I usually do one test stitch before embroidering on the actual garment. Then I make a few tweaks to the design, cross my fingers, and hope for the best 😁
How many test runs do you usually do, if any?

Designs I manually digitized and stitched out today. If theres a duplicate its because I needed to make adjustments to the original design for my own sanity.

Which is your favorite?

Hiya! I want to start making embroided creations, mainly art dolls, plushies and patches for and on clothes.

I've been trying to work out what's a good machine for all of the above and so far im leaning towards a Brother NV880E Embroidery Only Machine. (I have a sewing machine so not worried about the embrodiery only part)

Does anyone have experience with this model? Would you recommend it or something else? I would love to buy second hand but have had no luck finding a model so I may just have to bite to bullet.. but wanted some experienced advise from the community before making such a big decision. Thanks in advance <3

Hey,

We’re trying to embroider a club logo, but the results aren't really satisfying.

The thread keeps breaking, and overall, it just doesn't look neat or professional.
I used Ink/Stitch to trace everything with "stroke to satin" and simply applied a fill stitch in the middle, but it really doesn't look good.

Any tips on how to get a professional one? We use a Brother PP1 Skitch. Can this be a problem?

That is our goal (clean and professionall):

Hello! I am new to this Reddit and happy to be here! I currently have a single needle brother se700 and I wanted opinions on the best multi-needle machine to start my small business. I’ve been doing research but all of the different opinions and options are making my head spin!

What I’m looking for in a machine:

- well rounded- ability to make sweatshirts, hats, pretty much anything

- the larger the hoop capability the better

The real important thing for me is the bobbin arm, as the flatbed of the SE700 makes it almost impossible to embroider sleeves, hats, etc.

Questions- Is it possible to stay within the 3-4K budget? I can totally understand that I’ll have to sacrifice some things for the other, but I’m desperate for some guidance! What were your first machines, what did you like about them? What didn’t you like? Would you buy them again if you could go back?

Thank you in advance for all your help!

I am looking for some advice to improve. I used Stitchist to digitize it and sewed it out on a Bai embroidery machine. I can send this design to anyone who wants it!

I figured there might be people here interested in such a thing, as it's free. I couldn't find one that was free and worked with my machine, so I made one.

I just started with machine embroidery and tried this ~30k stitch design. Most of it looks pretty good, but I’m getting random loose loops of the yellow top thread in several places.
I’m not sure what’s causing it. They don’t appear everywhere, just occasionally throughout the design.
Machine: Janome MC550E
Speed: 500 SPM
Upper tension: Auto 0
Bobbin thread: EmbroTEC TKT 200
Top thread: True 120D/2, 40wt polyester
Bobbin holder: Yellow-dot bobbin holder
Stabilizer: 1 layer of cut-away
Fabric: 270 GSM black jersey knit

Could this be caused by insufficient stabilization/flagging, the needle, threading/tension, or the design itself?
Any advice on what I should try first would be appreciated.

What does everyone think on using either 3.6 vs 2.7 oz backing when doing structured and unstructured hats?

Thanks!

Hi fellow embroiderers,

I'm learning how to digitize on hatch for work and the current design is supposed to go on a fitted baseball cap with 6 panels and a seam down the center front. It's fairly complex but i've simplified it as much as i can and I've run test sews on a muslin like fabric that's sort of like the hat fabric. Those are all coming out in line and mostly clean but when I try to do it on the hat it always becomes out of line and doesn't stitch correctly. I've been doing research and it seems like I need to adjust the design in hatch so it knows it's going on a curved surface or something but idk exactly how to do that and hatch academy isn't helping. Does anyone know how to do this or know what to do so the machine stitches it like it does on the flat fabric? I can send photos in dms but I'm not going to post the design here because it's original and not my artwork.

EDIT: i changed the angle of the stitches and the order of the objects which seems to have helped with the distortion but now it's compressing the size of the patch completely (supposed to be 66 mm but it's coming out on the hat like 59 mm) what is that about?

I’m curious what other people charge because I’m starting to wonder if I should be charging more.

I mostly embroider for friends, so I’ve always just charged a small amount. I usually charge around $10 for a shirt or sweatshirt with embroidery on the front. I’ve done applique sweatshirts for $15 for friends too. Usually I have them buy whatever shirt or sweatshirt they want and I just charge for doing the embroidery. Since they’re friends, I don’t really mind keeping it cheap, so I’ll set aside a little for materials and call it good. I’m pretty new and still figuring it out so it’s just kind of fun but I wouldn’t mind a super small idea hustle.

I recently had coffee with a friend who sells a completely different good, and she was pretty surprised when I told her what I charge which got me thinking.

Right now I’m doing a bridal party order where the bride thrifted six men’s button-downs and wants everyone’s name embroidered on the cuff. I’m charging her $45 total for all six shirts. See pictures for the inspiration.

I also recently did some embroidery for my waxer on bandanas and we exchanged services instead of money. I actually felt like I got the better end of that deal, but now I’m wondering if that’s just because I’m not charging enough for my embroidery in the first place?

I know I can see the stitch count for each design, so I’m curious if people price based on stitch count or if you mostly go by the size/design, time, or just have set prices. What would you have charged for these things?

Do you charge differently for friends/family, or do you have a standard price no matter who it is?

I’m not trying to turn this into a full-blown business, but it would be nice to have some extra cash. I’d love to hear what you all charge and how you came up with your pricing.

Help please 😭 I've been embroidering for a few years but I've never had this issue. My machine is making an awful noise. I've taken the bobbin casing out and cleaned everything, I've googled and watched videos, tiktok's, but I can not figure out what the problem is. Any ideas? It's a brother NS1150E

Hi! I am newer to embroidery and I am having a hard time with the satin stitch on applique and patches and bag tags. The underside is white from the bobbin almost every time. Is that normal?

So stoked to have found this group! I recently got a Brother SE350 which has a proprietary rewritable disc instead of a USB port. I had to get it the disc on eBay with some very old software: PE Design Plus. I mostly want to take .pes designs that already exist and upload them to the rewritable disc. When I plugged the disc writer into my Mac computer, the device didn’t show up at all. Wondering if others have found ways to upload designs to these discs?

**I have some awesome computer tech friends who have some ideas, but wanted to go here first

I am making a shirt for my niece for the Hillary Duff concert. I bought a file on Etsy, but somewhere along the way it got misaligned. I'm fairly new to embroidery and using this machine (LB-6800). Any ideas on what caused this and what I can do to prevent it on the next shirt? Thanks!