Help with embroidery library designs!! Please read
 

I have a question for everyone.First let me say, that I am not trying to deflame anyone in this message. I am truly trying to get a grasp on what I am doing wrong. And who better to ask, than a room full of quilters,some who I am sure, like me, enjoys doing embroidery designs on their quilts. Here is my problem.
Second let me say, that I LOVE Embroidery library designs. I have been buying designs from them for years.
However EVERY TIME I go to sew one out...I end up feeling like picking up my embroidery machine and throwing it through the window. The designs are SOOOOOOO dense!My machine sounds like it is about to start throwing parts around the room. Last nite I was working on one, and I had 2 needles break. I have tried increasing the amounts of stabilizer under the design. I have tried different sizes of needles. So....help,help, help! Have any of you figured out how to sew these out without killing your machine? I am starting to think that their designs are meant for industrial type machines, not the home sewing machine.
I have sent them letters on this issue, I have friends that have sent them letters on this issue. And the only response any of us recieve is that we aren't stabilizing them correctly. So have any of you figured out how to stabilize them correctly.
Tammy

I have the same issue with them. I love their designs, but they are very dense and if not stabilized extremely well will pucker. If you have a program like Designers Gallery Density Works, it will remove some of the unnecessary background stitches, which will help.

I own an embroidery business. I do think the designs are make for the more commercial machines. Hope this helps

So, since you have a embroidery business, you have the industrial type embroidery machines? Do you have the problem with these designs on those machines?
Tammy

Will your machine reduce the density of the design? I believe mine will - up to 20% - which is what I do with their designs.

I haven't really had a problem but I have a pretty serious noncommercial machine...a babylock ellegante2..they are dense but they always stitch out nicely for me. I use tear away stabilizer that I buy from Joanns, a pretty light bobbin thread, but don't really do anything special. I use schmetz embroidery needles usually a 75. They are quite stiff, but I honestly never thought too much about it because they look so nice and other designs I've tried end up leaving gaps so you see the material through the design.

They stitch out fine on my Janome MB4 and on my Janome 11000. I don't do anything much special to them. I use stabilizer according to what fabric I'm sewing. I do slow the speed down on the more dense designs. I have never had needles break though....threads yes, but not needles.

The older EL designs were extraordinary dense most of the time and have far too many stitches to be cost effective for selling. In addition, they had just too many color changes. I mean, geeze - 40,000 stitches in a bit over 4x4 space with 12-25 color changes? Ridiculous! I just stopped buying their realistic designs. However they do have some newer designs that are much more reasonable. I have finally started buying a few things again, but I am very careful to look at the stitch count and number of color changes before I buy it!

Pam

I have heard a number of people recommend that you enlarge the design by 10% or so without changing the stitch count. That will reduce the density, but I would do a test sew before using it on something important.

I have had a few problems along the same lines... I have a low end Brother emb machine.. I love the machine.

I enlarge anything overly dense, I switched to lighter wt bobbin ( that alone helped alot) and I found they work out better in a Polyester thread than it did with a Rayon thread......

Best of luck... I'm still learning emb machine myself...

I used to buy all my designs from them and my Designer1 sews them very well. Lately I have passed on all but a few designs because of the extremely high density and I don't think my background fabric can handle it without so much stablizer the item would stand up by itself. Maybe if we all e-mailed them about our concerns they would realize that they are losing business.

Their designs are very dense. If you have embroidery software, you can do what I do and that is to enlarge the designs by about 10%. I have the software keep the same number of stitches, but make the design larger, thereby reducing the density enough that it stitches out much, much better.

Wow, glad to hear I'm not the only one who has had broken needles! I thought maybe it was something I was doing wrong. I never thought about it being the design. I have bought their designs and have broken a couple of needles. hmmmm Maybe we should email them. I did slow down my speed which did help some, but I still had it happen. Check out smartneedle.com too as they have awesome designs too!

Hi,

I have a Babylock Elegante2 and I use Emb. Library designs all the time and have never had any trouble with them at all.
I do have Density Works, but seldom use it on Emb Library designs, but Dakota and Amazing Designs I do.
If you increase the size a big that reduces some of the density in the designs, too.
I just use a medium weight cut away or a tear away on my embroidery, depending on design and fabric.
Good luck!

Bev

I've bought their designs for years, but realize that I need to look at the number of stitches compared to the size of the design, as well as the fabric I'll be embroidering. They have many wonderful designs that are less dense, and those are the ones I most frequently purchase. I attended a workshop from a well known stabilizer manufacturer, and learned that one sheet of stabilizer successfully handles approximately 10,000 - 12,000 stitches. So, when doing more dense designs, hoop or float another piece of stabilizer (up to 3 sheets; after that it doesn't make a difference). I've also found that the brand of stabilizer makes a difference. You might try another brand on the dense designs and see if that helps.

Thank you everyone for your input! I have really been struggling with this.And I am getting some ideas here. And so glad to know I'm not the only one breaking needles.
Tammy

Depend on the materials that u r using,,,, and size needles ,,I have found that different size needle are use for different fabrics,,also sometime there can be a little dust or threads found in the threader where you thread your machine and in the bobbins case have to be blow out often after each use,,, then the staberlizer that you use, if using the sticky they tend to cause the gum from the glue to stick to your needle while sewing and that catches the threads from bobbins and mess up the designs,,,, using wss sometime have to double while sewing ect,, and sometime when the fabrics is not taunt enough in the hoops is causes the designs to dense up.... also another things is the threads size and quality of it make a different but as for the racket you hear on your machine could be needle bent or position not set properly,,or timer could be off,,,, I have learn to call my dealer on many occasion with minors details ,,Own Babylock ese2 Babylock Elegante , 3 Treadle Singer,, And a Singer in a case that not have been classfied (don`t know what it is but pretty)and serveral more... But call your dealer or go onlines you shouldn`t be haven`t this much of a an headache hun.....God Bless Ya,,,, ( not a know it all just learns as I go) hope this help sweetie

do most of my emb. from their site and have never had a problem with their product. I have a Designer 1 and it goes beautifully. Have your machine checked for any minor problems, use the correct stabilizer, needles and it should be just fine.

If you have a program for embroidery, I have 4D by Husqvarna and in stitch editor you can change the density from heavy to light. I believe any embroidery program should have this feature.

If you have the software, minimize the stitch count of the design before you save it to your flash drive or emb machine. I did not know this until recently, had a sweatshirt jacket I took to class and the design was so dense it was bowed upwards. The instructor took me to her computer (we have the same software which for me is 5D, 4D will also do this and many others), you go to Modify and then tell it to use the least amount of stitches possible. In this particular design it took out over 3,000 stitches!!! The design did not look a bit different except it was not bullet proof like before. Hope this helps someone, it sure helped me. And Thank You Roni from Sew What's New in El Paso and Las Cruces!

I had a similar problem with the needles breaking with my Brother and after several hours my repairman and I found the problem. Depending on the underlayment quality and stitch density of the pattern you simply cannot enlarge/ resize some embroidery patterns without running into this problem. This was the first time in over 40 years my repairman had run into this problem and he said it has to do with the fact that a lot of the designs are now auto digitized which creates inferior designs and resizing problems. You didn't say whether or not you had changed the size of the design......if so, this may be your problem.

I have lots of EL designs and I agree with most reply's. The designs are very dense and sometimes I think the machine is going to fall apart.
My hoop fields are 4x4 and 5x7, so the first thing I do is look at the stitch count. I can't see doing something with 40 to 50,000 stitches in those fields sizes. I was told to download in DST(i think that's right term) and then convert to ART. I haven't tried this, maybe someone else has.

On the more dense designs I use tear away stablizer with one or two USED dryer sheets. It does not feel as stiff yet keeps it from stretching.

I'm really new at this; so new that I just made my first payment on my Viking Ruby. Just about all of my designs come from emblibrary.com (this is the one you are talking about right). I don't have a problem with any of the ones that I've done. I just made several sets of free standing lace ornaments and then I made a stained glass nativity scene on denium using rayon thread. I used the stabilizer they recommended (med weight cutaway) and it is really pretty. I think that I used the recommended size 14 needle. I'm still learning and haven't taken any classes yet but have found out a few things. One, I have to use the clips for the hoop to make sure the fabric and stabilizer stays tight. Two, if the stablizer is a little small for the hoop, it covers it but when you secure it there isn't enough sticking up to clip it down then I use blue masking tape along one side and then clip it down and it stays in place. When doing the free standing lace and my design messes up and tears my stabilizer I can take my 505 spray and put another piece of stabilizer on it and mend it; then I back up my stitches and keep on going. This step has saved me lots of redos and stabilizer. I'm doing bibs this weekend. I go to thier projects and see what projects use the same fabric as I do if they don't have the one that I'm doing and I follow thier instructions as to what items to use. It's worked out great so far.

I have Brother machines and use the Embroidery Library designs all the time...thread breakage rarely and then usually discover the thread has caught on something. . I have used both the fill and the lighter designs with excellent results. Use Robinson- Anston Rayon threads the majority of the time and stabilizers vary from easy tear away to cut away to vilene. etc. Mostly #80 needle.

I have been embroidering for a few years now. I have two Brother machines (from 4x4 to 6x10) and I have not had any problem. I'm trying to figure out what the problem might be. Have you tried different stabilizers, needles and different threads?
Some machines work better with different brands of both stabilizers and threads. I think you could pick one design and test it changing needles, threads and stabilizers and making notes on what works better for you.
Also, are you using embroidery needles or regular needles?
My two cents.

When my machine starts to make a pounding sound, I CHANGE the needle, it needs to be really sharp and fresh. Stops the pounding of the needle. I like the fine underlay of their designs (Emb Library) they stich out so wonderful. I do pay attention to the number of stiches when I purchase a design because it can take a couple of hours to do 1 design and I am not into that anymore. I have a Janome 200E and a Bernina Artista. I also use a 2oz. stablizer Floriani (spelling) the one that does not have a "give", works out great for all types of fabric.
I use a 90 needle for embroidery ball point for tshirt and sharp for other fabric.

I have the Babylock Ellegante and have not had any problems with the designs. I make sure the jump stitches are set to trim during embroidery. I use the light weight tear away stabilizer sheets, and if there is any wording that will be on the design, I will iron on the stabilizer sheet, but also add another sheet (un-ironed)when hooping to make it sturdy. If I don't do this, the outline stitches do not match with the satin stitching. I do not use anything other than the light stabilizer as I have a hard time tearing the medium or heavy stabilizer. If doing a wall hanging or purse, I will use the heavier stabilizer. The better the stabilizer and the tighter the hooping, the better the design will turn out. I also run my machine at 600 stitches, no higher. Use only sharp Schmetz embroidery needles and good embroidery thread that is not exposed to dust. I also have the Designer's Studio and eliminate some of the dense stitches. They stitch out much better and are not 'stiff'. I do prefer Amazing Designs and have not had any problems with any of the stitching.

I thought about that too, because my Janome 11000 Customizer will enlarge the design, but it doesn't add stitches. That sounds like the best idea.

I also love their designs and have been buying them for years. Yes, they are dense but what
I have found is, I increase the size 20% and that seems to work for me.
If the design is very dense, I will buy the smaller size and then increase it.
Hope this helps.