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Isn’t modern technology wonderful?

Look what it has brought us—-Embroidery—- scanning, programming, creativity.  Designs, all in the form of a machine.

Many, many years ago, some talented Irish nuns, taught me to embroider.  All those neat hand stitches, as neat on the back as on the front.  Today there are many who still love to embroider, it is a wonderful pastime.

I still have several pieces of embroidery my mother did when she was young, before she was married.  One piece in particular is a beautiful linen lingerie bag, embroidered and with the most beautiful crocheted lace edging about 3 inches (7.5cm) wide all done by my Mum, the whole piece white, very classic and exquisite.  The inside is of the embroidery is as neat as the outside.

The hours that went into these pieces were many.  Today, with the new embroidery machines, they could all be done in no time.

Now all that aside, you have decided you want/need and embroidery machine.  But, which one?

There are some amazing machines on the market, all computerized, but you don’t have to be a computer whiz to operate them.

What you do need to do is to research the various machines, check out the available models on the Internet before heading off to the dealers.  Fore armed, so to speak.

Decide how much embroidery you feel you will be doing, and then expand on that because I’m sure once you start using these wonderful embroidery machines, then you will find more and more projects you can use it for.

If you’re not into computers, don’t be put off, embroidery machines are user friendly and your dealers will show you the ins and outs of them.

For your research here are a few sites you can check out:-

All Brands

Bernina

Brother

Elna

Husqvarna/Viking

Janome

Pfaff

Singer

You can get lots of information from these sites, some of them have FAQ sections, so that is a good place to look while doing your research.  Also, there are forums too
if you do a search on Google, in the search type in “forums+embroidery” without the quotation marks, there are many to choose from. These can be a wealth of information for you.

Now you have done all your research, have an excellent idea of what you want, so go check out your local dealers.

A good dealer should be quite happy for you to try the different machines, look for:-

·    You are comfortable with the controls

·    Ease of doing what you want

·    It all makes sense to you

·    Will connect to your computer (for downloading designs)

·    Can you download designs from the Internet?

·    How much do the extra designs cost?

·    Warranty, electronics and mechanics

·    Lessons and courses free or how much

·    Any “how to use” videos

·    Can you try with your own fabric and threads

Don’t let a dealer pressurize you.  These embroidery machines are a little different to the normal sewing machine, more than sewing a straight stitch.

Make sure you find out from the dealer the care and maintenance of your
new embroidery machine.

·    How, when and where to oil

·    What is the correct oil to use?

·    How to remove lint and fluff

·    Where lint and fluff will build up

·    General cleaning of the machine

Do you know what you are going to do once you have your embroidery machine at home and have started to use it?

Every time you go out you will notice embroidery, on articles you have never noticed before.

Your creativity will take off  so……go have fun!!!