Embroidery machines

[Dinobabe]

Lorraine, where did you buy those great designs!?

[Lorraine]

Most of the designs I use come from me just doing a search for "embroidery design" on google, plus whatever it is I'm looking for. The guitar and such were from emblibrary I believe, took me awhile to find a guitar that could kind of pass for a bass guitar (my bf plays bass). My friend also may have just <cough cough> "found" me a version of embird online, but I haven't tried using that yet, can't wait to make my own.

[Cilean]

Hello,

So I am working on some kids Smocks and Shirts and I wanted to post in here the neck and cuff blackwork.

This is for my youngest son who adores red:


For my Eldest son and hubby:


I had a ton more but I sent them down to LA so I have to make more to show you all!!!

As soon as the smocks/shirts are done I will post them!

Cilean

[NicoleBridget]

As I briefly mentioned in another post, I've finally gotten my feet wet with the emboidery module of my Bernina Artista 180 and I'm getting miffed an awful lot now.  I don't know if it's just the nature of the machine embroidery beast, if it's Bernina, or if it's just (new) user error.  Actually I suspect it's a combination of each.  My current issues:

1. It's expensive.  Stablizer, special thread, special foot, special bobbin case, embroidery designs, design software, reader/writer boxes, digitizing = I need a part time job?

2.  Where are all the good potentially historic embroidery designs hiding?  I don't need to embroider multi-colored images of a horse heads, tea pots, or barns...  I need basic geometric, abstract borders or even just single images that I can repeat as borders.  I've used the following terms in design site searches: redwork, blackwork, outline, abstract, geometric, whitework, line, border, vine, scroll, historic, heirloom, renaissance, Tudor, and more that I can't think of right now.  And I end up sitting for hours and going cross eyed scrolling through hundreds of designs of bonnets, crosses, and leaves.  In the same vein...

3. Could Bernina make it any harder to acquire and use designs that they haven't created and sell on a card?  .ART format seems to be the most elusive of all.  Of the few designs I stumble upon that I like, rarely are they in .ART format.  How does one covert?  Buy buying a writer/reader/converter box for $200 of course.  I'm currently trying to find design software that works with their format (yet isn't THEIR thousand dollar software).  Everything I find that is embroidery machine related is compatible with twenty-something formats but NEVER .ART.  I feel like there is this super exclusive Bernina snobbery society out there hell bent on keeping everything having to do with using their products a big fat expensive restricted secret.

When I was looking at machine embroidery from a distance it seemed like the sky was the limit, and maybe it is if you've got the $$$$, but I really feel like the wind has been taken out of my sails.

[Cilean]

Nicole I feel your pain!

I began with embroidery machines with the Pfaff 7570, because I have Carpal Tonal and doing a lot of embroidery well it is not in the cards. So and we are speaking way back in the day I purchased it and digitizing was a pain in the butt!  Now with the better software and machines it is a lot easier to create your own.  

So yep there are some blackwork stuff and there are some designs that lend to Renaissance motifs.  The thing is to know what motifs are Renaissance and the like
if you do search there was a thread pertaining to places in which to get historic designs.  

I wish I could find this lady I met in the SCA she had tons she had done herself and of course I lost her email addy  

Also I was just at the Southern Cali RenFaire and went through sticker shock.  I saw some basic cotton Shirts and Smocks that had blackworking done like I have above and they were selling for $95.00 a piece!!! I could get you one done in 100% Handkerchief Linen embroidered and fitting your body for 1/2 that cost!!!
I mean if you think about it, I have a family of 4, 2 very growing boys, I make 4 shirts for them a year, and I have blackwork on each of them and I make 2 square necked and 2 High Necked Smocks for myself on occasion.  So looking at my boys? 8 shirts and the hubby 2 shirts, myself 2 Smocks. 12 in all at $95.00 would be $1,140.00!!!!

So 3 years of making our shirts and smocks pays for 1/2 of my machine and my software!!!  That is before I begin talking about making our actual garb!


Cilean