SOMEONE HELP ME....PLEASE>I am new. I just started sewing a few months ago & I make mostly nurses uniforms & sell locally & at times online. I plan to embroider maybe 3-6 tops a week on average, not as a major business or anything, just a few items a week. And just plan to put a chest design like a name or a stock medical logo with the name. My boyfriend said he will buy me one for x-mas. I was thinking of the Singer CE-100. I really need the limit price to be $500. I know it isn't much but we don't have a lot of money to spend. If someone has any suggestions let me know. I would like to get the most functions as I can for that price.

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Hi Jennifer!
The Singer CE-100 should work just fine for you! Just be prepared to put in a few frustrating days getting to know it. It's pretty fussy about every detail being done in the right order. Practice on some scrap material, and not some finished garment you have already put good time into.

I have the CE-200 (comes with AutoPunch) and Singer's HyperFont lettering module that I bought WITH the machine and WITHOUT any experience... after only a little experience, I recommend SewWhat! for lettering (free FULLY FUNCTIONAL 30-day trial, then $50 to own; what a deal!). Like HyperFont, it will use any TrueType font* on your computer; unlike HyperFont, your computer does not have to be hooked to the sewing machine to start the program and set up a project... including adding lettering to an already-complete design.

Unless you want a PARTICULAR medical logo (like, local hospital's), you won't need AutoPunch -- and you have another machine for "regular" sewing, so no need to purchase the CE200. For your "stock medical" designs, google for free ones and for suppliers of individually-priced ones... my favorite being Embroidery Library: it's enormous and has cool sales that change weekly (also projects and tutorials, check it out).

I am in no way (other than as customer!) related to the people who bring us SewWhat! or Embroidery Library, so I hope it is OK to mention them!

~'spin!~
* just because these programs will recognize and load any TrueType font, be aware that not all fonts will LOOK GOOD embroidered, esp. at smaller size. It will take some trial-and-error to figure out which ones you like and want to use.

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Hey Spin,
Thanks so much for the info. I changed my mind "I think" . I am really thinking about getting the Brother Disney 270D now. I need an easy machine & then maybe later on if & when I get good I can upgrade. I hear a lot of complaints about the Furtura & I don't usually have good luck. Plus I need to use the extra money to get the other stuff you mentioned in your email (didn't think about needing anything else, LOL). I didn't realize embroidery was so expensive. I really would like to take some classes for sewing & embroidery. The only thing I can make now are scrub tops & I'v mastered them. Sewvacdirect (who I bought my first sewing machine from a few months ago, Huskystar 207) is giving me a really good deal on a Disney. I had a good experience with them before so I wouldn't mind buying from them again. The reviews say the Furtura is not recommended for beginners, I have seen that said a few different times. But I will have to check out those sites you told me about. When I make my final desicion on a machine I will have to look into what I will need to get started.
Thanks again.
-Jen

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Spin,
OK I spoke to Doug at sewvac. I want the futura now!! I didn't realize that I would need all that extra stuff for the brother. I have made my final decision "Singer Furtura CE-100". This comes with 3,900 stock designs & he emailed me a link that shows all the designs & it has a bunch of medical & letters!! I am so excited. If later on I wanted a digitizer software for the Singer it will only cost me $200. If I wanted it for the Brother Disney it would cost me $500 for the digitizer software alone then a few more hundred dollars to get it connected to the machine since the brother doesn't connect to a computer to work. He said that since the Singer connects to the computer that I wouldn't need extra stuff to make the connection. We also spoke about the bad reviews I read about the Futura. The main complaint I read was the bobbin case cracking. He knew before I even said anything. He told me that Singer fixed that problem with the bobbins.

Spin...thank you so much. You helped me a lot. I would love to hear anything else you know about the Furtura.
-Jen

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Oh good, Jen --
I was worried that there wouldn't be any medical motifs available on cards for the Brother and you would run too-early into the "Oops, now I have to spend more for digitizing SW" hurdle.

When/if you do want to do your own digitizing (and don't forget about all those relatively inexpensive designs on Embroidery Library and other sites! can buy quite a few of those for the money of software NOT to mention the considerable TIME to produce nice designs!) -- you are NOT restricted to the Singer software... and as a Singer AutoPunch user, I do suggest you at least research the features of the other options... I've forgotten names and prices: EmBird is one, maybe others will pipe up with their recommendations.

We can talk about it if-and-when!

Don't forget to download the free-and-full-featured trial of Sew What! for your lettering and design-merging fun! Just search "Sew What!" and click the one that has S and S Computing in the location. Wait until the machine arrives, to get the most of your 30-day trial!

Well, hey -- Merry Christmas!
~'spin!~
P.S. a free accessory -- bring home an extra pair of disposable chopsticks from your favorite Chinese restaurant, even P@nda Expre$$ -- use to hold collars (or whatever) out of the way of the needle assembly, or for any other reason that comes up for reaching anywhere near the moving needle. Yes, needle will prolly break if it hits the wood -- but how much better than a trip to the emergency room for a piece of needle embedded in your finger. (imagine, an embroidery machine accessory for no money! Except for the Chinese food... hopefully, you will enjoy eating it anyway!)
P.P.S. To any and all Brother 270D users out there -- I am sure that yours is a fine machine! It is friendly, auto-threading (I'm green with envy!), well-made if Brother's name means anything: probably quieter and faster than my Singer -- but it just didn't sound like the right machine for someone trying to keep cost near $500 and wanting a very specific (non-Disney) type of graphic.

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On Embroidery Library, what format can I use for Futura-100? I don't see Singer as an option. I can use any that is compatible with the Futura, I see 11 formats that the futura can use? So I can use any of these? Is one better than the other? Which do you use? What is the difference? Sorry for all the questions.
I really would appreciate any information from anyone that knows.
Thanks

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Hi Jen:

I wrote to Deb at EmbLib last spring and asked ab. which of the formats were the ORIGINAL (i.e. not converted with possible loss of quality) ones... I don't actually remember if there were multiple choices, but that .DST was the one I chose. As long as you have accepted cookies, it will always come up with .DST as your choice.

The only thing is, .DST intentionally displays in odd colors... so I always either (1) save the webpage with the Madeira color #s (even though I am too poor to sew with Madeira), or at least (2) save a 'screen shot' of the EmbLib pic of the stitchout.

Oddly enough, the Library's naming convention is a LETTER followed by 4 numbers(digits)... but the name of the embroidery design file you will download is all numbers, with the first one or two representing the LETTER -- A=1, B=2, etc -- and an extra digit stuck on the end (usually 1, except for multi-paks). So you can get used to equating the letters with their corresponding digits, -- but the color-charts and/or jpg's will not display next to the .DST files on your computer -- or get in the habit of renaming one or the other of the sets of files, with each order. Let me say, I have NOT done this... but wish I had.

Hope this helps. LMK ~'spin!~
p.s. you will essentially never find .FHE except maybe (MAYBE) on the Singer Futura website... and I'm not sure even there. Singer's other incarnation, CompuCon, uses .XXX format. So if I'm at a download site where I do not know and don't want to bother to find out, the original digitizer's format, I choose .XXX if available, and otherwise, PES/PCS/HUS/etc, etc. ART seems to have decreased quality in the thumbnails, so I haven't tried it in the designs!
p.p.s. FWIW -- I remember being VERY confused about "which format to choose" last winter/spring. The consensus seems to be that it does not matter. One thing I noticed, if disk space is important (scarce) to you -- .HUS is among the SMALLER file size per same design (once unzipped). So what is contained in all the bytes that .PES and others use??? Who knows... if they stitch the same, who cares. So try some comparative stitch-outs on a free design that comes in multiple formats... and let me know what you find out! Or I will, if I get to it first!

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Spin, I really wished you lived in NY, LOL. I'v started coping & pasting all the stuff you are telling me. I don't really understand it yet, but once I have my machine & play around with it for a while I'm sure I will understand. I found a poll on the yahoo's group "What format(s) gives you the best results?"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Futura...eys?id=1899986
I started printing things up.

I am looking for classes around here in New York that teaches embroidery. I can't seem to find any. The classes I found only teaches regular sewing or hand embroidery

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Unlike some groups, the Futura one does not let ANY of their documents be read by non-Members, and for unknown reason my membership has not been approved (re-approved, as I used to be a member...) So what was the majority "best" format?

The only classes I've heard of are in [specific] Digitizing Software... I think many small shops offer "hands-on" instruction if you buy your machine from them: one of only a few ways they can compete with mail-order/on-line sources! However, despite living in a retail-heavy region, I could find NO local (i.e. closer than an hour's drive) store that sold the Futura.

The Yahoo! group will be a big help getting over first jitters... and do read the manual (and play/watch the on-disk one, too -- they cover different things!) -- it is not great, even has errors, but it is a starting point. Skim the group's messages for "Error in Manual", or even post a note asking for specific wrongs in Singer's directions! Ha ha, that's a good idea if I do say so. I'm guessing that the message archives have gotten immense since I last was able to log on.

You could ask there about Futura classes, too.
~'spin!~

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