Carolyn Keber would like to celebrate the life of her brother who recently passed away, with the Celebration of a Life sale. There are several special offers in memory of ‘Duncan” which  are valid until the end of May 2012.

 If you use Embird, or want to learn more about it, now would be a great time to give it a go with some of Carolyn’s excellent tutorials.  Click here to view details of the current specials.

Hi I am having problems with some of the stitches when I create a design. I am working on a fleur de lis design and I have the stitch length set on 2.6 and I have a line running through it with stitches that are longer how can I correct this? I have tried everthing thanks Please help

I recently moved and after I set up my sewing area, I couldn’t find my software to my Pfaff 300e! I have it set up and my computer attached to it. When I click on the icon to my machine, it wants me to insert the cd. Which I can not find! I have spent hours looking for it. Any suggestions on how I can bypass this?

Is it possible to catalogue the hoops I own in embird so that I do not have to go through the selection each time I use a design. I would enter only the sizes I own.
Thank you

There is currently no way to have a list of favorite or most used hoops in Embird. As the hoops are all in order of manufacturers I guess that the Embird authors have not felt the need to add a list of favorites. Also the last used hoop is underlined until the Clear Hoop History command is used.

Kind regards
Carolyn Keber
Step by Step Tutorials for all Embird programs and for PE Design

Dear Lodia and others

I am contacting you from South Africa.  I have a Bernina Deco 340 and have recently upgraded my software to V6 Editor.

I am wanting to know please WHEN and WHEN NOT can a design be ‘resized’.  Given that this facility is part and parcel of the embroidery software and built into the machine, I would have thought that it is there to be used within reason of course.

I know that one would not resize FSLace or photostitch designs.  I recently resized by 5% a purchased design from a reputable supplier.  Shortly before the design was fully completed, the machine stopped, showed the ‘end of design, raise pressure foot’ command.  But the design had in fact not been completed in the embroidery mode.

I contacted the supplier and they are of the opinion that it is because I ‘modified the design by resizing it and that it has become corrupt’.  They say ‘resizing’ is ‘modifying’.  My interpretation of modifying was to make other changes other than resizing but by effecting changes as are available in ‘object properties’ etc.

If it is indeed a case of corruption having occurred, why did this not manifest itself earlier in the design?  That stitched out well and it was a design that took around an hour to embroider.  If I correctly recall it was a Grade D design.

I would sincerely like to know from you, the experts, what the position with resizing is.

Yours sincerely
Patricia

Hi Patricia,

Thanks for your enquiry about resizing a design. The resizing is also classified under modifying, editing or customizing. There are several reasons why a design my not resize correctly and can indeed become corrupted. I usually specify in my copyright and info letter that accompanies my sets that I cannot take responsibility for the quality if any of my designs are resized, mirrored or changed in any way with any software.
 
Digitisers use different techniques to digitise a design. Sometimes it is a standard technique that we all use, but most of the time it will be a technique that is specific to that digitiser. A good example of a specific technique is the free standing lace that you mention. The moment a design that was digitised with a specific technique is changed in any way the software ‘re-digitises’ it, so to speak.
 
Using the Bernina software you will be able to modify a design reasonably successfully if the design is a true ART design, that is a grade A. You will see a little red heart as well. But even with the grade A designs, you will have problems modifying a design if it was digitised with special techniques. The design will then also stitch out with jumps that should not be there and so forth.

When I do my digitising sessions at dealers, it is one of the first things I tell my students, do not change a design in any way unless you know it was not digitised with special techniques. Any other grade design, such as grade D, WILL NOT modify successfully at all. It may not manifest itself earlier in the design when stitching the design. It depends on where the corruption has taken place in the actual design.
 
If you want to change a design, my suggestion would be to contact the digitiser first, ask her if it would be possible to resize a design yourself or if she could do it for you. I am sure that most digitisers will do this for you. I certainly would do it for my customers rather than them being dissatisfied with my designs.
 
I hope this answered you query.
 
Just as a matter of interest, I do have a series of tutorials on the Secrets of Embroidery website that deals with all aspects of customizing (or modifying as you mentioned). They are called Start at Basics. 

Kind regards
Lodia Da Silva
Digitizer & Author of Bernina Artista Tutorials

I am attempting to install Husqvarna 4D sketch. I have a new computer with Windows 7 and am trying to install it using the 5D Embroidery system dongle. I have read that you can’t install 4D sketch using windows 7 without segmenting the hard drive. Unfortunately this is not possible. Is there talk of a 5D sketch or some other way it is possible to install the 4D option? Thank you so much for your informative blog.

Hi,

It is not the platform that is the issue.

I have converted to windows 7 and can run both my 4D and 5D off the 5D dongle. My 4D Sketch was initially the stand alone module as it was not available when I first purchased my 4D Pro package.  I installed the 4D embroidery on Windows 7 and then the 5D embroidery software the 5D dongle runs both. It may be ok because I have the full Professional package of both 4D and 5D.

There are updates for the 4D system available on the viking site for windows 7. You need to have 4D embroidery updated to the 8.3 version to install the 8.31 Update

If you have 4D Embroidery installed you will be able to access this from the registration page. If you download this you may be able to run the 4D Sketch from the 5D dongle.

…………………….

4D Embroidery System 8.31 Update

Installs a new dongle driver and minor fixes for Windows 7

Requires your system to have already been updated to version 8.3 before installation.

…………………….

The  various packages available are on the Husqvarna Viking website. 

Hope this helps,

Carolyn Duncan
Author of Pfaff, Husqvarna & Sewing Tutorials

Hi Ananda,

My name is Morag Lewer and I live in Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa.

I was so taken with your ‘Royal Elephant’  which I am delighted to say I have completed and LOVED the project!  That’s with thanks to you!

My interpretation is somewhat different:

I used metallic satin fabric to create  the Elephants – in some instances, I edited some of the pieces to combine them into one hooping.   They were then stitched onto black velvet as my backing. I took a photograph of one of my lamps from which I digitised the columns in my 5D Software and stitched them on red velvet in 3D as well.

I used Sue Box Metallic Thread Jewels for the arches which were embellished with Swarovski Crystals. For the border, I used Embroidery Library’s ‘Mehndi Peacock Accents, which I edited to create an ‘endless’ embroidered border.  That was a real task and comprised 32 hoopings and about 700,000 stitches on black upholstery suede.

Besides the fact that I stitched one of my fingers to the project and was ’stabbed’ and ripped by the pins due to the weight of the project, I am pleased to say that I finally reached my goal!

I thank you for your ceaseless creativity and now wish to embark on several of your other projects which I have bought over time from Secrets of Embroidery.

This was without doubt an exciting project!

I wish you well and with sincere gratitude!
Heaps of love and cyber hugs
Morag Lewer

I have font engine with my Embird 2010 program.  When I select “plain fill” instead of just a plain stitch I get a program fill with zig zags in the lettering.  Can you tell me what to do to correct it? 

Hi there

To change from the default fill for Plain Fill you need to click on Parameters and the in the Plain Fill drop down box change the fill pattern to Fill 1. Click OK. That will change the fill back to the plain fill option.

It’s just a little quirk with the program and will possibly be changed in the next update. If you need to learn more about Font Engine then I have an extensive “step by step” guide that is available at Secrets of Embroidery that has just been released for Font Engine. It will teach you everything that you need to know about the program. There is a lot more to Font Engine than most people realise.

I hope that helps.

Kind regards

Carolyn Keber
Tutorials for all Embird programs and for PE Design/Palette