Embroidery Machine Lovers - July, 2012
 

Someone suggested on the original thread that we start a new one (the other has over 900 posts and hard to get through).

I'll start the ball rolling and if you guys like it we can continue to post on this one for July?? If not, you won't hurt my feelings.

I'll begin:

I've been quilting for over 10 years and started out with a Bernina 180E. Loved the embroidery feature but found I really didn't use it a lot since it was pretty outdated. The embroidery packages were super expensive ($150) and I had not purchased the software so I was pretty limited in what I could do. It did stitch beautifully though.

Since I now have two grand daughters I thought it was the perfect time to upgrade my machine and purchased the Ellisimo. Love it! I'm doing a ton of embroidery and quilting for them.

Would love to hear and learn from others who own or want to own a new embroidery machine.

Karen in CA

I would love to own an embroidery machine. I feel about embroidery like I did when I originally started quilting... overwhelmed. I would love to be able to use the machine to make labels and to personalize towels and a few other things. I would love to see how they work too and how people chose their machines and likes/dislikes. I wasted some money when I started buying things for quilting b/c I didn't know what I liked to do or what was quality vs. junk. I would like to avoid that mistake with embroidery.

I own a Bernina 200E and just recently bought a gently used 830. Love the 200 but have not yet played with the 830.

I have been doing ME for 2 years. I started out with a Brother SE 400, then Brother PE 770. Now I have a Quattro 2. I am having a ball embroidering burp cloths, towels, onesies, and bibs for my GD who will be born in the Fall. I also have embroidered 3 baby quilts and just have to quilt them now. I love combining ME and quilting. So much fun!

This should be very interesting to watch. Embroidery is not my thing, but I'm thinking of getting a used upper end machine and a lot of them seem to have embroidery on them. I know I wouldn't make quilts with them, but would maybe use one for towels, quilt labels, maybe baby items...

I bought a used Bernina Artista 220 that had been upgraded to a 720. It came with 2 different size hoops, about 100 different CDs of patterns, thread, dozens of feet, stabilizer and a table that has a drop-down for the machine and a flip-up on the back to double the size of the table. It was a fabulous deal and I now embroider all my labels for my quilts. The value of everything I got is probably some where around $20,000 and I only paid $500. Always nice to have a friend decide to quit doing embroidery just when I had the cash and needed an embroidery machine!!! It can also be used as a sewing machine, but I haven't used it like that yet because I love my Janome I piece on.

I've been sewing and quilting for a quite a few yrs. Last Sept I was able to buy a slightly used (7hrs of use) Viking Ruby and I was in heaven. I knew totaly nothing about embroidery except that it was cool and I promised myself not to let the embroidery part of my machine to go to waste. I take the monthly embroidery clubs offered by my dealer/LQS and I read all the tutorials, etc that I can. I love using the cutwork needles that Viking has; it makes doing cutwork so much easier than by hand. A few months ago I was able to get the 5D Professional software so that I can do more and I will take classes for that as well. So far I've done some FSL, stained glass wall hangings, cutwork tablerunners and placemats, coin purse done ITH with a zipper, bookmarks and a mesh beach bag and a few other things. I've almost finished collecting enough designs to make a sashiko (sp, sorry) quilt. I've also collected some quilting designs as well. I love doing embroidery.

As I mentioned before, I recently purchased the Brother PE 770 to learn embroidery. I now have thread, hoops, and stabilizer. I have made a few practice designs; just to see how it works. I am at this time, however still feeling a bit overwhelmed because there is so much to learn; it seems. Quilty-Louise has been wonderful and trying to explain to me and has very generously taken her time to answer all my silly questions (THANK YOU, LOUISE!!!). I look forward to seeing some of all of your projects to give me ideas and to show me what can be done with these machines. I'll be constantly watching this thread!

I have a Janome 300 ( a old machine theses days ) I don't do very much now but do love to embroider blocks to go in with my scrap quilts
I have embroidered a lot of pillow slips for friends, I use Embird software and find it very easy to use, with my EM I can sew on my other machine while the embroidery machine is doing its
thing.
My sons x-girlfriend downloaded so many designs for me they will keep me going for years, but I still go and have a look at Embroidery Library's site

I'd say you got the deal of the year!

Wish we could split the other one into about 6 parts! I bought a Brother PE 770 a few months ago and I'm having a blast with it! I'm in the process of putting together a quilt with embroidered flowers on a black background. I ordered a complete set of hoops and finally got some cutaway stabilizer to use with the heavier thread counts. I've also bought some T-shirts to embroider for my two youngest grandkids. I hope to do a lot of stuff for Christmas this year.

I started quilting just over a year ago. Have been a long time sewer but have discovered my passion is really quilting. I purchased a Janome 6600 which is the ultimate quilting machine but have struggled with FMQ. I recently learned about using an embroidery machine to quilt and the more I researched this the more excited I was!! Just this past week I jumped in head first and got an excellant deal on a Bernina 830LE which was a show machine. My dealer is fantastic and while I am extremely overwhelmed at the moment, I am taking baby steps with this new girl, go to my first class next week and am over-the-moon in love with her!! My nephew is getting married in October and I have his wedding quilt pieced together. I hope to be able to finish it up with my new machine.

Karen in MN

Last year, I bought a Janome 6600 and a 350E. I absolutely love having embroidered blocks on quilts--I think it adds such a nice touch. I'm glad I got the two separate machines because I can be sewing on the 6600 while the 350E is doing its thing. I bought the Digitizer JR software, but still haven't figured out how to use it(other than for making labels). There are so many designs online, that I don't know if I will ever get into digitizing. I considered buying the lesson CDs, but don't know if they are worthwhile.

Karen, the 6600 is wonderful for FMQ...especially if you have the FMQ bobbin case. It's not very expensive, and worth every penny!

I have a Janome 7700 that I do all my quilting on and a Husqvana diamond I do all my embroidery on. I also use it to quilt my quilts. I have the 4D software and love it, for many reasons. I of course design my labels with it and digitize the quilt patterns. Outline only.

I have been quilting since Oct 2006. Got my first embroidery/sewing
machine in Dec 2007. Instant LOVE for machine embroidery from that
point on.

Got another new sewing/embroidery machine in Jan 2012 along with
the Floriani digitizing software which I am trying to learn how to use.

The machines I have are both Brother's one is the Innov-Is 1000 and
the newest is Innov-Is 1500D.

This is the latest project I have completed for a mug rug swap on another
website.



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Dixie,

Yes I use Floriani thread, I LOVE it and have never had any issues with
it. Below is EVERYTHING that I do/use when stitching out ANY design
being polyester, rayon or metallic thread so far this is what I found is
working for me.

Machine speed: 350spm (slowest the machine has)
Needle: 90/14 TopStitch (or 90/14 large eye sharp)
Stabilizer that is right for the project I am working on
Thread net!!! (I found that this REALLY help control the thread during stitch outs)


I bought the Organ large eye sharp needles from ALLSTITCH.com great price
as you get 100 needles for less than $30 (plus shipping).

It took MANY trials and errors for me to find this combo that worked on
my machines.

Hope this helps.

I purchased my first embroidery machine, a Brother SE270D, about 5 years ago. It is a combo machine. I had an inexpensive Singer sewing machine which kept giving me problems and so I thought the combo machine would be perfect for what I could afford. I fell in love with both functions of the 270D. I knew nothing about embroidery...had only done hand embroidery in the past. I WAS a little intimidated by the embroidery feature but my DDIL just jumped right in and figured it out. Of course, there was a lot to learn about stabilizers, etc which has come with time and study. At first, I only used the designs that were stored in the machine but I soon branched out to downloading designs from on line embroidery sites. I now have so many, I would have to embroidery 24/7/365 to complete them all!! LOL

I soon found, however, that the 4x4 hoop was very limiting and it was especially difficult to embroidery on larger, thicker items. Sooooo, I called my dealer and bought the Brother PE700II...fell in love again! It is actually now my "go-to" machine for embroidery with its larger 5x7 hoop. I have embroidered so many things for family that I think they are "tired" of receiving embroidered gifts!!

I purchased a couple of embroidery/digitizing software....Embroidery Magic II and Sew What Pro. I also own Monogram Wizard Plus which is mostly a lettering software but has been recently upgraded so that designs can be merged with the lettering. I'm not sure that I want to really get into digitizing and the auto-digitizing features leave a lot to be desired. Manual Digitizing is a more complex feature and takes lots of practice (kinda like FMQ!)

I want to try some ITH (In The Hoop) projects and lately I have been downloading quilting designs and hope to use my 700II to do some quilting.

My sister owns the Brother Innovis 4500D and the PR650 (the big one) and she uses PE Design software. So yall can understand why our family has tired of all the embroidered items as gifts!!

I have a Brother PR 620 and use Floriani and Artista Software. I started with a Brother ULT that did both embroidery and sewing but never used the sewing function so I traded it for the machine I have now. The ULT came with software so I didn't really know what you could do without software. I saw and really liked the Artista software so I bought it and now use both it and the Floriani.

There is still so much to explore but for now, after buying multitudes of patterns, I have declared a moratorium on purchasing any more until I use what I have. Like buying fabric, it's easy to go crazy.

I'm looking forward to this thread and now much easier it will be to see everything.

I have been doing machine embroidery for several years and still feel like a newbie sometimes. I have a Baby Lock Ellageo that I dearly love but some day would like to upgrade. {It still uses the floppy disks.} I do a lot of embroidery for my grand kids and just for fun. Love to put embroidered block in my quilts. I tell my friends I have ADD, I am Addicted to Downloading Designs. Sometimes I spend more time looking for designs than I spend sewing, but I sure have fun with it.

Thanks for starting a new thread on this. I love Machine Embroidery, have the Singer Futura SEQS 6000, I love the fact it can use several formats,,,,, plus has the large hoop. I purchased a 1Terabyte external drive and all my designs are copied there for a back up, can also hook it up to computer and use them to machine too. I keep my embroidery module on the machine at all times. I have other machines to do regular sewing and quilting on.
If any of you are on facebook... you might want to check out Singer Futura Fans, lots of embroidry talk goes on there and members have other machines as well.. learning a lot there..

I did write PatriceJ some time ago about making this a separate section and she replied that no plans were to do it at this time.. so I went looking for other sites to talk about embroidery. Found them.. and some for quilting too. so don't visit her as much as I used to. I have subscribed to this thread and will have the daily emails sent to me.. will pop in from time to time.. Have fun and lets sew........

I, too, thank you for starting this for July. I found the other thread entirely too long and overwhelming to follow. I do not have a 'modern' embroidery machine. What I do have is a Viking Rose which, while a very nice machine, is very out-dated as far as embroidery capabilities. No matter what design I want to do, I have to load it on a card reader and then transfer it to my machine. It is not user-friendly, therefore, I simply do not embroider. I am hoping (now that all 3 kiddos are out of college...married, moved out) to purchase an embroidery machine this fall. In the meantime, I am going to be following this thread...hoping that I can learn some tips along the way. Oh, yes...what do I think I want to be able to embroider....towels, shirts, jackets, and items for my grandbaby who should be arriving sometime in the next 4 weeks.

Thank you Thank you Thank you for starting this thread. I tried to keep up with the other one but it got too far ahead of me. I have both a ULT2003d (my back up machine) and the Quatro 2. I also digitize using Generations Plus software... I love this software it does most everything and is so user friendly. Those of you that don't digitize but have something you'd like done, I'd be happy to give it a go for you. I have a very limited need for embroidered projects so, but love it so.. I emborider theme items on 8x8 blocks to sell at craft shows. It feeds my habit and buys my supplies... I so look forward to seeing more in this thread! Thank you again!

To make a long story short, I have been hand quilting, machine quilting, hand embroidery, machine embroidery and lots of other crafts for the last 12 to 15 yrs. Also have 12 sewing machines. You can check out my stuff on my webshots below:
Dorothy

I have a Viking Designer and simply LOVE it. I quilt with it,
embroider with it, and do some quilts with a combination of piecing and embroidery. I don't know how I sewed without it.

Like the rest of you, the other thread got too over-whelming to keep up with. Thanks for starting a new one.

I just picked up my Bernina 830LE late last week. I have been quilting for a while now but am brand new to the embroidery thing. I am so excited and overwhelmed at the same time! I know starting out with a TOL machine probably isn't the smartest move but DH didn't want me to be trading "up" every year until I got the one I wanted...he's such a sweetheart!! I have been playing all weekend and have my first class tomorrow so hopefully things will get easier. I made a few things yesterday on scrap fabric and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. If anyone has any advice on the type of thread this baby likes I will gladly accept it (or advice on any other thing as well!!) I know one thing, I am going to have to utilize the timer on her as I have already been late starting dinner twice since I got her!!!

I have been embroidering for 12 years and quilting for about 5 years. I love to intermix the two.
I am working on a quilt now that is done completely in-the-hoop (machine embroidered). Since the entire quilt is done in satin, doing it in the embroidery hoop is way easier than working with this light/flexible fabric in the traditional quilt method. Will post photos once it's done - working on the last of the borders today (or tomorrow).
Love to machine embroider and quilt and would love to see this thread as another main topic.
KarenSue

I have several embroidery machines and they like Robison Anton and Isacord. They also prefer Poly as opposed to Rayon. I do NOT buy those skinny little threads - which I did when I first got my machine because that's what the local box store carried and put on sale. I find that the larger/fatter spools wind much easier through the machine when embroidering.

Also, I do not have my embroidery speed up high - I even have a semi professional 10 needle machine and on that one I only use 600 to 700 as the speed. When my friend got her machine it was set at 1,000 and she had a heck of a time with it until I lowered her speed, now she's a happy camper.

It is so much fun, you'll love your machine.

KarenSue

I have a Janome MC 10000. I have been doing ME for the past 3 years. The machine belonged to a friend who passed. I bought it from her husband along with several boxes of thread. The two friends I sew with have upgraded machines. One owns Janome MC 10001 as well as Janome MC 11000. The other has the 10001 as well as a Quatro which I believe is a Brother machine. I have a box of embroidered blocks and thousands of designs. I love" in the hoop " applique. A lot of these (around 800) I have bought from Adorable Applique, mostly for 7 cents each. I took out a 1 year membership with Designs by Sick. The Sick is a play on the owners name Shawn Charles Knight. I've bought quite a lot from Embroidery Library. I buy them on special, a lot for only a dollar. I now have a membership to Embroidery DK which is only $6.00 a month. I get around 20 new designs a week. I wish I spent more time embroidering as I love it. I spend too much time on QB but can't give the board up.

Thank you for starting this thread. It is so much easier to read than the long one. I have a Baby Lock Ellageo and a Baby Lock Ellure Plus. I use Madeira and Sulky thread mainly.

I purchased a used Bernina Artista 200e and after 4 plus hours of sewing it freezes up. Shop can't figure out why. Anyone had this problem? I am new to embroidery and quilting and would like to have suggestions if I purchase a new machine which brand is best. I have been sewing for years, but new to this.

I would try a different shop. You may also want to contact Bernina directly. I would not think this should happen and they should be able to find the problem. Good luck.

I've never had one, but would like to try one out. I do a lot of cross-stitching by hand, but never enough for a quilt!

A lady after my own heart. I spend too much time looking for designs and have hundreds of freebies from the net and like you I have fun.

My MIL was kind enough to let me borrow her Babylock Ellageo for a few months. I fell in love with with M/E and then found an upgraded Janome 10000 at my Janome dealer with LOTS of extras for $1500. The problem is, the Babylock was so easy. My MIL taught me how to use it in about 15 minutes. I'm really struggling with the Janome. The shop offers lessons, but the gal who gave all the lessons quit, and now the new gal is learning as I learn. Really frustrating. She ordered a CF card and reader from Janome for me, but the card doesn't work. I can download designs, but then need to transfer them to the machine's hard-drive in order to stitch them. It's a little cumbersome, and I find myself not using it because of the trouble.
I also have the giga hoop, but haven't figured out how to use it. I've read on some forums that it's almost impossible to get a design lined up well using a split design.- not that I know how to split a design- anyway.

One thing I really do love about the Janome is that it stitches out designs just beautifully. The few designs I have done are so much fuller and more substantial than any design from the Babylock. I have 1 year to trade up at my Janome dealer, but really don't want to put more money into an embroidery machine at this time. I'd rather invest in embroidery thread.

I have Bernina 200 updated to the 730 and love it...The only complaint I have is I wish I would of bought the machine separately... then I could sew when the embroidery is in use.. I also like to get the larger hoop that they now have..I have a 6x10 ... My wish is for the new 830 machine they have out.. But the cost is out of my range....

I own a Janome 350E. The largest hoop is a 5x7. Would like to purchase a machine with larger hoops. Does anyone here know of a place on line with good used embroidery machines. Thanks for your help.

I have a Bernina 640 combo and will be receiving my new Brother Innovis 2800D from UPS tomorrow! I am so excited. I had a PE770 but just sold it because the screen was too small for me and everything just looked like blobs to me.

Been ME-ing for about 5 years now and Love it!

Yep, I agree, you got a great deal!