Quilt in a Day Forums

I bought a new embroidery machine very recently, and am a very real newbie at this. If anyone can give me suggestions about getting started, I would be forever grateful. It's the new Brother PE 770. I have friends with other brands and they have helped with what they know about their machines, but just some good general info about stabilizers, threads needles, etc would be very helpful. What you have found works best for you, what not to do etc.

Thanks in advance

Joanie

I have mine for about 7 years now and love it to death!!

I like the Sulky Tear Away Stabilizer - they are expensive and I use what is called a "hoopless method" You hoop the stabilizer and then attach the fabric/item to be embroidered using a temporary basting spray. This allows you to embroider large bulky items easily. I like the Dritz Spray Adhesive - it is temporary and can be adjusted as needed.

I use the basting box that is a feature on my machine to hold it in place as well as the spray. When it comes time to remove the project -first remove the basting stitches - then very carefully without removing the stabilizer from the hoop - remove the project - like removing paper dolls from the perforated paper - the embroidery has given you the perforations and I just use a straight pin around the edge of the embroidery and it will come off the hoop. I then can re-use that hooped stabilizer by filling in the hole will a piece of stabilizer attached with spray adhesive. Works great and I can do several - maybe four or five embroideries without having to waste all that stabilizer. Only what I did use.

I also have found that the embroidery threads seem to multiply around here - I have several hundred of them and they are hard to keep track of. What I have and what I need for a project - so I use the Sulky Thread cases that Jo Ann's sells to hold them all (buy them when you have a 50% off coupon) - I place my in color order and then look for the number that I need from my embroidery charts that come with the project.

I also use the Sulky Water Soluble Stabilizer - especially if I am working on towels that have all those thread loops that can get caught in your needle. I use the hoopless method to hold the towel and then place the water soluble over the top and then baste it into place - this holds down all the loops on the towels and my needle doesn't get caught.

There are many places to get programs and I have found I really like EmbroideryDK.com. It is a subscription service that is very reasonable in cost and you can download as many programs as you like for the cost. I have thousands of them on my machine and they put out new ones each week.

Now that I have confused you - any help that I might be - just let me know. I am not an expert, but have played for many hours with my machine.

Jana

Jana:
Thanks for all of your suggestions I'll give them a try, and am sure I will be back with more questions. I've been a member of this forum for a while but haven't been in here in a long time.

Thanks Joanie

If you have a dealer, they can help you alot. I have been doing machine embroidery for about 12 years and I have owned several Brother/Babylock machines. I have a BMP6 by babylock and love it!
I have been using Floriani stabilizers and program for the last year and I think they are better than any I have used in the past. If you can not find Floriani, Oesd makes good stabilizers and the computer program that Brother(pe design) or Babylock(palette) are great. Talk to your dealer and they cam demo them for you. My favorite brand of designs are made by Anitagoodesign.com. Hope this helps and happy embroidering. You will love it.

I curently have a Janome 10000, had a 9000 before than and I use the sticky sulky. I use only the part of the hoop that you attach to the machine. Cut a piece to go over the whole hoop, then I use Easy Stitch embroidery backing tear a-way. cut into about 5" pieces. depending on the fabric I may use one or two pieces of the tear a-way. After I remove the embroidered piece off the hoop, I just cut a pice of the sticky big enough to cover the hole from the piece I just removed. *Caution* by putting the sticky sulky on the hoop will leave a sticky build-up on the hoop. But personally I don't care because this is the method I have used for over 10 years. Woks well for me. Hope this help and have fun with your machine. Joan

I have a Baby Lock and really like it. I use Sulky stabilizers but have found I can buy the tearaway in large rolls on ebay. I don't use the less expensive on everything but it is great when I practice because of the cost.

I have the palette software with the card program. It is the least expensive one from Baby Lock. I buy too many designs but they are addictive.

I use Madeira and Sulky thread mostly because the sewing machine store sells the Madeira and I buy Sulky at Jo Ann's and Hancocks when on sale.

I am nutty so I keep the thread numbers and embroidery designs on spreadsheets so I know what I have.

Hope this helps and Happy Stitching.

How is it going with the embroidery machine? Are you enjoying it? What is your favorite thing to embroidery? Do you like doing the applique embroidery designs? Hope you are embroidering up a storm!