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Posts Tagged ‘Embroidery Cards’

I have a Brother LB6770 Embroidery/sewing machine and have a few questions about applique’ and software.?

January 8th, 2013 4 comments

The machine only came with one pre-programmed applique’ design, I would like to by a memory card for the machine with alphabet applique’ embroidery designs and can only find one standard font that I am not interested in. The customer service at Brother told me that if I loaded applique’ designs on my blank memory card from my computer and put the memory card in my machine that it may not recognize it as being an applique’ and I would end up having to do it myself! Not what I wanted to hear. Furthermore, I am upset because I have an amazing Apple laptop which I love but is not compatible with my sewing machine software. I am stuck, and upset any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I do not think you can even load designs from your MAC to a blank memory card due to everything machine embroidery being Windows based.

Preloaded memory cards can soon add up to the expense of purchasing additional software (Windows to be used via Boot Camp) or an inexpensive PC.

Once you have a method for reading Windows, you can purchase a reader/writer unit with a re-writable memory card for around $100 and forget the preloaded card.

I am guessing this would be $600 minimum for a PC and the reader/writer/card for machine embroidery. That’s about 8 preloaded cards.

PC – http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS260US260&q=toshiba+satellite&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=17423045610550159094&ei=ecdhTJT1HciUnQeg0r3NAQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CFMQ8wIwBA#

Reader/Writer/Card – http://www.amazon.com/Brother-PED-Basic-Software-Downloading-Embroidery/dp/B000GTNEEO

Once you can download and send to a memory card, there are thousands of designs (many free) that you can download from the Internet!

What is a good embroidery machine for personal and small business use?

November 23rd, 2012 2 comments

We ahve a small business and I want to personalize my kids’ shirts. What is a auitable model for this type of use?

You should look for a machine that has (at the very lease) a stitching (hoop) area of 5 x 7, or you will be limited to designs no larger than 4 x 4.

Also important is Internet connectivity. UBS port B is direct connection via a cable that comes with the machine and USB port A is a removable flash stick/drive. A is the most convenient, the PC needs to be near the embroidery machine to use the port B cable.

The less expensive machines use machine embroidery reader boxes and rewritable cards only – these are almost obsolete.

Bernina and Husqvarna are the most expensive and are proprietary when is comes to accessories (like additional UBS sticks).

Brother and Babylock are the same family of machines, the most user friendly and compatible with software, including the USB sticks.

Singer – has had an iffy reputation for several years.

They all are basically the same as far as functions. They get more expensive as the luxury features are added on.

You should be able to get an embroidery machine that has the larger stitching area and USB connectivity for around $1,000, or less.

You can buy new or a dealer may have a gently used one that has been traded up for one of the luxury models.

Do buy from a dealer for the support you may need.

Visit as many dealers as you can, watch the demos and then try the machines.

Buy the brand you like best from the dealer you like best.

Don’t buy any software from a dealer until you have used the machine and are comfortable with what you can do with additional software – there are companies that have free trials that you can download and test.

For more discussions, you may want to sign up at:

annthegran.com or sewforum.com

Both have a lot of embroidery machine discussions – the sites are free.

Can my Brother SE350 embroidery machine read from standard memory cards and what type? ?

November 21st, 2012 1 comment

It looks like a slot for something like a compact flash card. Does anyone know what type of card this is? I can’t imagine I’d have to buy "special" cards. I know I’ll need software to digitize/convert images in PES format. I’d imagine the software also knows how to format the card so it can be read by the embroidery machine.

First, you have to have a card reader for machine embroidery and then you buy the card for your machine that is compatible with the card reader.

You use Brother memory cards or cards made for Brother machines. Again – these have to be compatible with the reader box.

You get these items from an embroidery machine dealer – preferable on-line.

Walk-in dealers don’t always have the cards in all formats, or any at all and have to order what you need.

They are more expensive than at online dealers.

To take advantage of downloading from the Internet, you need a card reader and a rewritable memory card.

You can get Brother’s PED Basic with a card for about $100 – On-line.

This is one dealer that I have bought from. They have a graphic showing how the card reader works. Note the PC requirements. http://www.sewingsupplywarehouse.com/pedbasic.html

Another dealer that I have bought from – http://www.allbrands.com/products/abp01060-0165.html

Digitizing is a horse of another color. This is software that allows you to create your own designs or digitize pictures and clip art. It is fairly expensive around $1,000.

You can download a free trial of Embird Embroidery Software here – http://www.secretsof.com/content/1853?PHPSESSID=f1d6a79654e8e476eaffaf7784b652a6 It is a very popular software and what you are downloading is the Basic program. It doesn’t digitize, but it is the base component for this software.

As you learn and want to expand, you buy plug-ins that allow you to digitize, among other things.

Free designs to download (I have used many of them) – http://www.brother-usa.com/HomeSewing/GetCreative/free-designs.aspx

When you buy or download designs, make sure they are no larger than 4 x 4. That is the maximum stitching area for the 350.