Today's Top Tips

embroidering on purchased baby blanket

rnlschultz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:08:17 GMT

I need to embroidery a name and birthdate on a purchased blanket. It is a plush minky feel fabric on one side; the other side is like a polyester satin. Does anyone have suggestions as to what stabilizer and needle size and how to hoop? Thanks for any help.

Linda in TX

Embroidering on diaper burp cloths

sdecormier — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:18:01 GMT

What is the best way to do this? What kind of stabilizer...needle...should you use a soluable topping?

Emblems

vkennel — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:19:44 GMT

I am having trouble getting my border clean. I run a running stitch and then trim. Place the emblem on a tearaway and finish the border. When I do the tearaway ot leaves a fuzzy edge. Any wuggestions on making a cleaner edge?

Flash Felt

kt3234 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:58:38 GMT

I was wondering if any of you have used Flash Felt and if so is it suitable for Machine Embroidery? Thank you all for your help.

kt3234 Karen

Wash A Quilt; Wash A Horse!

Pattiann — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:30:24 GMT

This is not a Big & Rich song.

What does washing a quit or washing a horse have in common? Orvus Paste.

At quilt shops and web sites, this product is sold by various names in pretty little containers for just slightly less than a king's ransom.

However, I did find a reasonable price at my local farm supply store.

Problem is ...........it comes in a 7.5 pound container (a little smaller than a gallon milk jug). The product goes a long way and I do not belong to a guild or have any quilt buddies to share with.

And, I do not have a horse.......I do have a lot of grass............maybe I could save money by getting a horse to "mow" my grass (gas is really expensive) and quantify the need to purchase the "huge" container of Orvus Paste.

Eureka! This weekend I found a small container at a local fabric store at 50% off and bought that.

My neighbors have horses and I will just watch them eat and swish their tails..........this goes on all day long and I don't have THAT much grass.

Or..........maybe I could re-package that 7.5 pounds into small containers and sell them at the local art fair for quilt washing..........or, maybe at the county fair for washing the horses. I might make enough to buy more fabric.

If nothing else, I hope I made you smile.

Pattiann

Embroiderying on Satin Jacket, with thin lining....Help

coachjn — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:00:45 GMT

Has anyone hints on embroiderying this type of Jacket? Hooping suggestions, backing, etc. I have a Babylock machine.. The jacket is satin, with a thin lining...How do I stablize, etc. Faily new to machine embroidery world, but love doing various types of materials, etc. This one has me stumped...Two layers of material???? HELP PLEASE.

how to outline

spotts71 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:16:40 GMT

New to embroiderying and not sure the exact term but what is it called when you put an embroidered border all the way around something thats cut out and how do you do that?

Girl Guides logo

shonab — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:27:29 GMT

Can anyone help me with finding a simple design for the Girl Guides (Australia) I want to make my daughter a new sunhat and want to embroider the logo on the front. The design I am looking for is the trefoil outline with the star in the top leaf. I tried to paste an image but can't do that, and i don't have any digitising or edting software yet as I am a very new embroiderer.

thanks

Shona

alphabets

eeyeore9 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:37:17 GMT

I have had some success with my embroidery machine, teaching myself, and some help from others. I need a 6 inch alphabet to make a gift whose directions I got a few years back on this website. I have searched and searched and have been unable to find letters that tall. I know there are suggestions out there, and it isn't as hard as I am making it......I know. Thanks for any help!

Recycle and Reuse

embnaut — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:50:16 GMT

I was looking around the internet and saw this idea and wanted to pass it to you.

It was to embroider on paper but then you find something from your old cards and use material from there. You could use the blank back of a card because it is a little bit shiny. You could cut a circle or any other shape and place it on your new card and do an embroidery over the circle. It would still have shiny showing around your design and you might have used a dark color for your original card. what a great look that will have.

Sue

HOW TO MAKE THE EMBROIDERY HOLDERS FOR PACIFERS

dorothymj — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:16:30 GMT

if anyone could help me make the pacifers holders i would appreciate it i have tried everything thank you dorothy from tenn

Embroidering on polo shirts

debi2453 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:26:56 GMT

I really need guidance on this. I have the pfaff 7570/embroidery. Some one wants me to do a logo on 75 polo shirts.

How would any of you go about hooping these shirts. TIA

Downloading free designs...not so boring now

quiltsintexas — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:05:52 GMT

Just joined Ann's Club, read on the forum that I can't download en mass & there are soooo many designs! Cure...get a bowl of chocolate chip cookies (or other delightful treat) & a big green tea (or whatever)...you get the idea. Now the cookies will distract that little part of the brain that causes boredom & the tea will make you get up and move around every once in awhile. Oh yeah, write down where you left off on the designs so you don't get lost. Guess I might as well extend my subscription to the Club...this is going to take awhile. PS-I'm lovin' the new CatXpress.

tension

debi2453 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:09:42 GMT

The bobbin thread is showing on the top of my embroidery item. I am tension stupid and I really need help.

I tried to access the "tension test" but kept getting an error message. TIA Debbie

fleece scarfs

fromzstore — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:57:06 GMT

I want to make some fleece scarfs for christmas how do I embrodiery on them what type of stablizers and do I hoop them

Birdsnest on back of embroidery design

classykitty — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:26:28 GMT

Does anyone else have this problem after they get done embroidering the back of the design is messy? Is this the machine? I have a Brother Duetta 4500D. Any input would be great. Thanks.

Placement of Initials on Shirt Cuffs

cjsebastian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:07:41 GMT

I know I have read the instructions for this before, but now that I'm short on time to get it done, I can't find it again of course. Could someone tell me where the initials go on men's cuffs? Thank you in advance for the assistance!

3D Embroidery Studio - multi designs to disk

sahmom22 — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:03:13 GMT

My question is: How do I put multipul (SHV) designs onto floppy disk? I know there is a way. I know I have done it before I just can't seem to figure it out, and remember the steps.

So my designs are saved in my computer as hus format. Then I need to convert to (SHV) so my Designer 1 can read it. But I would like to put more than one converted design (SHV) on the disk at a time. Say for instance to do several different; monograms on multipule items or say 20 differnt kitchen towels with each a differnt design.

I realize I can do it individually but it would save me loads of time. I hope someone out there can help me. Thanks in advance. Sara Perkins

How much to charge for designs

spoorette — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:12:23 GMT

i am trying to start my own business. i have an order for a quilt with several embroidery designs on it, but i don't have any idea how much to charge for the designs. can anyone, give me an idea on how much would be reasonable to charge for designs?

Unzipping design files

joquilts123 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:16:36 GMT

We own a IBM compatible computer with Windows XP loaded and recently made some changes with a new harddrive, satellite internet, and were having a problem unzipping the designs. We contacted customer service, and we are now doing just fine, but I wanted to share my experience for those who are non-Vista.

First of all, I print out the page of designs, choose which I want, then start the download. Click on the design, when next screen comes up click on "here" to continue download, next screen will offer a choice of open - save- & at that time write file name of design in the photo box, click on "open", and another screen will come up. In this screen you will find a side bar on the left, that will allow you to Extract the design shown on right. Click extract, next a box will come up that will give you choices where to go next, click on my computer, next box will give you a choice of drives. I am using a 4 gb USB STICK to download and I select drive J for that. If you are using cd's, or still with the floopy 3.5 discs choose the appropriate drive.

Once the download is complete, X out that screen, and click on back to get to the design page again and select the next design you would like to download.

I hope this is of some help to anyone experiencing the type of difficulty I did. Sharing info makes sites like this a joy to come to.

What is your method to keep organized?

pat71896 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:55:20 GMT

It seems like I am always clearing my embroidery area (it is REALLY SMALL).

What is your best way to keep your area clear so that you can get something done?????

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

Better photos to put in Galleries and the Forum

pat71896 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:52:01 GMT

If you have a digital camera, check out the selection called "scenes." My camera is a GE, but I think that most cameras have a 'set' name for different modes.

Under 'scenes' you will find things like: Sports, Snow, Fireworks, Items behind a piece of glass, etc. You just may find a better shot of your projects (that you are placing in the Galleries or Forums).

When you are taking photos of children playing/running, be sure to use the "sports" setting for better pictures.

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

When Embroidering Handkerchiefs help

lsaver28 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:17:24 GMT

I want to monogram on some handkerchiefs, what do I use for backing and what type of Font should I use?

Those tiny jump stitches

pat71896 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:21:08 GMT

I just finished a project that had very small dots (it was a lady bug) and the jump stitches between them were quite short as well.

I used a small scrap of my water soluble stabilizer over the area and it made the jump stitches easier to clip and I did not nick other stitches. It would also work on small faces and other intricate areas.

Hope you can use this tip, it is simple.

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

Bernina software

ridiculous — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:30:56 GMT

how do I load Bernina software onto a computer with windows vista