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The Sew What’s New Archive
This archived content is from Mary Wilkins’ sewing and
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From: Lise
Date: 04-27-2005, 06:40 AM (1 of 16)
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I have a Deco 600 and have not been able to go beyond the designs on the cards. All the talk about Embird, Magic Box etc. is Greek to me. Can anybody recommend a book(s) that will explain what these things do and how complicated or simple they are to use. I would like to be able to download and store free designs (don't know how to do that either !) and then stitch them out . Obviously I need some very basic instruction and a book for a raw beginner would be terrific. I will be grateful for any suggestions.  Lise |
User: Lise
Member since: 07-24-2000 Total posts: 231 
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From: mommydionne
Date: 04-27-2005, 09:10 PM (2 of 16)
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Is the deco using a pes file? if so the brother PED system will let you download and write designs to a card, for editing embird is supposed to be very good I have PE design 4.0 which allows you to do all of that and digitize too, it is nice but really too much programme for what I do but it was all that was available at the time, there are more "inbetween" type programmes now Jeanette
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User: mommydionne
Member since: 01-08-2004 Total posts: 838 
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From: Military_Mom
Date: 04-28-2005, 08:44 AM (3 of 16)
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I don't know how you could get designs from the computer to the machine after you download without a box of some kind. I have the Deco 600 and I also have the Deco Wizard. It's great...and easy! I just go to the free sites and choose any pes file that will fit on a 4x4 sewing area, download it, save it to Deco Wizard and then I can save it to the card that goes into the machine. I think the Deco Wizard is quite expensive (to me anyway) but I got lucky and the lady I bought my machine from sold it really cheap. I don't know if this helps you, Lise, so I'll be anxious to see any posts that come from your question. When I have questions, I ask at my local sewing store and they're always happy to answer, if I can't find answers on this board. Good luck! ~Becky |
User: Military_Mom
Member since: 01-10-2005 Total posts: 109 
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From: mamadus
Date: 04-30-2005, 12:28 AM (4 of 16)
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lise... in order to get designs that you download off the internet, into your machine, you will need a reader/writer box and a re-writable card... I believe your machine take the pes format... there are various boxes available out there that will work with your format... The Ultimate Box (by Vikant), the Amazing Box, the Mini Amazing Box, the Magic Box, PEDEsign or PEBasic, the Pes2card3, just to name the most popular... then you will want some kind of basic editing software... again, there are many choices... Embird,Buzz Tools, PEDESIGN, and the list goes on... when I first started in embroidery I personally chose the Ultimate Box and Embird Basic... for me Embird was a good choice because it allows me to do lots of basic editing (resizing, color changes, converting from one format to another)at a relatively low price.. The other thing I like about Embird is that you can add "Plug-ins" as you feel the need.. for example, the STudio plug in allows you to digitize your own designs, the sfumato plug-in allows you to create photo-stitch designs, the Font Engine allows you to take true type fonts and turn them into stitches, and there's also a new cross-stitch plug-in which allows you to create cross stitch designs... you don't have to buy any of these right away, you can buy them as needed, which means, as mommydione mentioned, that you don't end up paying for a lot of program that you may never use... Once you have the reader/writer box and some editing software, you'll be surpised at how much more you can do with your machine.. keep us posted on what you decide... MO life is too short, not to explore
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User: mamadus
Member since: 12-31-2004 Total posts: 492 
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From: MaryW
Date: 04-30-2005, 10:35 AM (5 of 16)
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I so appreciate you and the others with machine emb. knowledge. Thanks for sharing here on these boards. I have no emb. machine so I can't begin to address any of the problems.
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New |
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005 Total posts: 2542 
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From: Mother in Law
Date: 04-30-2005, 10:25 PM (6 of 16)
| The ultimate box is the only box at this time that is able to write from Embird. I love Embird it converts file to your format, sizes designs, flips designs, mirror image designs add two or more designs together and save them as a different name. You can play with the colors of the designs and change them if you like to see what colors would look better to you, also you can tell the program what thread you use most and it will show you what color in that thread company you would use to match the color in your design. You can also buy other plug ins which are little side programs that work inside embird that does other things. Like you can buy alphabets and type in names and add them to you designs, arc the names or put them in a circle, and lots of other things also . It's a great program but it only writes to the ultimate box. The ultimate box someone said Walmart has them for 130.00 here in the states and embird is 89.00 so for a little over 200.00 you can have great software and a box to write to. Just make sure you get the box that is for your machine. When you purchase the box make sure it's for the machine you own or the card that comes with it won't fit your machine. You can get the other boxes and still use embird but you would have to save the designs to a folder and then use the boxes software to write the designs to your card with that box. Just another step to do is all. But the money you save on the Ultimate box and Embird is hard to pass up. The other boxes cost 200.00 and their software don't do what Embird does. Hope I didn't confuse you more. |
User: Mother in Law
Member since: Total posts: |
From: paroper
Date: 05-01-2005, 03:24 AM (7 of 16)
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I hope that you understand that writing on the card is like putting a floppy disk in your computer and writing on it. The box will have 2 or more slots on it and one of them should hold the correct card size for your computer (you just have to check for your format, but yours is pretty standard). You simply put your card in the slot and tell the computer what to write on the card. Then you take the card and use it just as you would a purchased card in your machine. You can erase data from the card and write more designs on the card from your computer as needed. This does not erase any data from your computer and the designs on the card are stored there as long as you want them, but the cards don't hold a great deal of information so you have to decide which designs you want on the card at any given time. You also should also be able to write information from the card back to your computer (that may depend on what type of box your have or what kind of software you have, but I can write from a card to my computer) and then manipulate the design in the software, if you have any. You should get some simple software with your box that will allow you to write onto a card but NOT edit or change the picture or design a new one. By the way, your box doesn't care if the design you download is one you have gotten from the internet or one that you have digitized yourself with a compatable machine software program. They should all download just fine. As long as the box is compatable with both formats, it will also convert one format of design (card) to another, so if you have a box that will read both formats, you can take a XXX format card (Singer for instance) and convert to PES. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: mamadus
Date: 05-05-2005, 12:07 PM (8 of 16)
as suze mentioned, the ultimate box is the only one that works directly with Embird at this point... the other thing about the ultimate box is that the ultimate box cards will hold a certain number of stitches as opposed to a certain number of designs... most of the other boxes will only hold 6 designs... the Ultimate box cards will hold an unlimited number of designs as long as you don't exceed a certain stitch count on the card.. for example, I have had as many as 35 designs on my ultimate box card (hey it was christmas and I had a lot of projects going!!  ) hope we haven't confused you more... this hobby is so addictive, definitely worse than golf!!  MO life is too short, not to explore
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User: mamadus
Member since: 12-31-2004 Total posts: 492
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From: natred2
Date: 05-06-2005, 07:36 PM (9 of 16)
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Making the decision to purchase software was difficult for me. I ended up buying PE Design 4 simply becuase it was Brother and my machine was Brother. I was concerned about compatibility. Now that I am marginally wiser I have been surfing sor something a little bit more flexible. I have downloaded Embird demo to play around with it and see if I like it. Don't be so open minded your brains fall out.
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User: natred2
Member since: 04-09-2005 Total posts: 81 
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From: paroper
Date: 05-06-2005, 08:40 PM (10 of 16)
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YOU ARE ABOUT TO HAVE SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!! Be sure and check to see if your dealer gives introductory lessons on the software. That can put you so far down the road in the learning curve.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Mother in Law
Date: 05-07-2005, 12:55 AM (11 of 16)
You are going to love Embird. Pam, our dealers won't sell Embird I guess it's not priced high enough.  But I have it and it's wonderful. I edit all my designs in Embird before pulling them into my software for my machine.
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User: Mother in Law
Member since: Total posts: |
From: paroper
Date: 05-07-2005, 06:17 AM (12 of 16)
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Ya gotta wonder if there are licensing conflicts that keep these dealers from handling more than one type of software. It would be wonderful if you could just walk into a sewing shop like you would walk into Comp USA and look at all the different types of software as a comparison (already assigned to machines.) You know that it would be the same as sewing machines...different software for different needs and pocket books. I really enjoy the Artista and I find that I don't have a need for anything else, including add on boxes, although if I were converting cards, it would be essential. I like the fact that I don't have to keep buying plug-ins, but I'm kind of a just get it done type of person and I won't ever use some of the parts of the Artista. If I had bought a software with plug-ins, I'm sure that there are portions that I wouldn't have purchased, so I can certainly see where that would be better for many, beyond the price of purchase.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: mamadus
Date: 05-12-2005, 01:03 AM (13 of 16)
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My dealer sells about 6 different brands of software, but like Suze's dealer, they won't handle Embird... the reality is that, as Suze said, its not priced high enough for them to make great gobs of money on it.... I don't know for sure... but I'm willing to bet that the mark-up on most softwares is at least 100%... that's not the case with Embird, which is why so many of us have it, and so few dealers carry it... but there are tons of yahoo groups for Embird, and there are lots of tutorials and videos on the Embird website to get you started... MO life is too short, not to explore
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User: mamadus
Member since: 12-31-2004 Total posts: 492
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From: natred2
Date: 05-14-2005, 05:23 PM (14 of 16)
So far I have found Embird is awesome for conversion of files. I haven't yet had the chance to really "delve" into it but I think this might become my next purchase 
Don't be so open minded your brains fall out.
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User: natred2
Member since: 04-09-2005 Total posts: 81
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From: Mother in Law
Date: 05-14-2005, 08:36 PM (15 of 16)
| You will love it. I have it and use it everytime I sew out a design. I resize in Embird and rotate and flip and merge two or more designs and add letters. Wonderful!!!!!!!! |
User: Mother in Law
Member since: Total posts: |
From: Zabelle
Date: 05-15-2005, 12:27 PM (16 of 16)
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I agree, Embird is great and sooo user-friendly! Which is not so often the case!
English sewing journal: Kitty Couture
In French: Journal d'une cousette |
User: Zabelle
Member since: 02-25-2004 Total posts: 98 
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