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Help: Embroidery Machine/Software

Hi folks,

I want to choose an inexpensive embroidery machine that fills a specific need. I am going to design a picture and I want to digitize it and use it to create the same embroidery over and over, a few times a week at most, on different pieces of material (obviously). The design won't change much, but I do want the ability to be able to change it, add words and things, whatever I want. I have a full suite of adobe products (illustrator, photoshop, etc) to work with. What I need is a piece of software that will take my vector drawings and help me to create the file formats that are required to create the embroidery. I don't know what you call those, stitch patterns maybe, I'm sure you all know the real name of them. I want the software to be flexible enough that I can change stitches myself so that I can modify the pattern that the machine eventually gets to get rid of "clumps" and "piles" and things of that nature, so I can tweak the pattern and not just go with whatever the default pattern is that is created from my drawing when it is digitized. I know that the pattern has to be massaged and messed with to get it right so that the machine makes a good result.

And what machine should I get, again, inexpensive, that will create the final product ? I'm sure size has something to do with it, and the maximum size I expect to make is about 8 inches by 8 inches, though 8 inches by 12 inches would be even better. If there is a much less expensive machine that only goes up to like 6 inches by 8 inches or something I would consider changing my plans to get the less expensive machine. Oh and the design will have like 15 or 20 colors in it. Any suggestions ?

I see there is an embroidery machine for approximately 500$us at Walmart, but I don't know if it is any good or not.

I'm surprised Adobe doesn't create a piece of software to do this, but I haven't found it if they do.

Thanks!

Reply to
purple_stars
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purple stars, if you find Adobe makes something like this, please post it here. The least expensive machine I've found that does most of what you want, runs over about $2,000. There may, however, be some great, gently used pre-owned at dealers that would be less expensive, maybe in your price range. Before I bought a new machine at a big box store, I'd certainly check out the dealers in the area. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

purple_stars wrote: ..

Why in the world would Adobe have anything to do with sewing?

Most of the embroidery programs that profess to accept a vector image to digitize in fact don't! Instead, they use the embedded preview bitmap. When you consider the resolution available with thread, that's probably good enough :) But all the digitizing programs will accept a variety of raster image formats, which you can create with any of your image products.

Embroidery software (not counting designs) are branded and marketed by embroidery machine mfrs such as Viking, Bernina, Brother, Singer, etc., and by third party embroidery software specialists such as BuzzTools, Embird and Amazing Designs (which also produces designs).

In a rare crossover, Corel Draw has somehow partnered with what used to be Wings embroidery software to produce Corel DraWings. I'm not sure whether the digitizing portion uses Corel's vector output or not.

Although some embroidery programs such as Bernina's Artista have a cross-stich component, I don't know of any that could take the output of a dedicated cross-stitch pattern creation application like PC-stitch and convert it to a machine-doable embroidery.

For what you're describing, if that's ALL you'll EVER do, some sewing machines, such as the high-end Brother/Babylock or Bernina, will let you do a certain amount of editing right on their built-in touch-screens. But in reality, you'll end up wanting to do more once you get started.

You had more questions that I haven't even begun to address - such as WHICH machine, WHICH digitizing software and stitch-editing software, etc. As Photoshop and Illustrator are the most complex, top-of-the-line products as compared to, for a ridiculous example, Microsoft Paint, so is there a range of embroidery products, varying from the least functional that are adequate for some tasks, to the extreme upper end.

- Herb

Reply to
Herb

The machines you find at walmart have 4" x 4" embroidery fields. If you want a larger field, say around 5x7, look at Singer Futura (sewing and embroidery) and the Janome 300e (embroidery only)--I have the 300e and think this is a great machine for the money (or its new upgrade the

350e)--anything with a larger embroider field is much more expensive (although the 300e does have an optional gigahoop that allows you to split a large design so that you can sew up to a 9"x7.9" embroidery field)--these machines are around $1000.00 (the 300e, I hear, can be had for a few hundred less now that the 350e has replaced it in the Janome lineup)--check ebay, you can usually find gently used machines at times, but if you feel you will need lessons on using the machine, check out the sewing machine dealers in your area. Embroidery machines usually need to visit the shop about once a year for tune-up and cleaning depending on how much you use the machine, so a local dealer who can baby your machine as well as give you (usually free) lessons can be invaluable. Machines that allow you to edit designs on the machine are also on the pricy side.

There are some auto-digitiz> Hi folks,

Reply to
fridaygal2

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