Lisa,
I have done many blocks for quilts and I always oversize and then square up after embroidery - there is push/pull compensation that needs to be factored in.

I do the same thing I ALWAYS try to oversize my blocks so that
squaring them up AFTER embroidery gives me enough room around
the design to have a decent amount of background if needed.

ok, I have a Husvarna Viking Topaz 30 and tons of deigns.. having problems posting pics right now for some reason, will post as soon as I can figure out why I cannot post.. seems the url does not come up in the box and I do not know what to put into the box to insert pics

[QUOTE=chamby;6593099]I am so glad I found this post. I have a brother. It only does embroidery and it limited to the 5x7 hoop.

I just bought a Brother with the 5X7 hoop. Have an older Babylock with a larger 6X10 hoop (but uses a floppy disk for design transfer -- UGH!) -- I find that most designs I want to do work fine in a 5X7. I do t-shirts and kitchen towels, placemats and table runners, pillow tops, wall hangings -- I just did 7 designs of coffee cups, "framed" them in embroidery hoops, and hung them in my kitchen. Am just finishing up a 12 kitchen towel set with SunBonnet Sue months of the year. I mainly do gifts. Just have fun with your machine.

I have a ellageo Esg. purchased about 1998 or 99 when I owned a Western Store and wanted to be able to monogram things. Had 1 class on how to use it and also 1 class on software (Designer's Gallery and Pallette ) No one told me I couldn't do it or that it was hard, so I just crashed into it and did it. The most difficult thing I have ever done was monograming a horse blkt which was fiber filled and thick. I got it done but said never again on a machine which like that. I also made baby bibs with western theme and emb. onsies with western designs. They sold very well because most of that kind of stuff is expensive and I could sell it for a reasonable price. After I closed the shop, my machine set up for over 10 yrs before I got interested again. When I took it to the dealer to have it serviced it cost a lot because they had to send it bk to Babylock and several parts had to be replaced. I now do towels for myself and friends, quilt blks and whatever strikes my fancy. So please, don't be afraid of your machine. Just go for it. I have learned a lot from emb.forums and sites such as Emblibrary: Quilting and Emb. are my favorite things to do outside of reading.

I totally agree with you. When I got on this board I was only quilting but I read many threads of people who had the combo unit but were afraid of the emb part. Then I bought my first emb machine, the Viking Ruby and I promised myself that I was going to use the emb part of it. I took classes and experimented. If you don't try you'll never learn. The hardest part was when I wanted to make FSL Christmas ornaments but I wanted to use serger cone thread. It would go for a while and then it would start breaking thread so much. I never did get them finished but I did learn that if it screws up and rips your WS stabilizer, you can patch it a scrap piece of WS and some 505 spray, that was a great lesson. Then came Easter and I wanted to make the grandkids baskets, still wanted to use the serger thread but still had the problem of thread breaking constantly. I bought new thread, tried the thread in the freezer thing, thinking maybe my thread was too old or dry. Finally I read something on using a sharp needle when doing FSL and a larger needle. I got a sharp 90 and it worked great and I did about 10 baskets for my babies along with some egg holders to match. I now own a Viking Diamond Deluxe and still learning as much as possible, some in classes and most on my own but I won't give up. I paid too much for my machine to just do that. I have lots of hoops, my machine has some of the largest there are. My next thing is to learn to use the endless hoop and then the big one I just got, it stitches half of the design and then you flip the hoop around and it sews the other half of the design. That should be challenging but what satisfaction I'll get when it works. Enjoy what you do but at least try it before you give up, you'll be surprised how much fun you'll have.

embroidery stabilizer
 

I have a Brother PE770. Haven't used it much. I don't ever know which stabilizer I am supposed to use for each project. The embroidering is simple to do, but getting the project into the frames is something I fret with.

Rexie,

There are many kings of stabilizers, for different weights/types
of fabrics.

I personally LOVE the Floriani "Stabilizing Solutions" they give info
about the different needles, fabrics, and which stabilizers works for
each kind of fabric.

Another favorite go to place is on Embroidery Library click the "projects"
tab, than click the "Fabrics 101" tab right there on the top is info for
fabric, and stabilizers.


The links above (in "red") are my 2 all time go to places.

I hope this helps you a little bit at least.

I hope people will continue to post in here...its a great subject and there is a lot to learn for someone like myself.....

Rexie I agree with Quilty Louise, those are my go-to websites when in doubt and it has helped me out quite a lot. Its a trial by fire when learning but I make samples first before trying it on the project. It works better and you can label your samples with the type of stabilizer, needle size and the kind of material used ie. cotton. Good luck!