Thankful Husband seeks information from knowledgeable seamstresses or craftsperson

Honestly??? Don't "surprise" her. Give her a *huge* hug and a Very Large Gift Certificate! This is an area where *we* can't/shouldn't offer suggestions as *her* preferences are unknow to us. Would you want her(or us) to select YOUR cameras/lenses/film/tools? No? See what I mean!

GK User wrote:

You mention that you are doing this with her help which is a good thing. It is hard to choose a machine for someone else. She should definitely be the one to make the final decision on the machine, especially an embroidery machine. One thing worth mentioning is that Brother is the only company licensed by Disney for their designs. If your wife is likely to have a burning desire to embroider Disney designs, then that will be a factor for her. There are many accessories that are helpful for an embroiderer. Since she already has an embroidery machine, she may already have some or all of these. For instance, you could pick up the Madeira Thread Treasure Chest which will go a long way toward starting her on the thread selections for her embroidery. This should be done in consultation with your wife as well. She may prefer a different type or brand of thread. Or she may already have lots of thread. Most of the thread companies offer thread collections. I loved getting my Treasure Chest, so many colors and so many possibilities. Stabilizers. Every embroider needs a selection of stabilizers to use with the embroidery. Find out which stabilizers she likes to use and buy her some rolls of them. See if you can get rolls that work well with the hoop sizes for her new machine. Sometimes you are able to pick a width of stabilizer that minimizes the amount of waste for a given hoop size. Stabilizer racks to nicely store those rolls are a handy addition as well. Thread racks. If you get into embroidery, you need thread storage. The Madeira Treasure chest is its own storage. I have filled up the thread rack I had before and added another one. I'm looking for more already. I see that you post this over on alt.sewing.mach-embroider as well. Someone there may be able to advise you on software which excels at photography conversion. For a reasonably priced software, Embird has a good product. I have not used their photograph conversion software. Look at

Marilyn in MN

snipped-for-privacy@charter.net

Let HER have the pleasure of picking out what she wants! I know that's what *I* would want! What fun that would be....just the choosing would be a blast in and of itself!!

-Irene

-------------- You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.=20

--Mae West=20

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I am so beyond stunned I can't think of anything!! When you get done with the room could you come visit and "hang out" with my husband??? I wouldn't know what to do! Still I would suggest some good lighting.

First of all Marilyn thank you so much for being among the very few that actually saw that I WAS involving her. She had full knowledge of my intentions and has been 100% involved in the whole process. She actually selected the Brother Innovis 4000 and I ordered it yesterday. Many on here disappointed me in their replies as they seemed more a chastisement. I wanted to be involved also in the decision as a partnership, which any marriage is. I wanted her to know I care about what she cares about and wanted to acquaint myself with things of her liking as well. Not just give a blank check as if to say I don't care what you buy. My purpose in asking the newsgroup was to find people that either have more experience in the hobby or craft than she and certainly I do. To expose myself to possibly items which might not be available in the stores we visit or look at and certainly things which people with more sewing and embroidery experience find helpful.

Thank you again for sincerely answering my post and realizing that I would not attempt such an endeavor without involving her in every way. The "surprise" part was just that I was going to do this for her (Christmas in August/September) and not surprise in buying things she had no idea I was getting.

Sounds like a great marriage! Now I'll bet she makes you something you both choose as a nice thank-you!

Jean M.

Congratulations on the purchase of the Brother Innovis 4000. I know many people who love their Brother embroidery machines. Since your wife already had an embroidery machine, I wasn't sure how much advice you needed in the "embroidery toys" range. If you are interested in a few more suggestions, here they are.

Nancy's Notions has an Embroidery Window Hooping Technique which is very handy. It is hard to find on her site although it is somewhere under stabilizers. I searched the Nancy's Notions site using "embroidery hooping" to get to it. The starter pack comes with the guide to the technique and the plastic you use. You also need some sticky stabilizer such as SIA. This is very helpful if you are making multiples of something which doesn't use the entire hoop. When I embroidered bags for my Girl Scout troop with the troop number, I used the embroidery window technique to make the process quicker. It worked beautifully!

Nancys Notions also has the stabilizer racks I mentioned or you could find a nice wine rack at a garage sale.

Nancys Notions has a stabilizer sampler pack which is handy. Although she has been embroidering before, there may be stabilizers she hasn't tried or new ones that have arrived on the scene. The pack comes with an overview of the uses for the stabilizers in the pack.

Two stabilizers I like are Kleer Fuse and Fusible No-show Mesh. Fusible no-show mesh is good for knits and many other embroidery projects. It is a cut-away stabilizer. Kleer Fuse is different than any other I've used. It says for knits but we used it on a woven in a workshop I attended. It is quite nice. Nancy's Notions has these and I'm sure other shops and suppliers do as well.

Needles. You always need more embroidery needles when you are sewing. An hour of embroidery dulls a needle much more quickly than an hour of regular sewing. The machine just does a lot more stitches in the same amount of time. Having a good supply of embroidery needles on hand is always a good thing.

The mini vacuum cleaner attachments to attach to your vacuum are helpful for anyone with a serger or sewing machine. Better to vacuum out than blow back in (using canned air). Most sewing catalogs carry them (Nancys Notions, Clotilde, etc).

My husband went to the sewing stores with me and we both talked about all the different options when we were buying the machines. He bought me the Madeira Treasure Chest as a Christmas present after I got my used Viking 1+. He likes to support me with what I am doing and he listens to what I need/want. I picked that up also from reading your post. I have to admit that I didn't pick up right away that your wife already had an embroidery machine but I caught it before I posted about getting started in machine embroidery. I think this group is very sensitive to people asking advice on getting people sewing machines _without_ asking them what they want. As I missed the mention of the embroidery machine on the first read, they missed that both of you were looking at the machines.

If you look into Sfumato from Embird, please report on what you think. I like the basic Embird program that I have. I'm thinking of expanding to the digitizer but I'm not sure I will go for Sfumato. And I'm sure you can tell that I'm a Nancy's Notions customer. I'm not associated with them in any way other than as a happy customer.

Marilyn in MN

I don't know if either of you have thought of this, but a class will introduce her to new techniques and help improve her skills. Is there anywhere close to you that offers classes, or could you give her a weekend away so she could attend a class at somewhere like The Sewing Workshop?

First I would like to say that you should be poster boy as to why cloning would be a GOOD THING! I'm sure you've now acquired plenty of suggestions on what to buy but I will make one about what you could make for her. I made myself one of these over a dozen years ago and constantly get "where did you get that?" when seen it used.

I'm terrible at dropping pins even though I have every nifty pin holder and cushion ever invented. I took a window squeegee with long handle, like broom length, and ran a strip of magnetic tape (the kind with one sticky side) along the bottom covering the rubber squeegee part. I use it to "sweep the floor" after a major sewing project and pick up all those stray pins and needles in one swell foop.

Just a thought, Val

Does she have a good cutting table? One that's big enough to spread a length of fabric on without it dripping off the sides, high enough that she doesn't get a backache cutting (should be about elbow height), with a smoothish surface -- masonite seems to be what I see used most, as it's cheap to rip off and replace if damaged, and the smooth side is just about right for moving fabric on.

I'm also nuts about my pressing table -- a 4x4 sheet of 3/4 exterior plywood covered with wool and drill, at a comfortable working height. And of course, good pressing equipment -- a very good iron, a sleeve board, seam sticks, ham, sleeve roll.

Kay

You have to understand. We literally have gotten hundreds of well-meaning husbands on here who want to surprise their wife with a sewing machine, and sometimes the "if it looks like a duck..." principle happens and people get misunderstood. Please, oh please don't take it personally, and please do invite your wife to join us.

Actually what she has been using is a bit non-traditional but seems to work well for her. It's actually a fold up table, that folds out of the way when not needed, that actually is meant to be a dining table. There is one break in the table that she has to work around but it gives her a very large working space that puts away when she want to do that. As for the pressing table I pass along each suggestion to her and will this one also. I've also set up her computer so that she can access this site and other related newsgroups so I'm sure she will be doing that from time to time also.

Thank you .. And that's such a good suggestion also. I hadn't thought of that one and will surely do that for her cause she is always cautioning me about stepping into her sewing room without shoes. Thankfully I haven't found a stray needle "yet".

One thing I did get her that I will also pass along is from a Tool Store that I went into at Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. It's a metal bowl that has a very strong magnet in the bottom. It's made for men to put their nuts and bolts in, when working in a shop, but works wonderful for her to place her needles and other things like that.

Totally Understand Melinda, I hope the reply wasn't too terse but I also meant, in the original post, to inform that I was involving her. I also am setting her notebook computer up with the newsgroup and others like it for her to access for information. Up to now she's a bit shy about doing such.

She will be a asset to the group as we always need "another brain to pick" and make certain you remain part of the groups as well. All good husbands are welcome. Emily

Most of us started out by "lurking" for a month or two, just reading and getting the feel of the newsgroup, so that when we did take the plunge and ask or answer a question, we didn't feel so nervous. After a while, you get to feel as if you "know" some of the people who do post.