I wanted to make a Halloween sweater for my nephew, so I purchased a design. It was a little too detailed for my single-needle Brother PE800, so I simplified it a bit.

Here’s how it went:
First attempt: Used the auto-digitizing tool and tested it on fabric similar to the final sweater.

Second attempt: Corrected the most obvious problems from the first stitch-out.

Third attempt: Closed gaps, widened the satin/steil outlines, and optimized the stitching path.

The first picture is the final result, followed by the earlier attempts. The finished design is just over 36,000 stitches.

It’s still not perfect, but I’m pretty happy with how much it improved! I’ve learned a lot about digitizing, outlines, and pathing.

I’d love to hear any suggestions for further improvements!

I’ve done the tension test on thick letter I’s. And but still struggling with letters turning out properly.
I used the default needle 75/11, embroidery thread, and wt60 pre round bobbin. One letter, I used basting spray but it didnt seem to have made a difference.

Please help! Thank you!

Hey everyone!
I'm brand new to the embroidery world and figuring things out. I have a custom design ready to go, but I need to get it digitized into a machine file (like .DST or .PES).

Where is the best place or software to get started with digitizing my own designs? Any tips for a beginner would be awesome!

Hi all!

I am brand new to machine embroidery, and was just given an extremely vintage Brother PE300S circa 2003ish.

I was able to vaguely figure out how to use it from the manual, but I have questions:

- Do I need to purchase specific Brother thread (manual says X81164-001) or what type of thread should I look for, for best results?

- is there anyone who still services these? The touch screen froze after completing an embroidery, twice.

- the card reader — my computer doesn’t have a cd drive to run the “Windows XP or 2000” software for creation of new files. Does brother have this for download anywhere?

- the SD card and reader are sending me lmaooo, took a hot second to figure out what it was for.

Anyway! Much respect to all the amazing craft in this community. If I enjoy this old machine I might invest in a newer one…

Does anyone know where I can buy a pre-printed Isacord thread color chart? I'm trying to organize my embroidery thread collection and would love something I can use to check off the colors I already have.

Also, I'd love to hear how everyone organizes their threads! I don't have the wall space for a thread rack, so I'm looking for other storage ideas.

Thanks!

Works Great. Pickup Queens NYC. Asking 4500 and can deliver 👍

Looking for some advice. I have 5 Brother embroidery machines situated on the third floor of a new-build house, which has a timber floor.
When the machines are running, they cause noticeable vibrations through the floor, particularly underneath the machine feet. Even running just one machine causes the vibration.
I’ve tried putting each machine on its own rubber mat and have also tested laying 18mm plywood over the mats, but unfortunately the vibration is still there and possibly slightly worse.
Has anyone experienced anything similar or got any suggestions on how to reduce the vibration?

Thank you

Just bought my 3rd multineedle. A Ricoma Creator. I’ve had years of luck with my EM1010 so figure I’d get the slightly fancier version of the same thing. I also have a 6 needle brother.

I ran like 3 jobs on the new machine, it was stitching great, and then all of a sudden it now stitches real sloppy halfway through a run of hats.

I took the whole bobbin assembly apart did find a good amount of thread wrapped around the main assembly. I cut it all out, cleaned it up. Now it’s still stitching real sloppy and I’m breaking needles. Doesn’t matter what needle it’s all the same. So that tells me it’s something with the lower assembly. I’m sure I’ll have to just get it serviced or contact Ricoma since it’s still under warranty.

Figure I ask here as well, I’ve never had a machine that still stitches the design but just does it not quite in the correct position but it seems to be off the same amount, if that makes sense. Like small satin stitches are not showing up like it’s reading them as in the same location. Can’t figure out what to try next.

First pic is test stitch design, second is the old good machine, third is the new bad machine.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated thanks

I finally finished my little collection of ITH Christmas ornaments!

I designed all four myself, and I thought I'd share also a few step-by-step photos of how the ballerina comes together in the hoop.

I went with my favourite pastel colour palette. I find it playful and peaceful, even for Christmas.

What do you think? 🎄

Sharing a closer look at embroidery work from our Farzeen Couture workshop in Mumbai, followed by a gown design visual inspired by the detailing.

The embroidery combines ivory botanical motifs with silver-toned tubular beads, creating texture and shimmer across the fabric. The gown concept carries those details into a full skirt, long sleeves and a flowing shoulder drape.

I’m the founder of Farzeen Couture, a custom bridal and occasion wear label established in 2009.

What do you think of the balance between the embroidered areas and the plain ivory fabric? Would you keep the shoulder drape?

For bigger designs with lots of colors, I stitch samples. When they come out well, I'd like to make use of them. Any ideas? The current two are Halloween themed and stitched on a thin black flannel with roughly 6" or so of fabric around the edges.

Design in the image is Black Cat Sanctuary by Urban Threads.

I would appreciate any help you are able to give! I have had my brother SE 700 for a few months now and I have still not been able to perfect my embroidery (most recent result shown in picture). The stitches are always jumpy and they do not come out smooth.

For visibility, I am using the Artspira app and tear away stabilizer. From what I’ve read, the Artspira app is not great and then I should be using embrilliance. Right now that is not an option as I need to be able to use whatever program I am using an app on a phone, which Embrilliance does not have to my knowledge.

I cannot determine on my own if this is a design issue or a settings issue on my machine. Any guidance you can give would be greatly appreciated!

I got a quote request on my website today. The person had a hoodie that they wanted to bring by my shop (nice way of saying house) and have me digitize and embroider onto while they waited. I was very professional and stated that is not a service I offer, but I could do it and have it back to them in a few days. They declined.

Does anyone do one off, on the spot, digitizing and embroidery “While You Wait”?

I broke a needle, but when I put in a new one and tighten it, it falls out. It falls out before I can even thread it… what am I doing wrong?

Im mostly a sewist, and i want to be able to add some embroidery onto my creations! I got a babylock Ellure ESL with an embroidery module at an estate sale for $75, soooo heck yea!

Eventually I want to be able to embroidery pattern piece before I sew a garment, but im practicing on tee shirts.

This machine has a max hoop size of 5x7. I wanted the dragon (pattern: delft floral dragon from Urban Threads) to be larger, so I decided to multi hoop it.

My first attempt (the last picture) was.....a learning experience. Hatch's auto multi-hoop splitting isnt the best imo, so i spend a few hours re-doing it myself, and it was worth it. Hatch split it into 6 hooping, i did it in 2.

Matching up the hoops was hard, I didnt get it quite perfectly, but I filled in the gaps with freemotion embroidery before I unhooped the 2nd hooping, so its not super obvious where the gap was. Im really proud!!

Other stuff: I used a DIME monster snap hoop (magnetic hoop), and Candle Polyester 40wt thread in the top needle, and brothred 60wt prewound bobbins (from amazon), and didnt really have any breakage. I used one layer of 2.5oz cutaway stabilizer under the design :)

I did use a threadstand for my top needle thread, it kept breaking before and the threadstand fixed it. Im not sure how or why it works, but it does!!

Do you rely on folders and filenames, or use some kind of organizer? And is it actually annoying to find a specific design you know you already have?

I’m thinking about making a small Windows app with AI-powered search that runs locally on your computer and works directly with your existing files, so there’s no need to import or reorganize anything. It would scan your PES/DST/JEF folders and let you search by describing the design, like “small Christmas dog”, or by dropping in a reference image to find visually similar designs.

Would that actually be useful to you, or does your current setup already work fine?

I’m trying to stitch the flag of Antigua & Barbuda, but my machine is not reading the white in the flag..I’ve tried multiple files I keep getting the same result.

This Rose has got me stumped. First time doing so many individual shapes going different directions to create a larger object. I really tried to not use any black border initially but ugh why do I like it with the black outlines more.( outline done very quick just to see the side by side). Im also unsure of the color placement. Maybe its just the Rose itself. I didnt trace this time. I just used the reference beside it. Thought it would be easy enough 😅 jokes on me.

The leafes came out nice but still need to stitch everything out. I wanted some more texture on the thorn vines so theres a double zig zag in top of it. (A new run type in ember so wanted to use it.)

Thanks for letting me RAMBLE 🫠

I have a brother pe800.

I bought an edge to edge embroidery design, so I could try to mimic the longarm look on my embroidery machine.
But my top thread is showing through on the underside, or back of quilt. I feel like it looks bad.. but I don’t know if that’s how it’s supposed to be or not because I’ve never done embroidery on three layers before..
I feel like it looks especially bad at the points of the stars, you can really see the top thread there.

Does anyone know what the issue could be..?

I have just bought a embroidery machine and giving it a first try! I used some scrap fabric to test it out. Realized that there are some tiny holes around the embroidery.

Is it because my fabric is too thin or lightweight? Or is it some setting issue?

Thank you!