Your Software for Embroidery Machines

 - for home and commercial use

The first thing to realize when deciding to purchase embroidery software is that you don’t necessarily need to use the same make of software as your machine.  Your embroidery machine or combination machine was expensive, there’s no reason not to buy exactly the right software to accomplish your embroidery goals. 

Often the machine manufacturer will offer deals with further software, and if their features are within the parameters of what you’re looking for in your designs, that’s a great thing for you.

Such companies as simplicity, brother, pfaff, and husqvarna offer home embroidery machine design software for their own models which are compatible with others on the market as well. 

The First Step

Your first step is to do a little research into the software available and decide which meets your needs best.  Take account, too, that the software choices you are researching are compatible with your machine. 

Obviously, getting rid of the extraneous software that can’t be used with your machine will significantly narrow down your search. 

For the beginner, finding the proper software can be tricky, as you won’t necessarily be able to distinguish the best product without a lot of experience in using embroidery programs.

What To Look For

One of the basic things to look for is number of stitches.  You want to make certain that there are a wide variety of stitches available on your embroidery software to service any type of project you might want to attempt as you advance. 

You should also look for programs that can be added to or add-ons, that way you can update your program later if there’s a need you didn’t envision when starting. 

Another feature the beginner should definitely take into account is technical support; you don’t want to purchase a software program that you can’t manage or fix and have no access to help for a number of days. 

Many quilters and embroiderers stay loyal to their company of choice in machine and software as much for the support and access to help as for the quality of the product in the first place.  It does no good to have high quality software that you can’t figure out how to work.

What counts as " commercial " ?

What was once available only to commercial embroidery producers can now be utilized by the average crafter for personal use or their own small business. 

With little training and a bit of practice, the home embroidery machine can replicate hand stitching, even improve upon it.  Though industrial embroidery is much more automated; utilizing several needles at a time and completing the designated project without much need of the operator. 

A home crafter will need to include into their time limits the need to switch and cut thread due to the machine’s use of only one needle and color at a time.

Turning it into a business

The home embroiderer looking to turn their craft into a business venture may need to take into account the need to learn digitizing for themselves. 

Downloading designs or making designs of your own can be accomplished with minimal knowledge and lower priced software, but it can produce lower quality product as well. 

The higher grade digitizing equipment can be expensive, though with proper skill you can create quality product on a limited budget. 

There are a good deal of online resources specifically designed to teach digitization of embroidery, taking into account the application of design on various mediums of fabric with the limitations of your thread type. 

Many wonderful advances in technology have provided software for the home crafter’s use in the last ten years. 

The best way to choose one right for your needs is to take the time to research their uses and weigh that against your purpose.         

Explorations software

Renassance Software

Useful Resources & Supplies

Embroidery machines thread- check out the clearance sale @ joann.com!

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