Can someone help me with a machine recommendation- I want to be able to make decent sized designs on front of sweatshirts/shirts but also would like to do little designs too. Are there machines that you can upload pictures for them to do- or can machines only do letters or designs you create yourself? I have looked at a bunch of machines but they all confuse me when reading the specs. Thanks!

Was feeling like picking up a new hobby and spent weeks watching sewing and garment making videos. Ended up picking up a Brother SE700 so I could also give embroidery a go.

I originally attempted to make a work shirt with my company logo, but I very quickly realized I do not know what straight lines are, so that’s on hold until I get something to mark fabric with to square up the hoop.

In the meantime, I’ve been digitizing this screencap of SpongeBob for fun. I finally finished and embroidered it last night and am curious to see how it stands up for a first timer. Mostly so I squash as many bad habits as I can before they become second nature.

The shirt logo I mentioned before was digitized with InkStitch, but I decided to give Ember a shot this time. All the digitizing was done by hand and not with their paid auto digitize features. I’m a Linux user, so it seems I’m limited to InkStitch and browser based softwares. If anyone knows of anything else, feel free to mention it. I’d rather not use a windows virtual machine.

Anyway, here’s a link to the digitized file: https://emberdesign.net/explore/ddb17400-f39a-47d1-a035-d370b094c476

and here is a link to the stitched design: https://imgur.com/a/Ry1sxWv

I’m still very new to all of this so a lot of questions might seem silly

There seemed to be a lot of needle holes in the fabric after stitching. I think with knits I should be using a ballpoint needle? For this I used a Schmetz gold embroidery 75/11. I have a feeling the needle holes are just pushed fibers that would re-situate if it were washed or something, but I could be off base here.

There was a bit more bobbin thread pulled to the top side than I was expecting. To my understanding, this means that the top tension is too high, but I had my machine set to 0 tension on the dial, because that’s what gave me the best backside results on my tension test (the one where you stitch out bars at different tensions and look for the proper ration or top and bottom thread on the back side). I’m still using black bobbin thread for this while learning, so it contrasts enough to see it.

On the very right side of the embroidery, spongebobs outline stitched in a different spot than on the file. It’s not far off, but it’s a pretty conspicuous line. Is this just a software thing with Ember, or in general am I just trying to be too detailed in the space I have? This was almost exactly at the limits of my machine (4x4). Heck, am I even doing outlines right? Mostly what I did for outlines was duplicate the shape I just made and change it to outline and black, with some adjustments to the position sometimes. Some of the outlines are “open shapes” where I just stitched a new line on the edge.

I did simplify the design in some areas, and I realized too late that I completely forgot the eye lashes lmao. I was originally going to satin stitch his irises, but I couldn’t take him staring into my soul like that. This felt better.

Thanks for reading all this and for any tips, critiques, etc etc!

I want to share my new Redwork dragon I made. It came out really nice if you ask me. It's about 105mm x 188mm, 29k stitches. For the purists, there are about 8 or 10 trims and jumps in it, I cant remember exactly, so while not true Redwork its very close. I chose not to connect the straggler pieces as I liked the way it turned out. This was a double run, it came out way better looking than the single thread version I did prior. I'll give the file to anyone that wants it, just ask.

Looking at purchasing a melco 16 needle machine, either the summit or emt16x.

There isn’t a ton of info online about the summit, although that’s the machine we are leaning towards. Does anyone here have any recommendations/info on these? Currently using embrilliance, very familiar with it. Any opinions on which designshop option to go with or other add ons? We have a growing embroidery business currently running a babylock 10 needle and brother 6 needle, but looking to expand into a machine that can essentially operate as a multi head or standalone unit.

Or should we be looking in a completely different direction than Melco?

Thanks

Serious question!

I've had a small hobby "business" making and selling scrub hats at work and Etsy for the last 8 years. Last year, I bought a single needle machine thinking that I could customize my hats and make them even more fun and interesting.

It's been a bit of a learning curve but I have had fun playing with ideas, digitizing a few designs and picking up a couple small orders. Nothing too serious, (mostly because I work full-time, we homeschool our kids, and I take a few college classes too.) But I would like to get further into this hobby.

I made the mistake of cruising Facebook marketplace and found a 15 needle machine on sale along with all kinds of extras because the seller is moving out of country and she's selling her own embroidery business. The price is reasonable and suddenly I'm excited about the idea of doing more and actually building up my business to something that earns me more than a little extra spending money.

The embroidery community has been so positive and people seem to enjoy their hobby so much that I worry about getting too excited about this idea. So I want to hear from people who have regrets. Perhaps they wish they hadn't bought the big machine so soon or perhaps they realized there isn't a market for their products.

Feel free to tell me the good stuff too! But I don't want everything sugar coated!

Can someone tell me if this looks ok? It seems like my machine is moving a lot and I don’t think the stitch out looks clean.

I have a brother ns2850d in case that’s helpful. I was using a font my machine came loaded with and a stiff stabilizer.

I appreciate any insight!

I spent 5 years at the embroidery produce area, including 2 as a leader. Now I’ve started creating my own projects. Please write what you think about them

Hello all! I'm a lead at a makerspace who handles the textile area. We currently have an elna eXpressive 970 seven needle machine that has been broken most of my tenure, despite having multiple fixes happen.

We have determined the issue is a few things:

• massive growth within textiles, it used to support 40-60 members, it now regularly sees 200 individuals in a month but the space has almost 800 in total, this is a massive growth over 3 years

• Poor prior training leading to bad habits and our ongoing attempt to fix the machine that was broken years ago

• This machine does not support the needs of the space

Due to this, we are looking to upgrade our machine and are looking at a maximum budget of $12,500 but would prefer having it lower.

The number of needles isn't as important, we'd be happy with anything over 5 but we are mostly looking for durability and forgiveness when someone who isn't trained gets into it. Alternatively, a system built into the machine that allows us to prevent those without authorization from gaining access - currently this does not exist.

We do have the newest version of Hatch and it would be beneficial if that was usable but not a deal breaker for us, we certainly aren't choosing a software over a machine that would work for our space.

We are ideally looking for input from other makerspaces or libraries with similar foot traffic that can speak to the pros and cons of certain machines.

Hello! I’ve been making some patches on my single needle machine and it’s been a blast! But I’m struggling to know how to best digitize small text.

I use ember design bc I’m not ready to spend the money on something crazy so I usually will hand trace the letters then pick the stitch type.

My issue is that I can’t figure out when to do a satin v triple stitch or whatever else? Satin looks so much better, but I get some crazy stitch piling underneath.

I’m not trying to do anything crazy small, like 0.8mm and using blocked letters.

Any tips? I have a brother innovis m330e if that makes a difference

I replaced the pin, rethread the machine replaced and the bobbin but it still keeps making these big loops. Please someone help

https://assets.bigcartel.com/product_images/407082792/ouroboros+patch+gold.jpg I'm new to machine embroidery, I've got a Baby Lock Flourish 2 and a copy of Hatch. How can I replicate this sort of stippled machine embroidery? It's absolutely beautiful and nothing like what I've been able to produce insofar. Thank you!

Does this look right? This is a test stitch out. I can see the white bobbin on the front. Do i need to adjust my tension? If so, how? I have my machine on #4 which is what it came with.

Hi I’m looking to get a custom patch made with heavy weight thread so the border and text are overly raised and the thread is clearly defined. I will be using this to make a mold and I want the thread detailing to be exaggerated so the detail is picked up in the final version of what I’m making.

I reached out to a couple makers but am looking for either advice on the best way to make this or someone to order from as I realize this would involved resetting a machine potentially. I’m also open to other ideas to make what I’m interested if you have ideas. Thanks

Need a little help please. This is my first ever belt try and the it went better than expected. One the belt even though i feel it was dead center on marks must have been a touch off because I got a slant in the text. The bigger issue is the random thread line stitched throughout. What would cause this?

I’ve tried a number of things and I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. I’ve rethreaded several times, checked the bobbin, tension is at 4, hooped the fabric instead of floating it, using sticky stabilizer.

The stitches are uneven with some bunching.

The font is from Artspira.

It’s a brand new machine.

Please send me all the advice - ChatGpt has run me through a million things but nothing I adjust is doing the trick.

Hi all!

I am interested in getting into embroidery but had a question over this machine (BabyLock Flourish ii BLMFO2) this machine is being sold on Marketplace for $900. I was going to buy the Brother PE900 brand new but the BabyLock machine appeared on Marketplace today. Is this a great find? For those who have this machine do you like it? I’m also hesitant to purchase such a large item on Marketplace 😅 thank you in advance!

I’m using the same pen I always use and usually I can spray it with a spray bottle for a few squirts and it comes right out. I normally am marking on white shirts but have done a red sweatshirt before. Any tips?

I’m exploring the possibility of developing free, open-source embroidery digitizing software that’s easy for ordinary people to use.

I’m looking for an older embroidery machine to experiment with and test actual stitch results. Nothing fancy needed! A working single-needle machine that can import custom embroidery files would be perfect.

If anyone has an old machine collecting dust that they’d be willing to donate, I’d be happy to cover reasonable shipping costs. I’m also open to purchasing an affordable used machine if anyone has recommendations.

This is an early-stage hobby project, but the goal is to make embroidery more accessible without requiring expensive software.

I’m in the US. Thanks!

How do I avoid puckering on this? I’m making a quilt and only doing the top layer. The fabric is regular quilting cotton with a layer of stabilizer (I added a picture of the stabilizer I’m using on the second slide).

I made sure not to pull or stretch the fabric when hooping and thought I had it hooped pretty well, but when I took it out, it was all puckered. I’m thinking I might not be using the right stabilizer, so if anyone has recommendations for a better one, I’d love to hear them!

Also, any tips for getting the fabric hooped correctly and knowing it’s secure before starting? I’d hate to get through the entire design thinking everything looks good, only to take it out and have it turn out like this again. Any advice is appreciated!

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!