Brother 4000D owner's manual: Chapter 6: Embroidery Edit

Chapter 6

Embroidery Edit

• EXPLANATION OF FUNCTIONS ........ 176

• SELECTING PATTERNS TO EDIT ........ 177

• Selecting Embroidery Patterns/Heirloom Patterns/Border Patterns/

• Cross stitch Patterns/Floral Alphabet Patterns/Frame Patterns ........ 178

• Selecting Alphabet Character Patterns ........ 178

• EDITING PATTERNS ........ 181

• ■Key Functions ........ 182
• Moving the Pattern ........ 183
• Rotating the Pattern ........ 183
• Changing the Size of the Pattern ........ 184
• Deleting the Pattern ........ 185
• Changing the Configuration of Alphabet Character Patterns ........ 185
• Changing Alphabet Character Spacing ........ 185
• Changing the Color of Each Alphabet Character in a Pattern ........ 186
• Changing the Thread Color ........ 187
• Creating a Custom Thread Table ........ 188
  • ■Adding a Color to the Custom Thread Table from the List ........ 189
• Choosing a Color from the Custom Thread Table ........ 189
• Designing Repeated Patterns ........ 190
  • ■Sewing Repeated Patterns ........ 190
  • ■Repeating One Element of a Repeated Pattern ........ 192
  • ■Assigning Thread Marks ........ 193
• After Editing ........ 194

• COMBINING PATTERNS ........ 195

• Editing Combined Patterns ........ 195
• Sewing Combined Patterns ........ 197

• USING THE MEMORY FUNCTION ........ 198

EXPLANATION OF FUNCTIONS

EXPLANATION OF FUNCTIONS

With the Embroidery Edit functions, you can combine embroidery patterns and character patterns, change the size of patterns, rotate patterns, and perform many other editing functions. This machine can perform the 9 functions listed below.

■ Combine Patterns You can easily create combinations of embroidery patterns, frame patterns, character patterns, patterns from the machine's memory, patterns from separately sold embroidery cards, and many other patterns.

■ Move Patterns Within the 30 cm × 18 cm (approx. 12 inches × 7 inches) wide embroidery area, you can change the position of patterns, and check the position on the LCD.

■ Rotate Patterns You can rotate patterns one degree, ten degrees or ninety degrees at a time.

■ Enlarge or Reduce Patterns You can make patterns larger or smaller.

• This function is not available for some patterns.

■ Create Mirror Images You can create horizontal mirror images.

• This function is not available for some patterns.

■ Change Alphabet Character Spacing You can increase or decrease the spacing between characters in combined patterns.

■ Change Alphabet Character Appearance/Layout You can change the layout of the characters to a curved line, diagonal, etc. There are 6 choices total.

■ Change the Thread Colors of Patterns You can change the thread colors of the pattern to your favorite colors.

■ Creating a Repeating Pattern You can add copies of a pattern to create a pattern that repeats in a vertical or horizontal direction.

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SELECTING PATTERNS TO EDIT

SELECTING PATTERNS TO EDIT

Prepare the machine for embroidery according to the instructions on page 126, and press Embroidery Edit to display the screen below.

① Embroidery patterns ② Heirloom patterns ③ Border patterns ④ Cross stitch patterns ⑤ Floral alphabet patterns ⑥ Alphabet character patterns ⑦ Frame patterns ⑧ Patterns from an embroidery card (sold separately) ⑨ Patterns saved in the machine’s memory (see page 170) ⑩ Patterns saved in USB media (see page 170) ⑪ Patterns saved on the computer (see page 171)

Memo See page 131 for more information on each category’s selection screen.

Note You can also sew Utility Stitches or Character/Decorative Stitches with the embroidery unit attached by pressing Utility Stitch or Character Decorative Stitch (a confirmation message for moving the carriage will appear). Raise the feed dogs, and then attach the appropriate presser foot before sewing.

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SELECTING PATTERNS TO EDIT

Selecting Embroidery Patterns/Heirloom Patterns/Border Patterns/Cross stitch Patterns/Floral Alphabet Patterns/Frame Patterns

1. Select the category of the pattern.
2. Press the key of the pattern you want to edit.
   • See pages 132 and 134 for more information on selecting patterns.
   • \rightarrow The pattern is displayed in the top part of the screen.
3. Press SET .

\rightarrow The pattern selected for editing is outlined in red on the embroidery edit display.

4. Proceed to see “EDITING PATTERNS” on page 181 to edit the pattern.

Selecting Alphabet Character Patterns

When you select character patterns from the embroidery edit screen, you can edit the appearance of the pattern at the same time.

1. Press AA .

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SELECTING PATTERNS TO EDIT

2 Select the font, then enter the characters. (Example: A B C D)

• See page 133 for more information about selecting characters.

3 Press ARRAY to change the layout of the pattern.

• If the characters are too small to see, press CHECK to view a display of all entered characters.

4 Select the layout. (Example: ) When selecting an arc, use and to change the degree of the arc.

• Press to make the arc flatter.
• Press to make the arc rounder.

Memo When selecting , and change to and . You can increase or decrease the incline.

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SELECTING PATTERNS TO EDIT

5 Press CLOSE to return to the original screen.

6 After you finish your selections, press SET.

→ The embroidery edit screen will appear.

7 Proceed to see “EDITING PATTERNS” on page 181 to edit the pattern.

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EDITING PATTERNS

① Shows the size of the entire combined pattern. ② Shows the size of the pattern currently selected. ③ Shows the distance from the center of the frame. ④ Shows the color currently selected, and the number of colors in the pattern. ⑤ Shows the degree of rotation for the pattern.

Memo If a key display is light gray, you cannot use that function with the selected pattern.

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EDITING PATTERNS

Key Functions

Moving the Pattern

Press [icon of 8 directional arrows] to move the pattern in the direction shown on the key.

Press [icon of a diamond shape] to return the pattern to the center.

① Distance from the center

Rotating the Pattern

1 Press ROTATE.

2 Select the angle by which the pattern is rotated.

• Press [icon: 90° with left arrow] to rotate the pattern 90 degrees to the left.
• Press [icon: 90° with right arrow] to rotate the pattern 90 degrees to the right.
• Press [icon: 10° with left arrow] to rotate the pattern 10 degrees to the left.
• Press [icon: 10° with right arrow] to rotate the pattern 10 degrees to the right.
• Press [icon: 1° with left arrow] to rotate the pattern 1 degree to the left.
• Press [icon: 1° with right arrow] to rotate the pattern 1 degree to the right.
• Press RESET to return the pattern to its original position.

① Degree of the pattern's rotation

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3 Press [CLOSE] to return to the original screen.

Changing the Size of the Pattern

1 Press [SIZE].

2 Select the direction in which to change the size.

• Press [icon] to enlarge the pattern.
• Press [icon] to shrink the pattern.
• Press [icon] to stretch the pattern horizontally.
• Press [icon] to compact the pattern horizontally.
• Press [icon] to stretch the pattern vertically.
• Press [icon] to compact the pattern vertically.
• Press [icon] to return the pattern to its original appearance.

① Shows the size of the pattern being edited.

3 Press [CLOSE] to return to the original screen.

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Deleting the Pattern

Press DELETE to delete the pattern from the screen.

Changing the Configuration of Alphabet Character Patterns

1 Press ARRAY.

2 Press the key of the layout you want to embroider.

• See page 179 for more information about layout types.

→ The display will show the selected layout.

3 Press CLOSE.

Changing Alphabet Character Spacing

1 Press SPACING.

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EDITING PATTERNS

2 Use \boxed\leftarrow A.B.C \rightarrow or \boxed\rightarrow ABC \leftarrow to change the spacing.

• Press \boxed\leftarrow A.B.C \rightarrow to widen the character spacing.
• Press \boxed\rightarrow ABC \leftarrow to tighten the character spacing.
• Press \boxedA.B.C to return the pattern to its original appearance.

A B C D \leftrightarrow ABCD

\boxed\leftarrow A.B.C \rightarrow \boxed\rightarrow ABC \leftarrow

3 Press \boxedCLOSE to return to the original screen.

Changing the Color of Each Alphabet Character in a Pattern

1 Press \boxedMULTI\ COLOR so you can assign a thread color to each character.

2 Change the thread to sew each character in a different color.

• Press \boxed to change the colors in the sewing order (see page 187).

① Color for each character

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Changing the Thread Color

You can change the thread color by moving the color to be changed to the top of the sewing order and selecting a new color from the thread colors in the machine.

1 Press [icon].

→ The thread color palette screen displays.

2 Press [icon] or [icon] to put the color you want to change at the top of the sewing order.

3 Press [icons] to choose a new color from the color palette.

• To return to the original color, press RESET. If multiple colors have been changed, this command will return all colors to their original colors.
• You can select colors from the color palette by directly touching the screen with the touch pen.

① Color palette → The selected color appears at the top of the sewing order.

4 Press CLOSE.

① Color palette/Custom thread table change key → The display shows the changed colors.

Memo To select a color from the Custom Thread Table, see "Choosing a Color from the Custom Thread Table" on page 189.

EDITING PATTERNS

Creating a Custom Thread Table

You can create a custom thread table containing the thread colors that you most often use. You can select thread colors from the machine’s extensive list of thread colors from five different thread brands. You can select any color and move the color to your custom thread table.

Note Some machines may already have an additional 300 Robison-Anton thread colors contained in the custom thread table.

1. Press [icon], and then press Embroidery. Press [icon] to display P. 5.

2. Use [up arrow] [left arrow] [right arrow] [down arrow] to select where to add a color on the custom thread table.

   • You can also touch the palette directly with the touch pen.
   • You can scroll through 100 colors at a time using [up arrow] and [down arrow] on the custom thread table.

① Custom thread table

3. Use [left arrow] [right arrow] to select one of the thread brands in the machine.

4. Use [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [0] to enter a color’s 4-digit number.

   • If you make a mistake, press [C] to erase the entered number, and then enter the correct number.

① Thread brand

5. Press [SET].

① Thread brand ② Entered number → The selected thread color is set in the custom thread table.

Note

• If [SET] is not pressed, the thread color number will not be changed.

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EDITING PATTERNS

6 Repeat the previous steps until all desired thread colors are specified.

• To delete a specified color from the palette, press CLEAR.

7 Press CLOSE to return to the original screen.

■ Adding a Color to the Custom Thread Table from the List

1 Repeat the previous steps ① through .

2 Press NUMBER LIST to display the thread list.

3 Use ▲ ▼ to select a thread color.

① Thread list ② Thread brand

4 Press SET.

5 Repeat the previous steps until all desired thread colors are specified.

• To delete a specified color from the palette, press CLEAR.

Choosing a Color from the Custom Thread Table

You can select a color from the up to 300 thread colors you have set in the custom thread table.

1 Press [icon].

→ The thread color palette screen displays.

2 Press [+] or [-] to put the color you want to change at the top of the sewing order.

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EDITING PATTERNS

3 Press [EMBROIDERY icon].

① Color palette/Custom thread change key ② Color palette → The custom thread table will appear.

4 Press ▲ ◄ ► ▼ to choose a new color from the custom thread table.

• Use ▲ and ▼ to scroll through the custom thread table.
• Press RESET to return to the original color.
• You can select colors from the custom thread table by directly touching the screen with the touch pen.

① Custom thread ② Custom thread table → The display shows the changed colors.

5 Press CLOSE.

Designing Repeated Patterns

■ Sewing Repeated Patterns

Using the border function, you can create stitches using repeated patterns. You can also adjust the spacing of the patterns within a repeated pattern stitch.

1 Select a pattern, and then press SET.

2 Press [grid icon].

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3 Select the direction in which the pattern will be repeated.

① Vertical direction ② Horizontal direction ③ Repeating and deleting keys ④ Spacing keys → The pattern direction indicator will change depending on the direction selected.

4 Use [icon] to repeat the pattern on top and [icon] to repeat the pattern at the bottom.

• To delete the top pattern, press [icon].
• To delete the bottom pattern, press [icon].

5 Adjust the spacing of the repeated pattern.

• To widen spacing, press [icon].
• To tighten spacing, press [icon].

Memo You can only adjust the spacing of patterns enclosed in the red frame.

6 Complete repeated patterns by repeating steps 3 through 5.

7 Press CLOSE to finish repeating.

Memo

• When there are two or more patterns, all patterns will be grouped together as one pattern in the red frame.

• When changing the direction in which the pattern will be repeated, all of the patterns in the red frame will automatically be grouped as one repeating unit. Press [icon] to change a repeated pattern back to one single pattern. See the following section on how to repeat one element of a repeated pattern.

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EDITING PATTERNS

■ Repeating One Element of a Repeated Pattern

By using the Cut function, you can select one element of a repeated pattern and repeat only that single element. This function allows you to design complex repeated patterns.

1. Choose the direction in which the repeated pattern will be cut.

   • Press [icon: horizontal cut] to cut horizontally.
   • Press [icon: vertical cut] to cut vertically.

→ The pattern direction indicator will change depending on the direction selected.

2. Use [icon: up arrow] and [icon: down arrow] to select the cut line.

→ The cut line will move.

3. Press [icon: pencil/edit].

→ The repeated pattern will be divided into separate elements.

4. Use [icon: left arrow] and [icon: right arrow] to select the element to repeat.

EDITING PATTERNS

5 Repeat the selected element.

6 Press CLOSE to finish repeating.

Note

• Once you have cut a repeated pattern into separate elements, you cannot return to the original repeated pattern.

■ Assigning Thread Marks

By sewing thread marks, you can easily align patterns when sewing a series. When sewing is finished on a pattern, a thread mark in the shape of an arrow will be sewn using the final thread. When sewing a series of patterns, use the point of this arrow for positioning the following designs to be sewn.

Memo

• When repeatedly sewing individual patterns, thread marks can be sewn around the perimeter of the pattern only.
• You cannot sew marks in locations displayed in light gray.

1 Press [icon]

2 Press [icon].

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EDITING PATTERNS

3 Press [image of arrow keys] to select the thread mark to be sewn.

Memo

• When there are two or more elements, use [left arrow icon] and [right arrow icon] or [up arrow icon] and [down arrow icon] to select a pattern that you want to assign a thread mark(s) to.

4 Press CLOSE.

After Editing

1 Press EDIT END.

2 If you want to sew the pattern immediately, press SEWING to call up the sewing screen.

• Press EDIT to return to the embroidery edit screen.
• To combine the pattern with other patterns, select the next pattern from this screen (see page 195).
• See page 146 for more information about sewing patterns.

Memo If you return to the edit screen after pressing SEWING, press RETURN, then EDIT.

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COMBINING PATTERNS

COMBINING PATTERNS

Editing Combined Patterns

Example: Combining alphabet characters with an embroidery pattern and editing

1 Press [icon] to select an embroidery pattern.

2 Use [arrow icon] to view P.4, then select [icon].

3 Press [SET button icon].

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4 Press [EDIT END].

5 Press [AA] to enter the alphabet characters.

6 Select [ABC] and enter “Sewing”.

• After selecting [$], press [L M S] to change the character size to M, then enter the remaining characters.

→ The characters you enter will be displayed in the center of the display.

7 Press [SET].

8 Use [arrow keys] to move the characters.

9 Press [ARRAY] to change the layout of the characters.

• See page 185 for more information about changing the layout.

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10 Press [icon] to change the color of the characters.

• See page 187 for more information about changing the color.

11 When all editing is finished, press [EDIT END icon].

Sewing Combined Patterns

Combined patterns will be embroidered in the order they were entered. In this example, the embroidery order will be as follows:

[Icon of border pattern] \rightarrow [Icon of "Sewing" text]

Note Follow the directions in “Sewing Embroidery Patterns” on page 147.

1 Embroider [Icon of border pattern] by following the color order on the right side of the display.

\rightarrow When the border is finished, the [+] cursor will move to the “Sewing” part of the pattern.

2 Embroider [Icon of "Sewing" text].

\rightarrow When “Sewing” is embroidered, the display returns to the sewing screen.

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USING THE MEMORY FUNCTION

USING THE MEMORY FUNCTION

In the same way as embroidery patterns in Chapter 5, you can save and retrieve edited embroidery patterns to and from the machine’s memory, a personal computer, or USB media. Refer to the relevant sections in Chapter 5 on saving and retrieving embroidery patterns and follow the same procedures in order to save and retrieve edited embroidery patterns. See page 164 for more information about the MEMORY FUNCTION.

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