get you going though.

The types of stabilizer and thread you use does not matter, though some are easier to work with than others. Do not let the price shock you – I use discount coupons from Jo Ann’s and Hobby Lobby to get mine. The spending in this department will be high initially! Again, this is why for a beginner I recommend the Brother 270d.

Costco has it on sale for $389.99 and it comes with the PE Basic. Wal-Mart sells this machine for $350. I got mine from my local Brother dealer for $500, but they threw in 1 year in store maintenance and free classes for life.

I hope this helps. True the other machines can do more, but you are paying more than double to price (and some of them do not sew). For a beginner, this is the best machine at the best price! Good luck!

Recommend a sewing machine with alphabet?

November 11th, 2012 5 comments

Hi, can anyone recommend a sewing machine including nice patterns, embroydery and alphabet? I am a complete beghinner qnd am willing to pay between 100 and 350 usd. must be easy to use.
Thanks a lot!!
Thanks a lot, but what about the Brother SE270D Computerized Sewing and Embroidery Machine, 350USD?

You really need to buy an embroidery machine from a dealer (sewing store) You will need lessons on the machine itself and for doing embroidery. This is not something to figure out yourself.
I know of two people who took back the Brother’s Disney embroidery machine to WalMart because they were so flustered with it.
Some dealers have older machine that were brought in when the owners traded up in models. Sewing stores are going to give you free lessons on your machine.
Once you have an embroidery machine you can buy 100’s of different fonts for it. Also there are many free designs on line. You just have to see if it is offered in your sewing machines "language" I have a Viking Huskavarna embroidery machine, I need designs in HUS.
Check out site below

How do I do embroidery with a sewing machine? Is it possible?

November 11th, 2012 7 comments

I have a ton of excess denim from making a purse out of my friends never woren jeans she got rid of. Now I decided to make a bracelet with embroidery… how do I do it with a sewing machine? Also, have any other ideas on what to do with the scraps?

Sure, you can do free-motion embroidery with any machine. You need to drop the feed dogs or cover them in order to do it, but that’s easily accomplished. Best beginning book I know of is Robbie and Tony Fanning’s Complete Book of Machine Embroidery — you’ll probably have to get it from your library, as I believe it’s now out of print. Want to knock your socks off? Check to see if your library has a copy of Singer Instructions for Art Embroidery — everything in the book was done on a straight stitch treadle machine, and it’s gorgeous.

Here’s a professional free-motion embroiderer at work:
http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/tvt032.asp

Where on the internet can I find info and instruction on embroidery digitizing?

November 9th, 2012 3 comments

I have just purchased a Brother sewing/embroidery machine, Disney SE-2700 series. I keep reading about digitizing. If I understand it right it is creating your own embroidery patterns. Where on the internet can I find what I need to know about digitizing, and can I digitize with my machine? I appreciate all the help I can get. Nana

Digitizing is the creation of design files to use on your embroidery machine. There are several digitizing programs available and most will create files in many formats. ART is the only format that is not as popular and which only comes with specific digitizing software. PES which you use on your Brother machine is very common and most digitizing programs create this format.

I personally use a couple of programs to digitize. The one I like the best is Embird. You can have the option of creating most of the design automatically and then reworking it until you like what you get, or creating the whole design from scratch (this is called manual punching). The Secrets of Embroidery website offers tutorials as well as a free 30-day trial download of Embird so you can try before you buy. There are also Yahoo Groups which are dedicated to each type of software program to digitize and the members help each other with their problems.

Can you embroider Disney characters on any machine?

November 9th, 2012 2 comments

I’m wanting to get my wife a sewing / embroidery machine for Christmas. I know Brother sells their ‘Disney’ versions, but what if I don’t want a Brother machine. If I buy say a Singer, or Husqvarna, or Janome machine, will she still be able to embroider Disney characters? (I know legally you’d need copyright licensing to sell it, but I’m talking about just on a T-shirt or pillow case for our kids). Anyone know a good website where you can buy embroidery designs like this?

If you are determined to have Disney designs will need the Brother brand and for the best PC connectivity, a model with the USB stick for sending downloads to the embroidery machine.

Otherwise, my first choice is Baby Lock, then Brother.

This Brother program will work with several Brother models – http://www.ibroidery.com/default.aspx?campaign=ClickOut Models are listed at the side bar. The iBroidery designs will be in the .pen format and only certain Brother models can read this format.

Before iBroidery was available only Brother D (model numbers ended with D) machines had or could stitch out Disney designs.

If you select another brand of embroidery machine, the machine’s required format may be different than the usual Brother and Baby Lock of .pes.

Most formats can be converted as required by your embroidery machine. With the exception of the .pen format used by iBroidery designs and .art used by older models of Bernina.

You can embroider copyrighted designs to your heart’s content as long as they are not represented as a liscenced product (such as an authentic MM sweatshirt).

In addition to the embroidery machine, a minimal embroidery machine software program will be needed.

Embird is the most economical and most popular with the home machine embroiderer.

Embird requires the base program and then as the embroiderer progresses more can be added, or not. http://www.secretsof.com/content/1798

In addition to the Embird software, it would be a good ideal to have this book – http://books.google.com/books/about/Embroidery_Machine_Essentials.html?id=j6e847_n3MUC

This site – http://www.annaboveembroidery.com/embroidery-tips.html will show how to do many things including downloading from the Internet and saving to the PC. There are many free designs available for downloading (avoid those from foreign countries as many are counterfeit).

Flash drives/flash sticks/thumb drives can be used for backing up the design files just in case the PC has a break down. These can be purchase for very little money almost anywhere (office supply stores, electronic stores, drug stores). They are about the size of a Pez dispenser. I have several and keep them in a storage container so they are not misplaced.

More tips and techniques – http://www.emblibrary.com/el/elprojects/holder.aspx?page=techniques

Another tip – most machine embroidery thread will be rayon. Use polyester machine embroidery thread on items that will be washed a lot or come in contact with chlorine.

I need software to turn pictures to embroidery designs?

May 17th, 2012 1 comment

I have some pictures for a sewing project and i need them embroidered i have a brother pe400 sewing/embroidery machine. I’m looking for some software to simply change pictures to stitches. would prefer free, but I am willing to pay for it. I have to computers, a windows and mac.

The software you need to be compatible with a sewing machine so specific should have been included when you purchased it. If you do not have the software already you can download it from the brother website. Hopefully this works for you!

Cheers!

what would you need to do to put an image and lettering on to fabric to embroidery over later.?

May 17th, 2012 2 comments

I have been asked to transfer and embroidery by hand an image and some lettering on to work uniform of a cousin of mine, this is the first attend at embroidery and actually getting the image of what she wants and the adding the extra words of her workplace is stressing me out, has any one any really simple put affective ways of achieving this project, I have a simple sewing machine and have also have been looking up how to free embroidery by machine, I have the wooden hoop, and nothing else, i.e. water water-soluble stabilizer or pencils etc.. I also have no idea how to place the design on her work tunics and tops. Please help a complete novice. Any tips or ideas would really be appreciated.

If this is your first embroidery project, then tell your cousin to find a professional embroidery shop and have it done. Beginners can very rarely make professional looking embroidery by hand… it takes months and years before you get to the point that you can do lettering in a professional manner, for instance. Lettering by free motion embroidery is almost as difficult.

And in the meantime, practice. But not on someone’s uniform.

Best book I know of on free motion machine embroidery: Fanning and Fannig: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Machine-Embroidery-Creative/dp/0801976480 Hand embroidery is a much broader subject: I’d probably start you with one of Erica Wilson’s books, and then move you to Royal School of Needlework Embroidery Techniques by Saunders, Butcher and Barret.

In answer to your question: how would I do the transfer? I’d either use a heat transfer pencil, a perforated stencil and chalk, direct drawing with a soft lead pencil, or basting. Depends on the substrate being embroidered.

Where can i get free embroidery designs for my Singer Futura CE200?

December 10th, 2011 1 comment


Hi Robyn
I personally love to embroider, so this question got my attention. I also love to search the internet so these are my findings. Hopefully they help you out:

Web site #1:
Singer Futura CE200 Embroidery designs (see www.sewingmachine-sales… ) link

"As well as being a great sewing machine for every day sewing, the Singer CE200 Futura is also a full power embroidery machine when you link it to your own PC, all the software and cables are included."

"The new Singer CE-200 Futura, the newest break-through in sewing and embroidery technology! …. Create beautiful embroidery with a direct connection to a Windows compatible computer, and create your own embroidery designs from photos or clip-art!"

"Create your own designs! – Scan a photo, use clip art and the software automatically fills it with stitches and sends it directly to the machine." (Robyn, this is where the FREE part would come in).

"Embroidery Functions with Futura software, tutorial and USB Cable:
When downloading designs from the internet, off a floppy disk or CD, the Futura software will recognize AND AUTOMATICALLY CONVERT the following embroidery formats.
FHE
CHE
XXX
PSW
PEC
PES
HUS
SEW
EXP
DST
PCS "
_____________________________________
Web site #2:
"Embroidery Software CD – free download for replacement CD to be able to download photos off the internet".

On this web site below it states: “FUTURA basic software installation CD. This is the CD THAT CAME WITH YOUR MACHINE. If you lost your CD and need a replacement, here it is!" (see bellaluciadesigns.com… ) link

The Sewing Machine – Creative Free Machine Embroidery with Gina Ferrari

December 9th, 2011 No comments

Get started with free motion stitching – Textile DVD – see more at http://tinyurl.com/bw4eq3m
Textile artist Gina Ferrari has launched her textile dvd on which she teaches how to get started with free machine embroidery. In this chapter she explains the settings on the sewing machine and what creative designs you can make with your stitching.

Duration : 0:7:25

Read more…