The Bobbin Buzz & Stitchin' Bits

Here's one from my mailbox today...

"Hi there,

I received a rather inexpensive Brother Disney SE270D embroidery machine a few weeks age as a gift. I was excited about it at first, but after using some of the designs on the machine and subscribing, downloading and sewing designs from other sites, I quickly became disappointed. I thought,perhaps I just wasn't doing something right with the fabric preparation. After researching other sites, I decided to give yours a one month try. The very first design I sewed came out perfectly. I am excited again. Thanks for the beautiful designs." -- Tammy

Hi Tammy -

Glad you found our site. There is a lot more on the site that you'll find helpful too. One of the most common problems people have when starting out is in how they hoop their projects. We've got a short video on the site that shows how to get perfect hooping every time. Here's the page...
http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/members/1397.cfm

-- Larry

This one is from the Main Forum on ATW...

"Does anyone with the 4000D run at full speed? Just wondering, as so far I usually set to 600 and I'm curious." -- RosieH

And some answers...

"I usually run it full out unless I am doing something dense like lace, then I slow it down. My repair technicain said that it should be fine running at full speed. It will speed up and slow down as the machine tells it that it needs to. Good Luck!" -- Holly

"I run my 4000D at all 3 speeds. It depends what I am embroidering. When I do lace I run it slow. If I know I have serveal minutes of one color I run it at 1000. If I am doing lettering I usually go with the 600. I guess it is what your comfortable with and experience."" -- Susan

"I run mine at full speed unless I am working on a questionable design or delicate like lace which I really don't do much and if I am actually sewing, I slow things down." -- Cari

"I used to run mine at full speed and then had some problems with the machine and since then have just run it at the slower speeds." -- Sikart

"I ran my full speed when I first got it and then had problems with the machine. My dealer told me to not run it so fast. I was thinking, then why did you use that as a selling point when I bought it. Don't take advice from me as I got a lemon and am not happy with the Innovis." -- Charlotte

I have a Bernina 200E and I would like to start using embroidery to start a business but I am not sure if this is the machine to do it with. Can you give me your recommendations?

The motors, bearings, and other mechanisms in a commercial machine are designed for long-term heavy use. Those in home machines are not. A home machine may have a lifetime of 10,000,000 stitches, or even 20,000,000 stitches. A busy embroidery shop sew out 2,000,000 stitches per month!

On top of that, you'll also have speed issues. The time required to sew out a design with 6 colors and 6,000 stitches usually would be about 10 minutes. Unless you have a single needle machine -- because you'd then have to babysit the machine, changing colors every time you need a new color. With a commercial machine, you load up the colors once and sew out the design while you go do something else.

Here's a video you would benefit greatly from BEFORE you make expensive mistakes...
http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/products/item523.cfm

I want to get into machine embroidery. I was checking out some machines in a nearby town and was wondering what you think about the innovis 2500D ? It's on sale for $2999. and do you think it's a good price for a used machine or do you have a better Idea? All of my family says you are the just about the best as far as sewing goes and I would appericiate your advice very very much Thank You! -- Sherri

Hi Sherri - Thanks for your question!

I'm not sure what the Innovis 2500D normally sells for USED, but I can tell you that there's ALWAYS a "sale" going on so never let the fear of losing out on a special sale price push you into making a purchase if you haven't yet thouroughly investigated what you want for a machine.

We buy used machines quite often. What we've found works really well for us is to buy what used to be the top-of-the-line machine and has been traded in by someone for the latest-greatest newer top-of-the-line machine. The owner of last years BEST machine often trades it in because they want some new feature. For example, I'm looking at a ULT2003 right now that cost about $4,000 when new in 2003. We'll probably pay about $1200 for it now and it is in like-new condition.

As for the 2500D... we have a "Reviews" section on ATW. It surveys owners of various machnines on their experiences with those machines. We've had 7 responses in our machine owners survey so far on the Innovis 2500D. Here are those responses...

See 2500D Survey Responses Here

(You can click the VIEW buttons to read details of why they said that.)

Of the 7 people that responded, only 5 said they would buy the same machine again! That gives the 2500D a grade of "71" on our scale. If you were still in school and got a "71" on a test, that would be a "C" -- and barely a passing grade at that! By comparison, these machines earned an "A" with a score of 90 or better...

... and the ones highlighted in BLUE are what I call "Best Buy" machines, with 100% of the owners saying they would buy another one AND more than 10 responses... meaning there are enough people answering the question that it's a pretty valid survey.

The rest of this article is called "Machine Report Cards 2007" and is available to members of ATW. I'm not just trying to promote our website here, but it IS a great place to go BEFORE you buy your first machine. Go through the "Reviews" section of the site, as well as searching through the Discussion Forum and asking questions there to get feedback from real users. The $19.95 investment for 3 months membership will probably save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars by avoiding buying the wrong machine for yourself.

Some time ago you told us Holly uses different software for different applications. I've tried to find the old Bobbin Buzz (I think that's where it was) but blow me over I can't find it! Please could you once again tell me which programmes you use! I'm trying to work out which I would like to buy.

Holly uses Generations for most of her digitizing. Most often she does manual punch but it does have capability to do auto and I'd highly recomend it as a great program. She has made a couple videos that are in our store showing how to get up to speed with Generations very quickly.

She also uses Artista for some things such as partial-applique, stem stitches, and wave stitches as well as wreathing and koleidescoping. It's also an excellent program and she could use it for all digitizing at this point but is so familiar with Generations that she has stayed with it because of how fast she can digitize with it after the years of experience.

Got questions about machine embroidery? Membership to Artistic ThreadWorks gives you instant access to the most in-depth coverage of the machine embroidery hobby on the internet at a cost everyone can afford. Click HERE to join!

RE: " I would have to say using gripper shelf/drawer liner to hoop WSS. Cutting a 2-3" open frame to fit your hoop... and adding it and WSS together, then hoop to prevent slippage during stitching...is a life saver." (Read Tip Here)

I read this in the article (see TIP a few articles down) , but I have to truely admit that I dont have a clue what it means. What is WSS? What is a 2-3" open frame? And what hoop size is this for? I am new to machine embroidery and I guess I know less than I thought I did. Please explain this in detail. I love all the helpful hints, and the wonderful news letter. -- Jacque

Thanks for the question! While I didn't write the "tip", I can answer the first question easily and I'll take a stab at what she was saying in the second part...

WSS = "Water-Soluable Stabilizer". It's used for sewing free-standing lace onto, the you immerse the design into warm water for about 10 seconds and pull it out, lay it on a towel and blot it dry. The stabilizer disappears and you're left with the thread only. It must be a design created for that purpose though. They're called "Free-Standing Lace" or "FSL".

WSS is also used as a "topper" layer. You would put in on top of the fabric to be embroidered IF that fabric has a heavy "nap" to it. Terrycloth towels are a good example of a lot of nap. You still use the stabilizer UNDER the fabric, but the WSS goes on top and keeps the thread from sinking down into the nap while you're stitching it out. After you stich the design, you no longer need the WSS and it will disappear when you wash the garment.

RE: The open frame she's talking about... Using grippy shelf-drawer-liner cut it into about a 6" square if your going to use it with a 4x4" hoop. Then cut a 2"x2" or 3"x3" hole in the middle creating a "frame" for your WSS. Hoop both the grippy and the WSS.

-- Larry

Hi. I have an old baby photo album (well, at least as old as I am - 41 years) with some really cute baby cartoons drawn in it. I think they would make great embroidery designs, but I want to make sure I can use them legally, possibly sell the designs at some point. Isn't there a set amount of time that the copyright goes away or something - I thought I remember seeing that somewhere, but I'm not sure. Thanks! Beth in AZ

Great question Beth! The answer is 75 years from date of copyright for most situations, or 75 years from the date of death of the copyright holder. Also -- if the copyright was "renewed" then it is 75 years from the date of last renewal. So.. most likely the artwork you're looking at is still copyright protected.

However, you can BUY the right to use artwork at a very reasonable price if you can find similar artwork you'd like to use. It's even possible you can find the exact same artwork. I'd suggest you browse around this website... http://store.doverpublications.com Read their Terms Of Use which differ from one book to the next and are entirely different on artwork purchased on CD vs in books.

Got questions about machine embroidery? Membership to Artistic ThreadWorks gives you instant access to the most in-depth coverage of the machine embroidery hobby on the internet at a cost everyone can afford. Click HERE to join!

I was recently asked in an email to identify this picture which is on the top-right corner of the www.digitizersworld.com logo...

Here's my response...

It is a special type of monitor that allows you to write or draw directly on the screen. You can buy these tablets from Marv at Marvelous Creations. His toll-free number is 1-877-593-3535 and tell him you're interested in the Wacom tablet for digitizing. They are priced a bit over $1,000 for the 15" size.

The same company (Wacom) makes tablets that you can draw on but that don't have the monitor built into the tablet. Those are much cheaper but they still require you to look at your monitor in one place while drawing with your hand in a different place. They don't do anything to improve digitizing speed or accuracy but they are cheap as in $150 to $300 typically. We've bought that type of tablet before and ended up throwing them away. On the other hand, we've bought several of the ones like you see in the photo and they are extremely valuable.

The only caution I would say is this... If you're already a digitizer then you'll find the table cuts your digitizing time in half. On the other hand, if you don't know how to use the software you already have, it won't make it easier to learn digitizing or solve the basic problem of not knowing how to digitize. So, if you don't know how to use your software already then you would be much better off spending the money on digitizing tutorials. On the other hand, if you know how to digitize, you'll find the tablet to be a Godsend.

Every month I get several emails that ask "How much should I charge for my embroidery work?" Today I got another one and thought I'd share this with you.

First the email...

"Larry, we are kinda new at this, but we purchased 2 BMP6 Baby Lock machines and we are in business but I still feel insecure in pricing. Do you have any suggestions on how much to charge for our services? We are in a small community and people here does not realize what is involved in doing embroidery. If you can, please advise on some pointers on how we should charge."

And my response...

Same thing everywhere! People don't realize what's involved in embroidering their whats-it until you tell them the price. If you are the first person they ever talk to about the cost of doing something for them it will probably come as a shock to them and they won't buy. Eventually they will talk with other people and find out the price is pretty similar then they can decide to do it or not.

If you're a member, just click in and use the calculator. It will walk you through all the steps to determine the amount you should charge.

-- Larry

From my email...

"Do you have some good instructions for embroidery machine appliqué? Thanks, Barbara Love your site!"

Yes! We have an online video that shows how applique is done using machine embroidery. It's in the members-section of the site at... Machine Embroidery Applique Video

I got an email yesterday asking if I'd reccomend an SWF embroidery machine for a business...

The answer in short is YES! There are several ways to go when setting up an embroidery business but the single most important decision is in buying your machine. While a business can be started and even run for a while with a home machine, I wouldn't recommend it. Home machines just are NOT designed for the type of day-in-and-day-out use required for an embroidery business. Comercial machines ARE designed for that type of use.

When buying commercial machines you have several good choices. They are Tajima, Barudan, Brother, SWF, and a few others too. These machines are heavy-duty and will allow your business to earn money you simply could not do with a home machine.

The only exception would be the Brother PR600 (or PR600-2) machine OR the Babylock equivalents called the EMP6 (or BMP6) machines which are a "crossover" serving the home market but are sturdy enough to also use for a business. The disadvantage to the PR600/EMP6 machines is the limit of 6 thread colors but 80% of all designs sewn for a business are 6 or less colors.

Got questions about machine embroidery? Membership to Artistic ThreadWorks gives you instant access to the most in-depth coverage of the machine embroidery hobby on the internet at a cost everyone can afford. Click HERE to join!

This article is from ATW...

"Is it possible to get a print out of the designs/collections that we download ?"

Great question! I would suggest you don't make a printout of your design collection. It takes up a lot of space. Even printing out a piece of paper with the designs available becomes difficult when you have a few thousand designs. And there are probably people here who have 100,000 designs on their computer.

And the cost of even 10,000 designs printed out and place neatly into a series of notebooks would start to add up in buying notebooks, paper, and ink cartridges. So it comes down to a couple of ways that this can be done electronically.

I'll be releasing a video shortly showing how to make a design catalog using several different pieces of software available at prices ranging from $20 and up. Once you see the capabilities of each of these software packages, you can make a choice for what you would like best. From watching the video - you'll already know the basics of making the program work.

(Release date for the new video will be announced here in the next few days. Members can read an extensive article on this topic on ATW now.)

That's the question posted Friday in the comments section under one of the articles here in TheBobbinBuzz. First - I want to thank Rose for asking the question because most people wonder the same thing when they're just starting out in this hobby. I know Holly and I wondered the same thing when she was getting going.

I wish I could say "Just click on this and it's done" but... it's not quite as easy as that.

You can "convert" a picture from jpg format to another picture format (like gif) by using graphics editing software, but to turn a picture into an embroidery design there's more to it than a "conversion". The process is called "digitizing" and it's where you use the jpg as a guide for where you'll put stitches with your digitizing software.

Digitizing software costs anywhere from $500 on the low end to $2,000 on the high end for "home" software. For commercial digitizing software, add a zero to the end of the high-end homed software! It costs from $18,000 and up and includes a few extra features.

Once you have the software, you have to learn how to use it. Just as buying Photoshop didn't make me able to draw instantly, so too getting digitizing software won't give you the ability to convert a JPG to a PES file instantly, but if you apply yourself to learning to use the software, it can be done.

If you're a member of ArtisticThreadWorks you can read a series of articles called... "Buying The Right Digitizing Software". It's a 5-part series of articles and starts on this page... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/members/1817

-- Larry

I quite often hear from people who are just getting started in the hobby. Many times they've found me through a Google search and are looking for help. The questions are typically "Why can't I get ______ to work?"

This hobby can be really discouraging at first because there are a lot of things that could go wrong. As a beginner you have no way of knowing what's going wrong - just that it's not working.

My best advice for you is DON'T LET THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF GETTING STARTED KEEP YOU FROM ENJOYING THIS HOBBY! Everyone goes through a learning phase where they wonder if it's really possible to do this stuff or if everyone in the world is playing some kind of cruel hoax on me. LOL! Trust me, you can do it, you just need to stick with it, ask questions, read, watch, try some more, and build upon the successes you do have.

Pretty soon you'll be doing all kinds of stuff and you'll see someone that's a newbie posting questions like yours and you'll smile and offer them a hand. We offer a terrific "getting started" section on ArtisticThreadWorks and right now it's free and open to buests. Just take a look at this section of ATW called "Getting Started"

One of our readers asked "what's different about Fuwari vs other types of embroidery?" in a comment yesterday. Seeing a photo of a project didn't show anything different from any other embroidery. Here's part of my answer...

Fuwari could best be described as a 3D embroidery. So looking at a 2-dimensional photo really doesn't do it justice. You have to see it in person or if there were 3D computer screens that would work too. It makes a design with all the threads standing up on end, sort of like a crew-cut haircut or a piece of very fine carpeting or "fur". Maybe a good translation from Japanese to English would be "furry embroidery".

This morning I thought "why don't I show a closeup of a Fuwari design?" So here's a photo showing one edge of a design...

When you touch the top of the design, it has a soft feel to it as each of those piece are just one single thread standing on end and close enough together to make a design. See it in person as soon as a show comes to your area or when your RNK dealer gets some into their store. -- Larry

Have you tried several programs and settled on the best one for you? Or are you still looking? I've been using BuzzXplore for several years now and Holly has been using Designers Gallery for just as long.

How about you? Do you have a favorite?

-- Larry

I placed an order with Allbrands on Wednesday. Members are invited to read about my experience with this company in "A Purchase From Allbrands"

-- Larry

(This question was from our Computer Help Forum where you'll always find a helping hand with your computer and software questions.)

I don't remember where I read it but it was about using a thumb drive instead of taking the dongle out everytime you wanted to use another computer. I have a lap top which I want to use to learn how to use my 3D for my Designer 1. Do you know how to do this or where I could get the information?

Answers...

I think you're referring to this article...

http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/members/1935.cfm

You can read the article in-depth there and see some pictures with it, but the basic info in a nutshell is this... It's not really using a thumb drive to replace the dongle. It's using an "extender" that keeps you from having to plug your dongle directly into the USB port then remove it over and over again. Eventually the connector on the end of the dongle breaks loose from the body of the dongle making it unusable. By using the extender, you cause the extender to break and can then replace it easily.

Thanks Faryn for the question! This question was from our Computer Help Forum where you'll always find a helping hand with your computer and software questions.

We also offer a VIDEO on CD that plays in your computer and shows you Basic Computer Skills For Embroidery!

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