{"id":5850,"date":"2008-04-28T12:59:49","date_gmt":"2008-04-28T19:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/blog\/?p=5850"},"modified":"2008-04-28T13:04:36","modified_gmt":"2008-04-28T20:04:36","slug":"embroidery-machine-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/?p=5850","title":{"rendered":"Embroidery Machine Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ll probably end up attempting an Instructable of this, but in the meantime, here&#8217;s the notes I wrote up on the embroidery machine class I took at TechShop.<\/p>\n<h3>Supplies<\/h3>\n<p>You will need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>material to embroider<\/b> &#8211; duh!<\/li>\n<li><b>thread with which to embroider<\/b> &#8211; most people use a shiny thread<\/li>\n<li><b>&#8220;stabilizer&#8221;<\/b> &#8211; a fabric designed for embroidery that strengthens the &#8220;back&#8221; of the embroidered area.  Available in &#8220;tear away&#8221; which&#8230; tears away&#8230; &#8220;cut away&#8221; which doesn&#8217;t, and a kind with self-adhesive on the back.  There is also one which dissolves in water, so you can make lace.<\/li>\n<li><b>Jump Drive<\/b> &#8211; the Janome has a USB port that it reads designs from.  Bring your own so you don&#8217;t have to beg \/ scrounge for one<\/li>\n<li>Machines shared amongst many artists, like the one at TechShop, use up some of the parts.\n<ul>\n<li><b>Bobbin<\/b> &#8211; the Janome uses the clear plastic ones made by &#8220;White.&#8221;  Buy some so you can load it up with your own string before your session<\/li>\n<li><b>needles<\/b> &#8211; you may break a needle.  Use a 11 or 13.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Machine Notes: The Hoop<\/h3>\n<p>There&#8217;s this plastic hoop, like an embroidery hoop, that you put your fabric in.  <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are actually two hoops for this machine, Hoop A (5.0&#8243; x 4.3&#8243;) and Hoop B (bigger!)<\/li>\n<li>The software can rotate your shape for you, but I would do it elsewhere&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>The machine does one color at a time<\/li>\n<li>try not to stretch nor bunch the fabric in the hoop<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Machine Notes: Threading<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>thread just as you would a sewing machine<\/li>\n<li>the bobbin thread should be spiralled counter-clockwise<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Import Your File<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>You really, really, really need a vector art file to do anything worth doing.  The converter that comes with the Janome machine is pathetic.  Automated options include <a href=\"http:\/\/www.siame.com\/\">VectorEye<\/a> ($59 exports only a .svg) and <a href=\"http:\/\/vectormagic.com\/\">VectorMagic<\/a> (It&#8217;s a SAS (Software As Service); $15 for 3 months of unlimited conversions).<\/li>\n<li>In Illustrator, convert all your thick lines to filled, borderless shapes.  Use &#8220;Convert to Outline&#8221; or the like<\/li>\n<li>In Illustrator, convert all text to outlines as well<\/li>\n<li>Export the file as a .emf file<\/li>\n<li>Now open Embird!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Generate your JEF file <\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>In the editor, check your design<\/li>\n<li>use the simulator to determine the order the shapes will be stitched, and where on the shape the thing will start<\/li>\n<li>export the .jef file<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Run the Machine<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Position the head with the arrow keys<\/li>\n<li>start stitching by pressing the start button.  But!  Only let it stitch a few stitches, like 5&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>stop stitching.  Now is your chance to cut the loose thread.  After doing so, start the machine again<\/li>\n<li>The machine will stop after completing a shape, so you can load in the new color.  The colors on the editor are for convenience.<\/li>\n<li>You can skip a shape by touching the &#8220;next page&#8221; picture<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ll probably end up attempting an Instructable of this, but in the meantime, here&#8217;s the notes I wrote up on the embroidery machine class I took at TechShop. Supplies You will need: material to embroider &#8211; duh! thread with which to embroider &#8211; most people use a shiny thread &#8220;stabilizer&#8221; &#8211; a fabric designed for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-looky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}