germanquilter

I had been contemplating a stand-only embroidery machine for a while...been going back and forth and done some research. I have a Janome 6600P and a Bernina 153QE as my sewing machines and felt comfortable with either one of those brands. Well, yesterday hubby and I traveled to Brubaker's in New Holland, PA to drop off my 6600P to get a service/cleaning done before our big move to AZ in June. And they had a floor model 350E for sale. It was empty in the shop and hubby told me to play with it. Long story short, I really liked the machine and the ease of use and we ended up walking out the door with it
So now I am home, up since 6am, playing and learning. I consider myself an advanced beginner in piecing have looked all over the internet for some answers.

1. What needles do you 350E users recommend? I like Schmetz Microtex Sharps for piecing and use mostly 90/14 some 80/12 there. I read 70/11 neddles for embroidery. Schmetz Universal or Sharps or does it matter..
2. Dear God, how many different stabilizers are there??? My brain is smoking from trying to figure out what to use! Brubakers gave me a tear away washable (2 oz tear-n-wash) stabilizer ti use with wovens and a Cutaway light and soft for knits. What stabilizers do you use with quilter's cottons (tighter weaves/ lighter weaves), kitchen towels, waffle-knit towels, bath towels, sweat shirts, T-shirts? Do I need to buy a different stabilizer for each fabric? Where is the best place to purchase stabilizers?
3. How about thread? Brubakers was using a Mettler polysheen since it will not bleed. I like the thread but do not like the small spools for the price. What about Rayon Madeira or Marathon Rayon thread spools? Polyester for kitchen, bath towels and Rayon for other projects? Does Rayon bleed or are both safe? Some good sites online to buy your thread?
4. What thread to use in the bobbin? The machine came with pre-wound bobbins but it will be more economical to wind my own. Use coordinating thread in bobbin or only white or black depending on color of material used to embroider on?
5. I used www.embroiderylibrary.com to get some free designs and purchase a couple of simple ones to get me started. I wanted to try out the whole USB transfering process this morning and tried to embroider a simple Northwood Cardinal (only uses one color and is more of an outline stitching) on the 5x7 hoop this morning. The hoop was already pre-set by Brubaker's with muslin and the tear-n-wear stabilizer. Unfortunately, it started out with lots of white bobbin thread (pre-wound bobbins that came with machine) coming through. Then it got better...I did notice that my top thread was getting caught in the spool holder in the beginning. However I can see some areas of white still shining through in the design. Not sure what happened. Maybe a different stabilizer here? I did not change the tension even though I read that might be the issue. It was set at store and we did get some great design/ monograms embroidered with no problem there. Do I need to change the tension based on complexity of design every time?

At this point, I am trialing and erroring my way through until I can get to a class at Brubakers in the next two weeks

btiny36

Yep that's a tension adjustment problem with the design...I have to say I love love my 350E....I usually only only purchase my designs from www.emblibrary.com. They have a ton and I mean a ton of help in their help section. That is my number one go to library for sure....They even have videos to show things also. They talk about needles, stabilizers ect...you won't find a more helpful site...Free designs are ok but for the most part, if you are a member(it's free) of embroidery library you will get lots of deals. They also will respond to emails usually within 2 days for help. They are my go to site for all my needle help and stabilizers ect. For me I started out using Janome brand needles and really they aren't that expensive but emblibrary talks about the size of needles one uses for certain material weight and designs.

Dolphyngyrl

Quilters cotton use cutaway,Tearaway puckers like crazy, I am still learning like you it is a fun hobby, but unfortunately just as expensive as quilting
http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/ELProjects/Default.aspx
Here is a good website with lots of info that helped me as a newbie 6 months ago
Fabric 101 and the helpful how to's are really good sections
They also have nice designs for sale, check them out

WandaVA

Congratulations on your new machine! I also have a Janome 6600P and 350e...and love them.
I will try to answer some of your questions, although I certainly am not a professional–so take my advice with a grain of salt.
1. Needles - I got Organ needles (recommended by my Janome dealer) from allbrands.com (100 needles for $29.99) -http://www.allbrands.com/categories/852/2039-organ-japan-15x1st-hax1st-box-100-home-embroidery (I use Schmetz on the 6600P–I got 100 from Jhittle for under $30).
2. Stabilizer - I bought generic stabilizers from ebay. I use tear-away for cottons; wash-away for free-standing lace or thinner material. I haven’t found the need to buy different stabilizers for each fabric–you can always use two pieces of stabilizer if you think thicker is needed for an intricate design. (Using cheap stabilizers creates more “dust” in the machine, so I thoroughly clean the machine frequently.)
3. My dealer strongly recommended Madeira polyneon...not rayon (she sells all brands, so I followed her recommendation). I have never had the first problem with the thread. I buy my thread from http://www.thesewphisticatedstitcher.com/ - their prices are the best and the service is wonderful (they also sell needles and other supplies).
4. I order bobbin thread from The Sewphisticated Stitcher - Madeira 10,936 yard cone of bobbin thread for $15.00 (it lasts a very long time).
5. Your trial definitely indicates a need for adjusting the tension. It appears that the top tension is too tight. Try loosening it and see if it looks better.
Embroidery sites - Embroidery Library is my favorite site, by far. Their designs are wonderful. I also like designsbysick.com - they have some really cute designs. You can pay a $15.00 membership fee that is good for one year and allows you to download all of their designs. I did that when I first got my embroidery machine. Then, they ran a special where I paid less than $100 and have a lifetime membership, plus they sent all the designs to me on a CD. I have gotten my money’s worth from that site.

germanquilter

WandaVA,
thanks so much for the great website (sewphisticatedstitcher); I had never heard about them Brubaker's also recommended a poly thread (they had the Mettler) so I will def try the Polyneon as well as the bobbin thread you recommend. BTW, Sewphisticated has a great sale going on right now! With regard to the organ needles, can you use the threader with those? Would you want to? Those needles have a bigger ear than regular sharps, correct? Will definitely look into these as well! First thing I will do is adjust the tension and try my hand again on that cardinal using the same fabric/stabilizer! So, I do have to adjust tension depending on design/fabric/ stabilizer, correct? Do I run a trial run of every design or just watch closely when I start a design. If tension needs to be adjusted after I start design, can I do it before I continue with embroidery? I hate to waste the thread/stabilizer every time.

Elke

btiny36

I usually just watch very carefully at the start of the design to see how it is going. If I need to adjust tension I will and then back up to the start of the design and restart.

sept97

I have the janome 350e. I've loved it but recently I want to throw it out my window. For some reason my thread is shredding and breaking. I'm wondering if it's my needle. My last visit to have the machine repaired they told me to use embroidery needles. I've never really paid attention as to what needle to use. I also had the white showing thru and they told me to change the needle after every 5 designs????? HA...so instead I used the same color in the bobbin. I've always bought my thread from designsbysick.com. I also love their designs. If anyone could explain what would cause shredding thread I'd appreciate it ALOT. Thank you

cheryl222

Also have that machine. Others have answered questions well, but wanted to tell you about Misty Mountain. I got an email from them this week and they are going out of business and all designs are 70% off. They have beautiful designs, but it said to order soon before they close.
http://www.mistymtemb.com/

germanquilter

Thanks so much for all that great info, everyone!!! Sept97, before you go to drastic measures, maybe try using the Organ needles WandaVA suggested and adjusting the tension...apparently little changes can make a big differnece with these embroidery machines Also, what thread do you use? I just went on sewphisticatedsewer and got some polyneon thread to try. Thanks, cheryl222, for another great site! My husband might not love all that information but I sure do...

germanquilter

I changed the tension on the Janome to 2 and retried the cardinal embroidery design.. Definitely a huge improvement! However, there are still some areas (on the beak and one of the head feathers) that show the bobbin thread. Should I retry again changing the tension to 1 or 1.5 or is this the best I can do with this machine?