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home | Basics Of Machine Embroidery

I'll Teach You The Basics OF Machine Embroidery Right Here!

If you have a question not covered in the articles below, please check the "Advanced Machine Embroidery" section for more articles or click into the forums and post your questions there. There are always folks in the forum who have had the same question in the past as you do now.

Embroidery Basics #1... Everything You Need To Do Machine Embroidery
Why you're reading this today... One day in early August of 2001, Holly and I headed off to our local sewing store to look at sewing machines. A few hou . . . Click to continue...

5 Keys To Machine Embroidery That You REALLY MUST KNOW!

There are many first-time embroidery machine owners searching the internet for help with getting started. This article covers 5 key things you MUST know about this hobby... Copyrights, Sharing, Learning Curve, Friends, and one more key that's above all the others...
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Thinking Of Buying A New Embroidery Machine?
Aug 6, 2011
Here's an email I received yesterday and my answer on the topic of buying a new machine. I removed the persons name and email add . . . Click to continue...

Free Ebook: "158 Machine Embroidery Tips"

Download the 158 Best Machine Embroidery Tips from our members. Find out the best ways to do everything in your sewing room. Free download as soon as you have created a username and password at ATW.
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Members rate their own machines...
Wondering if an embroidery machine is good or bad and what's it all about? These reviews cover embroidery machines as reviewed by our members. Click here to read mo . . . Click to continue...

My Friend Wants An Embroidery Machine
An email I received asked... "My girlfriend is trying to get started in our hobby. She likes what I do and wants in on it. LOL I told her it's addicting and I even told her about a place (ATW) where she can meet more people "into embroidery" too... What do you recommend as her first machine?"
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"What's Wrong With This Design?"

"What's wrong with this design?" I hear this question all the time from beginners and intermediate level embroidery hobbyists. Frankly, there are a LOT of things that can go wrong with a design, but they all fall into just three categories. Those three categories are . . . Click to continue...

The Big Question... "What else do I need?"
by Larry Pike
When we bought Holly's first embroidery machine we had no idea what we needed with it other than thread. S . . . Click to continue...

The Thread Path - Part #4 of Series

Fourth article in our series on "What's wrong with my design?" covers what can go wrong within your embroidery machine along the thread path to cause problems with your design stitchout . . . Click to continue...

Bad Needles

Taking a look again at what can go wrong with an embroidery stitchout, we move now to the needle and what can happen when . . . Click to continue...

When Designs Just Won't Stitch Out Part 1: "A Point Of Reference"

A 3-Part series on what to do when your designs won't stitch out properly. In part-1 we cover what to do NOW before you have a problem . . . Click to continue...

When Designs Just Won't Stitch Out Part 2: "Loops & Birdsnests"

A 3-Part series on what to do when your designs won't stitch out properly. In part-2 we cover the basic steps to take when your designs suddenly start looking terrible . . . Click to continue...

When Designs Just Won't Stitch Out Part 3: "Other Problems"

A 3-Part series on what to do when your designs won't stitch out properly. In part-3 we cover what to do when it's not a problem with your machine . . . Click to continue...

All About Stabilizers

I guess the title is really a mis-nomer as this article isn't really "All About Stabilizers", it's really more like "A LOT About Stabilizers", but that isn't such a catchy title. So I'll stick with the "All About..." for now. Later on, I'll add more stuff to cover the "all" part. What this article DOES cover is the basics about stabilizers. Here's something you should remember . . . Click to continue...

Wrong Thread

Every machine is different! They all have their own personality and quirks - just like people. Here's a story of discovery . . . Click to continue...

I Bumped My Embroidery Machine

In today's lesson I cover "weird things that can happen". Look around your machine for anything weird that could be happening. But do it with the machine OFF! Here's why . . . Click to continue...

Mechanical Problems - Part 1

Fifth article in our series on "What's wrong with my design?" covers mechanical problems and how to determine if it's time to take your machine to the shop . . . Click to continue...

Tension Settings

TENSION settings get blamed a lot more often than they should. Yes, it's possible that a problem is cause by the tension settings on your machine, but more than likely, it's something else causing the problem. There are two tension settings on your machine. Whether you have . . . Click to continue...

Choosing Needles
-- Ann Silva

I subscribed to an eZine from Ann Silva's Bernina Sewing Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is an article from her newsletter, reprinted by permission.
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Converting Embroidery Design Formats
You see a great design that you really want, but it's in PES format for Brother and Babylock machines and you have a Viking machine. What can you do? fo . . . Click to continue...

Sharing Embroidery Designs (0209)
It is NOT okay to "share" designs that you have purchased, unless the person that created the designs said it's okay -- and I have never seen a digitizer say that . . . Click to continue...

What Are "ART" Format Designs? (0261)
Some questions we get about "ART" format embroidery designs are... "What are ART designs?" fo . . . Click to continue...

What Do The Letters Like "PES", "HUS", JEF", And So On Mean? (0257)
"What do the various letters (like "HUS", "JEF", etc) mean? How would I know what kind of download I want?" T . . . Click to continue...

Have An Idea For A Design? (0182)
Have a suggestion for an embroidery design? We would love to hear it! Send your idea to... /p . . . Click to continue...

Resizing Embroidery Designs (0953)
Here's a question from one of our members about resizing designs using Embird... "I am considering pu . . . Click to continue...

What Does The Brother Or BabyLock "Bad Stitch Data" or "No Stitch Data" Error Message Mean? (pg0254)
"Bad Stitch Data" is one of several messages you can get from "PE-design" when the design you are trying to open has been created in a version of PE . . . Click to continue...

How To "UnZip" A Compressed Or "Zipped" Folder Using WinZip Or Windows-XP (2709)
You will need to Un-Zip the files you download. If you're not already familiar with how to work with a ZIP file, there are two videos you can watch that will show how t . . . Click to continue...

"Why Can't I Download Embroidery Designs From Your Website To A Floppy Disk?" (0253)
"The designs won't download to my floppy disk! What's wrong?" Nothing is wrong -- here's what's happening and how to fix it! A floppy disk on . . . Click to continue...

Why Can't I Download Embroidery Designs Directly To My CD? (0236)
I see this question every few weeks so here's the answer... "I . . . Click to continue...

How Do I Download Embroidery Designs From This Website? (3952)
Viewing and hearing this video requires your computer have a sound card and speakers (or headphones) for . . . Click to continue...

Why Do I Get An "HTM" File When I Download? (0235)
ArtisticThreadWorks web site and software can handle thousands of user simultaneousl . . . Click to continue...

All About Scissors
by Tanya
An in-depth article about sewing scissors...

Why are there different types?
Which type should I use for which jobs?
What is the best way to store my scissors?
Does it really hurt them to cut paper?

Read this in-depth article and learn all about the care and feeding of your valuable scissors. Print out the article and give it to your spouse if you feel they need to read it too! :-) . . . Click to continue...

How Can I Change My Email Address On ATW? (0255)
"How do I change my email address?" There are TWO places we save your email address... font size=" . . . Click to continue...

Catalog Your Embroidery Designs

Question from a customer... "My sister-in-law and I were commenting the other day that someone needed to create a program that would help us catalogue our designs so we know what we have! I buy so many and download them and really need some way to easily find out what I have. Do you know of such a thing?" Of course! Here's the inside scoop on . . . Click to continue...

Embroidery And Yahoo Groups

"I feel like this a very elementary question but I have not read about the above groups - how they work - do you have to belong to a separate one for every site you are interested in - is there a cost - just some general information would be so helpful." . . . Click to continue...

Embroidery Thread Recommendations

What's a good brand of embroidery thread to buy? Everyone asks this question when they're starting out and re-examine the issue every year or two. Why is it a question that comes up again and again when you thought it was settled in your own mind years ago? Here's an in-depth look at the question of embroidery thread purchased on ebay . . . Click to continue...

Thread Color Conversion Charts
Here's a quick link to all kinds of different cross-reference charts to convert from one brand of thread to another while keeping the same color. Not all brands of thread offer all colors of the rainbow, but they do all come in a wide choice of differnt shades and hues. When a particular color from one company does not have a direct conversion to another brand then the chart will be blank or have an "NA" or a "-" mark in that space . . . Click to continue...

When Do You Change Bobbin Thread?

Here's the question from my mailbag... "Please, I need help with Free Standing Lace! I haven't done any of this because I have no idea where to begin. Can I get step by step instructions?" I asked our members to respond and we many great responses to this one question. Here is the winning answer . . . Click to continue...

Free Standing Lace (or "FSL") -- A Simple Step-By-Step Tutorial

VIDEO: Resizing Embroidery Designs With Embird

Some digitize their own designs, and some don't. It could be they don't want to, or it could be that they don't know how. Some have tried but just couldn't get the hang of it. Others are considering it but have yet to take the plunge. If you are contemplating buying a digitizing program there are a few things you should consider beforehand... . . . Click to continue...

Protect Your Computer And Your Embroidery Equipment From Lightning
"At the first hint of a storm my husband insists that we RUN immediatly to turn off all the computers, and that noone uses anything electrical. Is it really that bad to have things used du . . . Click to continue...

A "Point Of Reference" Embroidery Design
Take a look at the test-stitch that your repair tech uses on your machine the next time you have it serviced... Then l . . . Click to continue...

HELP! What Do I Do When My Embroidery Machine is "Unable To Read This File"?
" Hi-(lst timer here): I THINK I downloaded a bunch of PES designs onto a floppy correctly (new, had to buy an external floppy taker and discs!) and inserted it last ni . . . Click to continue...

My Outline Is WAY Off!
By Holly Pike
Here's an email Holly received yesterday and how she helped this person out... "I am having trouble with a design. When I get . . . Click to continue...

Opening Embroidery Designs For Janome 9700
A few days ago a customer sent me an email with the following question...

"I recently bought a Janome 9700. My question is, do I need an additional program to open up embroidery designs that I download from the computer? I have WinZip but it is not opening them. If I do need a program, which do you recommend? It needs to be a simple one since I only do this as a hobby in what little spare time."

My answer...

WinZip opens the archive file that you download from the web. Inside that zip file may be... . . . Click to continue...

Black Outline Separated From The Design?
Have you ever started stitching out a design, got really excited about how beautiful it was looking, then at the very end, it stitches a black outline around the body and leaves a gap b . . . Click to continue...