YAY!!! I just did one little flower with my name (just one color). So excited!!

I have some questions for my wonderful forum family. What kind of stabilizer do I need for cotton material? And what kind of thread can I use? Which brand is better? I can use cotton, rayon, etc thread....right?

Thank you,
Mish :0)

Another question I have....What format do I use? I don't see it in the manual.

Hi Mish - I know how excited you must be because just last Thursday (a little early) I got a Janome 300e Embroidery machine. It has less bells and whistles than yours does but an acquaintence that I know who does lots of quilting and has lots of machines was selling one at a good price and I just had to have it.

I'm having lots of fun with it but have LOTS of questions. I do know that it is .JEF format on the patterns.

I bought some embroidery thread at Joann's that day with some 40% off coupons but I'm not using that yet. I'm using up old thread - have a lot of that - that I wouldn't trust using in any quilting projects. One "old" spool actually had the price on it - believe it or not - it was 19 cents - LOL. I think it had to be my grandmothers - and I'm 70 - ha ha.

One of my many questions is how do I do pictures on small pieces of fabric - pieces that are too small for a hoop? Maybe if you don't know someone on here will answer.

My machine came with the adapter but no card. I ordered a card online at a good price. So far I am just using the patterns that are built into the machine but I have downloaded some that I will be able to put on the card when I get it - probably at the end of the week.

Keep in touch - maybe we can learn together.

Pat

Both of you received really good gifts. I own the Janome 300E myself. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Hindsight being what it is, I do wish I would have paid the extra bucks for the 350E, but I am still very happy with my purchase.

NAYY, but Nancy's notions has a couple of great items for machine embroidery beginners.

http://www.nancysnotions.com/product...ues+book+cd.do
Embroidery Machine Essentials is a fantastic book. Tons of good information. I don't embroider without it.

http://www.nancysnotions.com/product...n+guidebook.do

sort of a cliff notes to stablizers, a real must have.

The janome can read .jef or .sew formats. Regarding threads, you can use just about any thread you want to use. You need to pay attention to the density of your embroidery design. A design that is dense you should use a light weight thread. Less dense, you can use a heavier thread.

Watch it with using the old thread in your machine. Being old it will leave lots of lints through out the machine and breakage can be a real problem.

I would recommend using Schmetz Embroidery needles in the machine. The machines that the CLASS 15 bobbin.

Have fun with the machines, they are great!

[quote=crashnquilt]

Embroidery Machine Essentials is a fantastic book. Tons of good information. I don't embroider without it.

Thanks Crash - I took you advice and ordered the book. Now to be patient waiting for it - LOL.

Can you answer my question about embroidery on a small piece of fabric. For example, if I want to put patterns on some blocks for a quilt and the blocks are only 6 or 8 inch blocks that won't fit in hoop.

Thanks for your help! Pat

The book should have info about how to do that. You will hoop the stabilizer ONLY. Find the center point of the hoop and place a small mark. Find the center point of your fabric and place a small mark. Line up both marks. You can use spray adhesive or baste your smaller square onto the stabilizer.

Until you are familiar with machine embroidery I would not attempt this method for a while. At best this is a bit difficult because you have to keep a really close eye on the project while it's stitching. Sometime corners or edges can flip up and get stitched in the design.

OOOH, you lucky thing. You must have been extra good this year. Have loads of fun.
Annie

What if you sew stripes around the square,then embroidery on your square,then take out the stitches when your done?

Mish,your new machine takes embroidery cards?

[quote=crashnquilt]The book should have info about how to do that. You will hoop the stabilizer ONLY. Find the center point of the hoop and place a small mark. Find the center point of your fabric and place a small mark. Line up both marks. You can use spray adhesive or baste your smaller square onto the stabilizer.quote]

Thanks for your help - I need all I can get.