I need a vendor that I can buy wholesales purses to embroider initials, any suggestions? Ruby

Ruby,
 
You might like to check out http://www.wholesaleaccessorymarket.com/ They have lots of fun stuff, including purses, backpacks and totes that would work well with embroidery.
 
Good luck!
 
Evy
www.abitofstitch.com

Hi, this Grace Manuel from LA. Could you please tell me which stabilizer is best to embroider on t-shirts? I am new at embroidery. I want to do some t-shirts and don’t know which stabilizer to use. Thank you.

Dear Grace,
 
Most knit fabrics require the use of a permanent stabilizer, meaning one that will not eventually wash away as a paper tear-away will. My favorite type of stabilizer to use with knits is actually a woven interfacing, sold by the yard at most sewing stores. Non-woven, light-weight cut-away also works well for thin t-shirt fabric. Check out my “Helpful Hints” at www.abitofstitch.com for more information about stabilizing and hooping knitted fabrics.
 
Good luck! I know you are going to enjoy your new venture!
 
Evy
www.abitofstitch.com

When writing on satin with small letters, they don’t stitch out too well. Is it the needle or what? I use a tear off stabilizer and rayon 40wt thread. What am I doing wrong?

Satin may look like a tightly woven fabric, but it is actually not. Also, the top layer of fibers are usually longer than the bottom layer and not as tightly spun. This makes for a pretty unstable environment for most embroidery designs, especially tiny satin stitched letters. Tear-away stabilizer might not be providing the support you need. Try using a light-weight cut-away, and also experiment with using a leave-in topper. I have had good luck with using silk organza (in a color that matches the fabric) as a topper for fabrics such as satin and brocade. It is rather a pain to trim away the excess organza when the stitching is done, but it really is worth the extra time and trouble when one must embroider small satin stitched designs on this type of fabric. If at all possible, use silk satin…the silk fibers have a natural gum that actually helps hold stitches in place, and the thread count is usually much higher than a polyester satin.
 
I hope this is helpful!
 
Evy
www.abitofstitch.com

I am new to embroidery and finding all a bit overwelming, I am a quilter looking to embroidery desgns on a quilt. Would I be best to order Spring stipple designs or reg embroidery statin stitch designs for quilt topping that has the 3 layers hooped? I also want to start to embroidery sheets, pillowcases etc. and I don’t want to find I ordered the stipple sets and should have ordered the reg Embroidery sets. Can I still get the correct design when I quilt with the reg embroidery design? I am unsure whether to order 4×4 or 5×7? Do more people order the 4×4 because it is so versatile for rotating and mirrow-image? I have a Janome mc 9700 with 2 hoop sizes. If I order the 5×7, can I reduce the size of the design? Thanks Stephanie Greenside

Dear Stephanie,
 
Congratulations on your new machine! Even though it may all be a bit overwhelming, as you say, at first…you are going to have a lot of fun with embroidery! There is a ton of help available on the web for newbies so you are in good hands! For starters, check out all the help that can be found on the Secrets site, sign up for their newsletter to learn more each month and check out their new blog. That’s a great place for beginners to pick up hints and tips from other seasoned embroidery enthusiasts! Also, check out my own “Helpful Hints” page at www.abitofstitch.com Feel free to print out any information that you wish to for future reference. And always, we are only an email away!
 
As for your quilt embroideries, keep in mind that when you are putting embroidery on layers of fabric and/or batting, the layers will have a tendency to shift during the stitching process. So keep the designs simple…those Stipple designs may be the best bet. If you want to use a regular satin and filled stitch design, embroidery the design on the top layer of material first. (See my “Helpful Hints” for more information about proper stabilizing.)
 
When I embroider on layers (such as stipple stitching for quilting), I try to use the smallest possible hoop. There is a little less movement of the fabric in the smaller hoop than there will be in the larger hoop, simply because there is less fabric to move. However, if you are embroidering on one layer of fabric, as long as it is properly stabilized, the larger hoop designs mean it will take less hooping to cover a large area.
 
Only reduce designs if your software will also reduce the stitch count. The same goes with enlarging a design…only do so if your software will increase the stitch count. Without the proper software to do so, you will be unhappy with the results.
 
Sheets and pillow cases embroidery well. As long as you are putting the embroidery on a single layer of material you will have excellent results with a variety of designs. Should you want to put the embroidery on the hem (which will be a double layer of fabric) and you cannot easily open the hem so that you can put the embroidery on a single layer of fabric, choose simple designs. Some ripples and puckers may appear around your finished design when you embroider through multiple layers because you will not be able to properly stabilize that top layer.
 
I hope this helps! Feel free to write, any time.
 
Evy
www.abitofstitch.com

When my thread breaks or something else goes wrong there is missed stitches. How can you go back and fill in the lost stitches?

In order to prevent missing stitches when you have a thread break or a similar problem during embroidery, you will need to backtrack in the design past the missing portion. Most machines are equipped with a feature that will let you advance forward or backwards within a design either by color change or by stitch. Some machines have the ability to advance or retreat by as little as one stitch or as many as 100 or more. Check your machine’s manual to see if your machine has a similar feature.
 
When backtracking to cover an area of missing stitches, try to start again just slightly before the missing portion, so that you will be stitching over a very small portion of the design that is already stitched. Also, when you begin to stitch again, drop the needle, raise it and pull the bobbin thread to the top. Begin stitching while holding both the top and bobbin thread tails, securing a short length of them under the new stitches. This is especially important when re-stitching satin stitch columns, as it helps prevent unraveling of the thread later.
 
Hope this helps!
 
Evy
www.abitofstitch.com

I just cannot do neat lettering on a badge!! The letters are 16mm and just wont stitch properly, underlay is visible every few stitches. The word is DOCEMUS and needs to be stitched in a curve. I’m using a design that was digitized by my digitizer friend, and the lettering she used is Arial black 16 mm font. We have changed the underlay, done everything possible but to no avail. The design that stitches out beautifully except for the lettering. I cannot go to a larger lettering than a 17 at the most as this word has to fit into a logo. Some stitches good, others skimpy and underlay keeps showing. I hope I have given you enough information. Thank-you so much. Regards, Evelyn

Dear Evelyn,

It sounds like your friend is using an automatic digitizing program to do the lettering for your logo. Ask her if there is a way to turn off the underlay for the lettering portion. If not, it may be necessary to manually punch the lettering. This is a very small sized font, it probably needs to be no more than two stitches wide. If I had to do a font this small, I would manually punch each stitch in place individually in straight stitch columns instead of satin stitch columns, spacing the stitch points unevenly for better coverage.

I’m not sure that is much help! Sorry! Good luck any way
 
Evy
http://www.abitofstitch.com/
       

I have an amazing box, can it be used with Embird?

Hi Emma,

There is no reason why you cannot use the Amazing Box in conjunction with Embird however the Amazing Box cannot be used directly from within Embird as the Ultimate Box can be. You would need to save your design from within Embird and then open the Amazing Box, navigate to the folder where you saved your design and then open the design from within the
program. Once the design is opened you will be able to send your design to your programmable card.

I hope that helps.

Kind regards
Carolyn

Carolyn Keber
http://www.carolynkeber.com
Step by Step lessons for Embird and PE Design

Hi there, I have always been able to download freebies from my Yahoo sites one being Sew forum.com, however last few days when I click on the download and open it in Embird I get a lot of other things showing as well, as in pictures of unrelated things. Normally I would click on the emb and right click then convert to Jef, then save with explorer to my file. I don’t have this problem when getting downloads from Ann the Gran etc or when getting zip files. I have been into Iconizer and checked that, which shows no images to show. Hope you can help. Oh, I am running the latest Embird also.

Cheers,
Juanita Crosland

Hi Juanita, 

I have never downloaded files from the site you mention but if you’re not having this problem with all the sites then I would suggest that you download one file and save it to a special folder that has nothing else in it - any empty folder will do. Then open Windows Explorer and select the file you downloaded. Right mouse click on the file and choose Open/Open with WinZip. WinZip will open the file and you’ll be able to see if all those extra files that you’ve started seeing after downloading are actually included with the zip file or not. If they are then the problem is with the zipped files and not Embird. However if you try a number of zipped files and they don’t appear to have any extra files included then email me back and I’ll think of something else to try.Best of luck.

Kind regards
Carolyn

Carolyn Keber
http://www.carolynkeber.com
Step by Step lessons for Embird and PE Design

Can I design Lace on Embird or PE design?Many thanks,
Carole

Hi Carole,

Certainly you can create lace in both Embird Studio and PE Design. However if you are using PE Design then I would suggest that you create the lace manually using the tools in Layout and Editing rather than try and use any “auto-digitizing functions of the program. My advice would be to purchase a lace design from a digitizer who specializes in creating lace and then watch how it stitches out and you’ll get an idea of how to go about creating your own lace designs. Then you could create your own lace using either PE Design or Embird Studio. Best of luck.

Kind regards,
Carolyn

Carolyn Keber
http://www.carolynkeber.com
Step by Step lessons for Embird and PE Design

When machine embroidering, do you cut the threads in-between colors or leave them for understitching? Thankx,
Arddy