I have a Pfaff Creative Vision and before that had a Pfaff 2140. I highly recommend either taking lessons or getting a workbook. The Pfaff 2140 and the 2170 both have workbooks but Creative Vision hasn't come out with one yet. I love making quick gifts with it. I also see expensive embroidered clothes in catalogs and can come close to the design for a fraction of the cost. Another site for embroidery is urbanthreads.com. It is not the usual embroideries. The embroideries are not the quality of emblibrary.com but are a whole different style.

Yes, at emblibrary they have quilt designs that you hoop it and the machine takes over. Also The Stencil Company has borders and block quilting.

I just [last week] received a beautiful Baby Lock Elisimo EM and haven't begun one embroidery project yet. I am interested in learning more from others. I look forward to checking out this web site. Barb

I just Googled Singer Futura embroidery file types and found a site that said it's compatible with all embroidery formats. Hope this helps.

Ramona

I have a Janome 9000 that is 13 years old. I did some embroidery for Christmas on aprons. I haven't done that much lately which is my problem- i don't remember how to use my customizer program. i feel like a real dummy. even reading the instructions- i can't figure it out. i'm going tomorrow for lessons on my 6600 -if i get up the nerve, i'll ask him.

I have a Bernina 170, it's 5-6 years old and has more than paid for itself. I do quilts, ornaments, in-the-hoop projects. Hardly ever use it on clothing!!! I have ver 3 software and can digitize and also have the cross stitch software, which I love.

Sorry to hear about your Mom. Prayers going up!

The New Singer Futura range, eg, CE150, CE200, CE250, CE350 uses .FHE embroidery format and also CHE (Compucon) design format - however the Singer software that comes as standard with many Singer Futura will automatically convert the following embroidery formats,
XXX
PSW
PEC
PES
HUS
SEW
EXP
DST
PCS, FHE and CHE, purchase any of the above formats is fine.
However Singer's most usable format is .XXX
Singer XL5000 and XL6000 use the format with the file extension .XXX
Singer's software called "Singer PSW" a hardware and digitizing software package will load and save in many different formats but buying .XXX you'll be safe.
Older machines like the Singer Quantum XL-100, XL-150, XL-1000 use .XXX format

Best option to learn might be you tube.com There are plenty of videos on the Futura embroidery features. I taught myself with the manual doing the examples and or doing research on a specific feature when I wanted to do something. Forgot to mention I own a Brother ULT and the PEDesign software.

Two more things and then I will shut up.
1. This is for beginners. There is a frustration level you hit until the light comes on but if you look around you in the classes you will find all ages moving at different speeds.

2. If you don't use your machine for a while you will forget but don't be embarrased. I have taken classes over again to remember a simple task.

SS your quilts are very nicely done. I too have a EM I haven't done much with. I keep experiecing needle breakage, yes I have tried different needles, now experimenting w/ different threads. My machine is a White 4400 and I have heard several negative comments about this machine.But since there isn't a budget for replacing it I need to figure it out.

My learning problem is I really need someone to show me but I live in a area that only has one sew-vac store and they don't offer any sort of lessons. The next town over is a 80 mile rd. trip but since I didn't buy my machine from any of those stores they are very willing to help.

And you thought I could shut up. Embroidery library has quilt labels to embroidery and personalize. Really nice stuff.

I started out with a brother PE 150 from Walmart when I got my Brother ULT 2003D I gave the PE 150 to my Mom then I got a Janome 10001 at a garage sale thought it would be nice for my daughter liked it so well I kept it for a year till I got a Janome 11000SE which I love so daughter finally got the 10000 So now I am down to 3 machines again the Ult the 11000 and a 270D I got because family members out of town had one they wanted help with so I was able to walk them through it I will give it to my Granddaughter when she grads High School this year This is my favorite hobby I love to get people interested in it

Hi Karen,
Your machine has the .JEF+ Embroidery Format if you do indeed own the 10000 machine. For more information try the janome.com web site. You will find tons of information.

Happy Quilting....
Tena - Gr. Falls MT

I have a Babylock Ellisimo, I can't seem to get the hang of downloading my designs from the computer (I like to use thumb drives) but I am working on it. M DH bought it for me last June, then we had some major illness in our family (SIL was diagnosed with Melanoma)so my mind has not been really focused. He is in treatment, so maybe i will be able to concentrate better. I am working on 2 fishing quilts for DGS's
will post pics when I learn how. :oops: :oops: :oops:

I have Janome 11000 (aka "Ms. Janome"). I have 2 boxes of theme quilt blocks sewn that I have to organize into quilts, somehow ... hopefully in 2010. Photos of other things I've done are below. It can be fun; it's a mood thing for me. I'll embroider pretty regularly for a while and then, while I'm working on something totally different, it's likely months before I do any more ME.

I have a Viking Designer 1. I have several embroidery projects started, but got involved in learning to make other quilts, so the emb. projects are in my UFO stack. Would like to finish them this year, since I bought the machine for the emb. features.

I started about 15 years ago with a Brother Esante, and it got a lot of use. Not too long ago it would mess up when I did free motion quilting, and the dealer repairman couldn't figure out what was wrong. MY DH insisted that I get a new machine as much as I loved sewing/quilting/embroidering. I bought the new Bernina 830 and can't believe how much more user friendly it is than the Brother was. I can combine and create new designs with the 830, but it was way over my head with the Brother (but then that was also 15 years ago technically). Don't have many pics on my computer now, but below are just a few of the things I've embroidered.

I have a Brother 4000D with an upgrade with larger hoop and continuing embroidery capabilities like for sheets or tablecloths etc. It came with a USB port so I can download and add to a memory stick. I do have trouble with compressed files, for the life of me I cannot unzip files that are sent to me zipped.........just cannot........what am I doing wrond? I need to take classes for the upgrade. I am like others at this forum, I will embroider a while then quit and do something else.........love it all.

Weezie, i like how on your quilt some blocks have borders abd some do not. it is a very neat look. cute quilt.

this is my first time here and i have singer xl 1000. i haven't used the embroidery much, only 1 time at a class and am trying to get my room set up to sew and do some quilting which i want to use embroidery on. i have format psw ( i think) but never got it to work for me. paid a lot of $'s for it too.

I have a brother 270SD.I am saving for a baby lock. This is my first embroidery project so I only have 2 rows of embroidery right now.

these are beautiful

Hi,

I own the Janome 10000 machine and also upgraded when I bought it I think to the janome 10001 but I haven't used it yet. I am hoping to learn this month at least to get started on it as now I am ready to learn how to use it.

Is that the machine that you have and if so how do you download free patterns online to it. I am a beginner and lots of things to learn about embroidery machines.

Wow, lots of cool machines here and keep on chatting so we can all learn from each other!

I was wondering if anyone can post any tutorials on the board for embroidery machine easy projects or tips.

It seems like there is a lot of us beginners that are not using the machines as we need help!!!!!

Karen

What windows are you running? for the zipped files. if you right click on it a drop down box appears and if you read down it will way extract all, click on it, there is a box that you can click that will be if you want to show the unzipped files or not, it is up to you if you would like to have a new window open up to see them or not, I hope this helps,

Brother has a new machine . I think it is the 9000. You can download from the internet. It is on sale for 599.00 plus a hundred dollar rebate from brother . I don't know if the sale is still on but i looked at the machine and it looked ok. Just a 4x4 embroid field. I bought a pacestter 8500 from a friend. I really like it. I have been doing towels. I jused the sticky glad wrap for the back. It turns out ok. Any remarks on it? I bought the ped basic from ebay. It hasn't arrived yet. The lady that sold me the machine sold all her software to someone for 20.00. Wish it had been me. She says it was outdated anyway. But I love the machine. I have heard of so many people who have them but don't use them. I wanted to go the cheap way first to see how much i use it. I love the thread cutter more than anything. Have fun ladies.

I just got the newer 830 so much to learn about it,quite a switch from the old 930 from many years ago when all you did was free hand embroidery.I made a bag to carry my quilts to guild meetings with a big bird and a lace tail, not much else so far with the holidays , I was recently on a cruise to Mexico out of Calif. They had new babylocks and brothers, what a thrill that was, designs were from Zundt designs, made a backpack, slippers,a small birdhouse quilt, all embroidered, very easy machines to use, and a beautiful pashmere shawl with a big lace rose on one end, Those pashmere shawls can be found in the airports for abut 14 bucks, I saw some in LA and Las Vegas, I am going to a family reunion in Okla in April and wanted to bring some raffle items, I am making some shopping bags, put a rose on one of them now all I need to do is put the bag together, I think that is a good way to learn to do the embroidery and put it to good use at the same time.

My question. Can you do embroidery on the 8500 without hooping? what if you want to do the same design on a long strip of fabric without hooping? Thanks.

Thanks! The bordered blocks have smaller designs in them. I was happy with the end result. The entire quilt layout was a creative challenge, but it was fun. I like to "invent" my own quilt patterns, up to a point, but I'm also not well coordinated, so with each success, I have to pat myself on the back.

Hello Everyone!
This is a great thread...
For your info, YAHOO Groups have some specialized groups that pertain to your particular machine. Such as Brother Quattro/Duetta, Pfaff C.V. etc...I have learned so much from those groups. Also Sew Forum has an emb section that helps as well.
Hope it's ok to post this info here. If not, I apologize in advance.
I have two machines and I love both of them for piecing and embroidery.
Kirsten

:) Hi, I have a Pfaff 2140 upgraded to a 2170 I bought off of ebay 2 Christmas' ago. Still leaning a lot. I've done a little with quilting on quilts and a couple of in the hoop projects. I am good at collecting designs. I really got the Pfaff for the IDT since I quilt alot right now. I am starting to explore designs more to be incorporated.

Kay in AZ

I will have to try this. I am using Windows XP......I heard Vista does not work with embroidery downloads.......I am thinking about getting a new tower......does any one know if Windows 7 work with the computer program......I hope I am smart enough to do this......thanks...

This is lovely! Do you know the quilt block name?

I haven't had any problems with my Vista program and tranferring emb designs from my computer to a flash drive for both of my machines.
K

I have helped a few people. And it is easier if asked specific questions. There is also a really good site for this. It is the sister site to www.emblibrary.com and the link can be found there. I am on my iPod so links are hard. If I don't see it by the time I am home then I will make sure that it is posted. It also has a section of projects that people have done. Loads of ideas and tips.

I have a janome 11000 and a pfaff 2170 I love to embroider its a lot of fun

You have to hoop to embroider. But they also have endless hoops that can make it easier. Marking where you want the designs can make it easy to get them where you want them. I have vista and never and an issue with it. I have pedesign 7. I have the 8500 as well as a bigger one and the older program works better with that machine. I can only write one design to the disk at a time for it or it won't read the disk with program. When I upgraded I gave the old one to my mom who I got into it as well. She also has the 8500 but she has updated and bought a newer pfaff

If I can help it I don't hoop everything I have a built in stitch that locks the fabric to the stablizer it does a border around the pattern. I also did a lot of lace christmas ornaments for the tree

hi I have a brother 4000D innovis love that machine wonder if one of u guys have the same and what u done so far

Vista works fine with all my embroidery designs. I was worried about that too when I got my new laptop, but the guy I trust for all my computer needs told me I may as well get Vista instead of Windows XP - go with the future software. It's a little different learning to maneuver, but I haven't had any embroidery software problems at all. I have Bernina version 6 software.