MISC HINTS

If you don't have a thread stand and want to try using big spools of thread, Phil at Power Micro Solutions suggested using a coffee cup and setting the spool in the cup, then loop the thread thru the handle once and then to the EU and thread thru it as normal. He said it would work pretty good - come on Phil, jump right in.... Denene

Goof #1-forgot to change satin stitch density to 45. When it came time for the writing portion, there is a BIG mess and now I am trying to rip out itty-bitty stitches. Linda, You should try using a disposable shaver to take out the stitches. Hold your work tight on a flat surface and " shave " the back side until the stitches start to disappear. Rub the back of your scissors to loosen the threads on the front side. Just be careful and do a little at a time. Hope this helps. Barb

I use a couple of different methods for sewing out test samples of designs.
First of all, I don't waste time cutting cute little, accurate squares to sew them on. This would take away from my valuable digitizing time (and precious internet connect time!) I also do not use stabilizer! Instead, I tear 7 " wide strips of muslin from selvedge to selvedge. Then I refold it on the original fold, so I have a double layer of muslin to sew on. This gives me a 7 " x 22 " double strip that is strong enough to avoid stabilizer. I simply hoop the strip near one end, and with each test sample, I simply move my hoop down to the next empty section. I can get 5-8 designs on each strip. Of course, I use stabilizer on real projects, but not test samples. I buy good quality 45 " muslin by the whole bolt when it goes on sale at 50% off at JoAnn Fabrics. I find this method is cheaper than the cost of backing each test sample with stabilizer. And the quality of stitch on my Huskygram amazes my friends with " other " embroidery machines.... even without the stabilizer behind a design! One reason I like this method....because I can find a large strip laying around my messy sewing room a lot easier than those little 6 " squares! tee hee I can cut them apart, around each design, at a later time. Another source I use, is washed, recycled blue jeans. I save all the outgrown jeans and cut the legs off at crotch level. Then I split them open along the inseam. Now I have a large flat piece of denim. I also cut this into 7 " wide lengths from ankle to hip using a rotary cutter. You can follow the grain visually. I find this denim is also heavy enough to avoid stabilizer on test samples. I consider this free fabric When my daughter goes to college in a few years, I will take all these denim samples and put them together again, into some kind of quilt or pillow! Sheree in M!ch!gan

Here's something that I always do when ready to stitch: Before selecting SEW, I pan my design so that it is to the left of the screen and then when I do select SEW, I can see it while stitching and if I'm not sure of a color or change my mind (often!!) then I can see what and where they are!! Maybe everyone already does this and I was just slow to learn?? Terri

I have a book that has examples of my work....lettering styles. sizes..colors...a section for others designs...like DHD. Cactus Punch..where I have their stuff labeled and folks can pick and choose designs and colors. I also have a book where I keep all my design notes...DHD comes with workbook sheets...well I add stuff like the colors I used...or sewing time..or stuff generally helpful. I just use three ring binders and those clear-vu page protectors. It is easy and is fun to look through...I also have started a photo album, where I take pix of what I've done and put it in there...it is great for home sewing parties...enough about books...would love to know more about other projects. Tracey

Once my samples are sewn and cut into squares I have made up sheets in my word processor . On the top of the sheet is the design Description . Then the File name and where it can be found The original source of where I got my .pcx or .csd Date that it was digitized. (this has been helpful because when I get frustrated I can see my digitizing improving) Then the total amount of stitches Also there is a place for a what stitch # the thread is changed The thread color # The actual color-(red,blue, green) And the area the color covered. This has been real handy because if someone likes what a design looks like I can go right to my thread stash and pick up the right colors with out having to hold thread up to the design and trying to get the same color. Then I staple my sample to the sheet and put it in a page protector in a BIG notebook. I print out a bunch of sheets at once and write on them but this would be really neat to have in a spreadsheet where you could just type in the numbers and print it out. I am not that great with a spreadsheet though. Debbie

Here's a list I found on the web.Pat

EMBROIDERY MACHINE FORMATS

Babylock PES
Barudan. FDR .FMC .DAT UO1-U36
Bernette PES
Bernina EXP .ISD
Brother PES .PEC .PEM
Deco PES
Essante PES
GN Scalable GNC
Happy .TAP
Huskygram CSD
Janome .SEW
Melco EXP .CND
New Home SEW
Pfaff Win PCS .PCD .KMS .KSD
Pfaff Mac PCM
Poem Win CSD
Poem Mac Designer SIT
Singer EU CSD
Tajima DST .DSB .TO1
Toyota 10o
Viking HUS
Wilcom EMB
Zangs T04
ZSK T05


MAIL ORDER QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED

I know that some of us use mail order as our general store's but some are lucky to have the stores close by and they can shop they also know how the return policy works. I have used many different companies to mail order but If they are new:




I do keep it until after I check out my order. Have you ever gotten a substitute that was unacceptable? Another important thing to do when returning the item or items is to attach a letter and keep copies of the letter. I put my name, address and phone number and a brief reason why I am returning it. The credit should be applied to my credit card and the invoice number of the transaction! Then I send a copy of the amount in question to my credit card to let them know that I am expecting to be credited for the dollar amount in question they will also follow up with the Vendor if you have problems! I have found this helpful a time or two! Some may say this is old hack and not worth the post but if you have never had dealings with a company before it is better to know all of the hidden charges first and remember to ask what the charges are for shipping this also can save you money!
Brenda,



EU PLASTIC SAFETY GUARD USE


The guard can be very useful. If you are stitching on the front of a large sweatshirt or t-shirt, hoop as normal, then turn wrong side out and feed the neck of garment through head of machine, hook abnormal. Using the guard helps keep the fabric from falling down into the stitching area. You sort of have to fish the cartridge in and out to change thread but it allows you to stitch very large items.


FRAME PLACEMENTS

Moving the Frame - Unless I am doing triple hoop work I never move the frame. And, if I accidentally start to move it I hit Escape immediately. The only way to make sure the hoop is back in the correct place is to exit the program and re-enter. This is the one instruction singer gives that I totally disagree with. If you turn off the hoop display after loading your image and getting it scaled correctly, you can eliminate accidentally moving it. If you do move it and digitize another design later you can come up with problems that are very hard to solve.Lou


GRAPHICS

Copyright free images - Dover Publications has great art work that is copyright free. Look for it at your craft store they come in books and on CD's. I ordered their mega bundle 15 CD's and love it. Many of our designs come from there. The only problem was I ordered three sets and was charged $10.00 each shipping. Bummer! I just purchased a 250,00 image set called Holy Cow that is a combination of BMP and WMF format images, some are from Dover, and most are royalty free. Got this at Micro Center.Lou

The problem with the PCX images you are saving is the Sub Type or version. Just as with most everything else to do with computers it is more complicated than we first think. Compu-stitch will not open ver. 0, 1, or 2 (I think) PCX's. We convert everything to ver.5 PCX's using Paint Shop Pro. Since it will batch convert, this is quick and easy. When you use Save or Save as be sure to check not only the file type but also the sub type. By the way, PSP is $59.95 at Best Buy and Micro Center or $69.95 when mail ordered. We highly recommend this program use almost exclusively. Purchasing it is well worth it because the manual is written in ENGLISH not computerize. PSP is the highest rated graphics software by Windows Magazine. Wish I had never bought Adobe PhotoShop. Hope this is of some small help. Lou

Wacom graphics tablets

Lou Childs wrote: On the digitizing tablets, if I understand this correctly, you have to use relative positioning (like on a mouse) in DOS based programs and either in Windows applications. Thank goodness they are easy to switch. Gill, I know the feeling! I don't know how I ever worked before I got my AceCad. Does your Pen Partner use relative positioning or Actual with the EU. I use the CSII most of the time and wish it would use Actual instead of relative. but that is minor in relationship to the advantages of using a pen. Lou

Gill Thomas wrote: I think that the Wacom Pen Partner is a win95 only tablet. The EU is actually a DOS program and has to have dos drivers. Lou, I think you're right, but I use my Wacom ArtPad with EU all the time, and despite some IRQ conflicts getting it set up, once it was up and running it's worth it's weight in Gold. Love it!! Gill (in Gloucestershire, England)

_Not wanting to butt in here Lou, but I have the Pen Partner and a ArtPad both by Wacom, and they both have the choice of relative or Actual, so you can set it up which ever way you want, and can change it quickly if you want the other way. Sharon

Lou, It took me quite a while to realize the difference between the two settings on my ArtPad (yes, you can switch between them), but now I'm " up and running " I prefer to use the relative settings rather than the actual. Don't really know why, except that I suppose I've just got used to using a trackball rather than a mouse and pad, and so can scroll around the screen that much quicker it seems. I'd say it's very much personal preference though. One good thing about having to fiddle so much whilst setting up the pad (have one old computer just for sewing with POEM, Bernina, printer, ArtPad and trackball all linked up - no joke to get them all behaving themselves at the same time, I'll tell you!) is that we managed to get the stylus and the trackball both " live " - so I can pick up either and use it for a while and switch from one to the other as I please. Before we set all that up and I used to carry my laptop to and fro, it was only one or the other, and I had to decide which I wanted to use when the computer booted up. This is so-o-o much easier! I think those stylus and pad kits are a great buy - they certainly make digitizing a lot quicker (and more accurate!) Gill (in Gloucestershire, England)

CSII and EU Shortcuts

To all POEM users who are trying to get CS running in Win '95, I have finally documented the process. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to all of you who have been posting but there are a lot of steps. To use CS from within Win '95:
  • Create a directory called C:\BAT
  • Click START, choose RUN..., type SYSEDIT, press ENTER.
  • Add C:\BAT; at the beginning of the line then save the file: example: PATH=C:\BAT;C:\CS\BIN;C:\WINDOWS;
  • Click on the CONFIG.SYS file and verify that the following line exists: STACKS=16,512
  • Exit the System Configuration Editor saving any changes you've made.
  • Next, start NOTEPAD. Create a text file as follows:
    c:\windows\mouse.com
    cd\data\poem ------This is your default directory for your files
    cs
    Save this file into your new C:\BAT directory. Be sure to include the extension .BAT on the file name so that the computer knows it is a batch program. I called mine SEW.BAT
    This file will cause your mouse to load into memory when you launch CS. The second line forces CS to default to a certain directory where your designs are saved. If your designs are on another disk (for instance a second hard drive), the file would look like this: c:\windows\mouse.com
    d:
    cd\data\poem
    cs
  • Click on the Win '95 desktop with your RIGHT mouse button. Choose NEW---- SHORTCUT.
  • On the Command line type C:\BAT\SEW.BAT
  • You will be prompted for a shortcut name. Type POEM for DOS or whatever you like here. Choose NEXT.
  • A list of icons will appear. Select one you like, click FINISH. The icon will be placed on your desktop.
  • Click on the new icon with your RIGHT mouse button, choose PROPERTIES.
  • Click on the PROGRAM type, click on the ADVANCED button.
  • Verify that MS DOS MODE is checked and USE CURRENT MS-DOS CONFIGURATION is selected. This will prevent Windows from restarting your machine when you select the icon and running POEM is DOS mode only.
    For EU Users: When I installed EU from the diskettes in WIN '95 it automatically created a new icon where the program line of the shortcut was as follows: C:\EU\BIN\EU.EXE -u Hopes this helps out. Note: With this setup, I can toggle between the EU software and the Win95 desktop, however, if the POEM is sewing when I toggle, it will stop. (i.e. I download a design from our list, open the EU software so I can see what it looks like and then I can hit CTRL and ESC to go back into the email message to read any notes on it. Then I can just select EU/POEM from the taskbar and go back into EU right where I left off.) I hope I am not confusing anyone.
    Kim in MA


    FRAME PLACEMENTS


    Moving the Frame - Unless I am doing triple hoop work I never move the frame. And, if I accidentally start to move it I hit Escape immediately. The only way to make sure the hoop is back in the correct place is to exit the program and re-enter. This is the one instruction singer gives that I totally disagree with. If you turn off the hoop after loading your image and getting it scaled correctly, you can eliminate accidentally moving it. If you do move it and digitize another design later you can come up with problems that are very hard to solve. Lou


    Conversion and Uli's cross stitch

     Sheryl wrote: I tried the program and can draw cross stitch on it but it does not light up where it says convert to cross stitch. Sheryl, I don't have the program open to check it, but as far as I can remember, I just " coloured in " the squares as I wanted them, clicked on the button on the taskbar which shows a sewing machine, then saved it in the " PC designer " . I panicked, thinking I'd not be able to open a .pcs, but when I looked in Windows Explorer, there it was as a .pcs design Gill

    The colors on Uli's Xstitch program stitch out in the order that they are on the screen just below the grid. You can change any color by double clicking on it and selecting a new color. If you plan the palette before you start, you can make fewer jumps. It will hold 16 while our POEM will only hold 14. I'm not sure whether that creates a problem. It's worth it to buy Gloria's program just to be able to use Uli's program! They really do look hand-stitched! Carolyn Barnes in Texas



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