New Toy - the Libra lair expands it's production capacity
We got a home embroidery machine yesterday. Poe's mom and us went in halves on a White brand machine that was on clearance sale (over 1/2 off) from Joann's. (They looked at several stores before finding one of the last ones that was still in good shape - the rest are open box and missing stuff...)
It is VERY cool. We got it up and running last night. Printed some things. It took me a bunch of tries to figure out how to use it properly (Broke 4 needles before realizing you MUST use a backing material, and headed back to the store to get some.)
I am still figuring it out.... mostly the sewing machine aspect of it all. (New to me)
I am a bit disappointed in the manual. It assumes a working knowledge of sewing machine use and the principles of embroidery. I need to find my copy of "Sewing for dumming" and review.
The software is easy to use. But only works when the machine is plugged into the PC. That is annoying because I want to play around with custom designs.
Aprently the software can create custom paters from clip art. (I am sure there are trick to get best results.)
I need to do some reading, get lots of colored thread (Once I figure out what kind of thread works best in the machine. Another failing of the manual. No info on spindles needles or thread types..... and it turns out there are a different kinds of each.)
Poe wants to make guild tabards for her Wow doll.....oooooo idea!
They sell Wow action figures now.... we need to come up with a taberd design that fits them too! ;)
So far I have manged to do both 1 and 2 color embroidery (you do one color, stop, change thread, then the next) on scraps of cloth.
The next step is to figure out how (if there is any trick to it) do it on larger items, like shirts and lab coats.
I need a "Libra Lair" lab coat and Justin needs a Cafe Post Mortem lab coat *grin*
All though I can just do patches for now until I get the hang of it all.
On a related note - one of my co-workers has a old Kenmore sewing machine and desk (built in) she wants to get rid of. So I will probably get that as well. Thus rounding out the Libra liar fabric production setup. (I still want to get a heat press and transfer printer for iron on art as well.)
It is VERY cool. We got it up and running last night. Printed some things. It took me a bunch of tries to figure out how to use it properly (Broke 4 needles before realizing you MUST use a backing material, and headed back to the store to get some.)
I am still figuring it out.... mostly the sewing machine aspect of it all. (New to me)
I am a bit disappointed in the manual. It assumes a working knowledge of sewing machine use and the principles of embroidery. I need to find my copy of "Sewing for dumming" and review.
The software is easy to use. But only works when the machine is plugged into the PC. That is annoying because I want to play around with custom designs.
Aprently the software can create custom paters from clip art. (I am sure there are trick to get best results.)
I need to do some reading, get lots of colored thread (Once I figure out what kind of thread works best in the machine. Another failing of the manual. No info on spindles needles or thread types..... and it turns out there are a different kinds of each.)
Poe wants to make guild tabards for her Wow doll.....oooooo idea!
They sell Wow action figures now.... we need to come up with a taberd design that fits them too! ;)
So far I have manged to do both 1 and 2 color embroidery (you do one color, stop, change thread, then the next) on scraps of cloth.
The next step is to figure out how (if there is any trick to it) do it on larger items, like shirts and lab coats.
I need a "Libra Lair" lab coat and Justin needs a Cafe Post Mortem lab coat *grin*
All though I can just do patches for now until I get the hang of it all.
On a related note - one of my co-workers has a old Kenmore sewing machine and desk (built in) she wants to get rid of. So I will probably get that as well. Thus rounding out the Libra liar fabric production setup. (I still want to get a heat press and transfer printer for iron on art as well.)