Can Amaya be of any use to me here?

[kamalzango]

I do not know much about embroidery apart from seeing an Amaya XT working once. I was amazed and quickly formed an idea of using it to make money! I then did some research, and eventually came accross this site.
However, I realized that all the things to be embroidered must be attached to a frame (called Hoop). But, for my application, I need at least 30" by 5" and I doubt if there is any hoop that size from what I've seen online. Is there any work around or something?
What about embroidering long garments? From the place I came, we wear long garments and especially for ladies, the designs start from the neck, and go all the way down. Since these hoops must be used, does that mean I cannot embroider on anything bigger than the compatible hoops on melcomart.com?

[SkyLinePrints]

There's more than the hoop size to consider. All embroidery machines have a limited area of movement on the pantagraph. The amaya is no exception. Even if a hoop of 30" was custom made, the machine would not have enough movement to execute the design.

Your design would need to be done in pieces or sections. I am seen garment manufacturing plants that have specially (custom) designed embroidery machines that embroider patterns on roll feeds but that would be WAY expensive and those machines are HUGE.

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Kamalzango,
Melco's largest hoop, that I'm aware of, is the "tubular sash frame" which is approximately 20" x 16". Any larger than this, you would need to do multiple hooping to accomplish something bigger.
Ed

[kamalzango]

Thanks to u all. Now on sites like suebox.com, I have seen lots of lace embroidery designs, the edges nicely trimmed and all the holes at the center, nicely made.
Now what I want to know is: is all the trimming and the other openings made by the machine? Or was it embroidered on water-soluble stabilizers that were later on removed and only the embroidery was left?

[Juli in Kona]

I says it's free-standing lace, so I'd think it was done on water soluble stabilizer.

Juli in Kona

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Kamalzango,
It all depends. If it's small enough and only embroidery by itself, most probably done on water soluable stabilizer. If there's fabric involved, there could be "boring" involved. You would need a boring needle and make sure you had your design digiized for this.
In short, the boring needle cuts out unwanted fabric in small areas within the lace.
Ed

[kamalzango]

Thank you all once again, I appreciate your prompt replies. I'm very sorry to bother you guys with my endless questions, I really don't know anything about embroidery. I hope this would be my last question [img]smile.gif[/img]

- How possibly THIN could my stitches be? can I have stitches as thin as a millimeter?

- What about the needles? How thin is the thinnest needle available?

I want to invest my time and money on buying a digitizing software and master it first, before buying the machine. What I would like to use the machine for, is normally done with hand where I live. So I want to first weigh all the possibilities before I invest.

- Talking about digitizing software, is there any open source software that I can use to learn? Shelling out $1000 for the software is not easy! Any suggestions? recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Kamalzango,
You say you don't know anything about embroidery??? Well you know more than the guy who is just starting today. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Ixnay on the last question. Keep 'em coming. After the third question, we bill your credit card. [img]smile.gif[/img]
In embroidery, there are three categories of stitches: walk stitch, column stitch (satin) and fill (step satin) stitch.
The thinest stitch would be a walk stitch only one thread wide, which when using standard 40 weight thread will be approximately .35mm - .40mm wide. The thinest needle readily available in the US for commercial embroidery is the 65/9 needle. This means it is .65mm in diameter.
As for software, yesterday I worked on a Toyota machine and the software the lady was using was something like 'stitch pro' and as she was trying to type out 15 letter "I's" with a colorchange between each, I was beating my head against the wall. Something so simple seemed like it required a signing of another Stimulus Package. Geeze Louise!!!
If you are serious about making money with embroidery, consider Design Shop. You will be able to do all you need to do for many years with the second (of four) level. If you purchase a machine with the software (same time) or wait for a sale, you'll get the most bang for your buck.
But until that time, I believe Melco has a system in place that allows you to demo the software for something like 30 days until it expires to see if you might like it for free. But if you really don't know what you are doing, you will spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what in the world you are looking at and where to start. Remember that with the purchase of Melco software, four days of training is included at a Melco facility.
Trying to learn digitizing from a book is like trying to learn Karate from a book. ...In time you'll figure it out but it goes so much faster when learning from someone in person as it is interactive. $1,000 is chump change for good software in today's industry. If you are spending under $1,000 for software, you're probably dealing with software designed for the home or hobby market. You'll do okay at first but you will be longing for more in a short time. Then, later, when you do buy the commercial software, you will be upset you wasted your money on that "home software" you don't use anymore.
If you apply yourself to make money in this industry, the software and machine will pay for itself and then some in time. It's important to get a good deal but even more important to educate yourself both before and even more after. You've got a good start on this by finding this group.
Also, if you have software, you will want a machine to sew out everything you draw. If you have a home machine, you will need to know how to get a design file into the machine you will be using until you step up to the commercial machine.
(Man, I should be in sales!!)
When it comes to commercial software, the leaders in the industry are Melco, Tajima, and Wilcom. With Melco software, you will get the most bang for your buck as it is as powerful as it needs to be and is half as much as the other guys software. Tajima and Wilcom have software levels as hight as $18-20,000. I just don't get what makes it that valuable. Can anyone answer that question???
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Ed

[kamalzango]

-The Embroidery Authority-,

>> Well you know more than the guy who is just starting today. :-
- Really? I dont think so :-

>> After the third question, we bill your credit card. [Smile]
- 3rd question? Why not 3rd week? :- but I really appreciate ur help. thanks once again!

>> Remember that with the purchase of Melco software, four days of training is included at a Melco facility.
- I'm not living in the US! I'm studying in Malaysia...

>> I believe Melco has a system in place that allows you to demo the software for something like 30 days until it expires to see if you might like it for free.
- I've searched the website since, but couldnt locate any download page! does any one knows where to download from?

>> Also, if you have software, you will want a machine to sew out everything you draw. If you have a home machine, you will need to know how to get a design file into the machine you will be using until you step up to the commercial machine.
(Man, I should be in sales!!)
- Right now, I'm just doing some research to find out if what I'm imagining is possible. I intended to get a software, buy some books and familiarize myself with all the terms and the software. I will then make some designs and take them to the shop where I saw the working Amaya before, to be embroidered and see if it'll serve my purpose.
The problem is the guy who owns the machine doesnt seem to know much about it! All he does is sew logos on caps and shirts. He doesn't even know the different types of stabilizers that I asked him about and worst of all, his English is terrible, he is Chinese. From all indication, he's the only person with an Amaya in Kuala Lumpur and lives in a different state than mine. It was while looking for international distributors on melco website, I came across one in Singapore. On his website, he mentioned his office in Malaysia, and that is this Chinese guy's shop!
One thing that's really bothering me is servicing and maintaining the machine, without the help of someone around. Is it easy to maintain? Can I fix it myself if something happens? I think you'll probably be a technician, not a salesman:-

>> I hope this information is helpful to you.
- It does, very much indeed. Thanks again!

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Dear Kamalzango,
Just so you know, I am a technician, a trainer, a consultant, a digitizer, a jokester, a husband, a father, a lover, a fighter, etc...

A quick note on digitizing.. Although the art of digitizing runs parallel with embroidery, it IS, in fact, a trade unto itself. You can learn how to draw a stitch in a matter of seconds but it can take months, even years, to become a proficient master of the art. That's not to say you can't make money in a short time but you probably could make the same money shopping the digitizing out to someone else and making your money on the embroidery.
If you are committed to learning digitizing, as I was, then you really should be comfortable with embroidery first so that you can understand why certain steps in digitizing are important.

Even though you live in Malaysia, you could still come to a training class at a Melco facility after purchasing software. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.
If you are willing to pay the travel and training expense, I'll come to Malaysia and train you myself. Anyone else want to go to Malaysia with me? How about it Rod??

To get the demo of software, you would have to talk with a salesperson and they would send you out a DVD disk. I've seen other software that you can download from certain websites but I don't believe Melco has anything like that as of yet.

I still say you should have a machine first. Learn embroidery and then learn digitizing. After you digitize a design for someone, you are going to want to sew it out first before giving it your final approval. When I first started digitizing, it wasn't uncommon for me to sew a design out, then make changes, then sew it out again, then make more changes, then sew it out again,..... Sometimes up to 10-15 times. I hope you get the idea.

An embroidery machine is like a car. There will be things you can do to service it like add gas and change the oil but if the engine falls out, you will have to bring it to a shop. With a embroidery machine, because of it's size, traditionally you have a tech visit the machine where ever it is located. And I've gone to some crazy places to work on a machine. (Isn't that right Rod??) If you have a mechanical aptitude, that will help but if you are going to really take it apart, you should have professional technical training. I do that too but it ain't cheap.

Glad I could be of help to you. I believe in the philosophy of Karma, "Do unto others before they do unto you". Uh, I mean.. "Do good things and good things will happen to you." I still, learn valuable information from all the wonderful folks who participate on this list.
As they say on TV, "Pass It On".

Ed

[TinaK]

Kamalzango~

I totally agree what Ed is telling you and seeing a digitized design on a screen is great but how it sews out is a different story!

I don't have Design Shop as I didn't want to spend that kind of money when I bought my Amaya so I went with a company called Embird which is a great digitizing software and to me is alot more powerful then the home embroidery machines digitizing software and alot less as well. There is a ton of online videos, books and groups that will help you learn the software and you can save the files in different formats if you need to. For me it was a good choice but will someday I am sure upgrade to Design Shop but just not anytime soon!

Embird does offer a 30 day free trial you can download and try out and I can send you a couple of training sites to look at to get you started if you would like as well just send me a Private Message and I will send them to you.

Here is Embirds website: www.embirdusa.com

If you can afford to get the best and that is what you want then I would do it...

Good Luck!

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Good point Tina.
I downloaded Embird software about 6 years ago. Although, I had no idea of where to start as back then I had no clue how digitizing worked. So the 30 days came and went and I got nothing accomplished.
That's a shame because I never gave Embird a second chance. I just wrote them off as being a home embroiderer's software.
Glad to know it works for you.

[kamalzango]

Hi everybody,

I am glad to tell u that I have downloaded embird and have started getting d hang of things!

As I mentioned in my first post, I needed a hoop as large as 25-30" for my application (rounded hats). But since the machine can only work with 20", and the embroidery must go round the whole hat, I decided to divide the design into 2, following these steps:

1. embroider each half of the hat separately as shown on pic 1 (http://rapidshare.com/files/204663564/illust.jpg - only 14kb)

2. join the 2 halves together as shown in pic 2

3. the result is what's shown in pic 3

Now my question is: what's everyone's opinion on how I could neetly align and join the parts together? I know it must show. But I wouldn't like a visible gap. What do you guys think?

Thanks once again for all ur inputs.

[kamalzango]

additional info:

the hat is about 23-25cm in diameter, and d embroidery covers d whole side of d hat!
so, 2 halves, each exactly 23-25cm (of course with additional space for the hooping). the design is therefore going to cover exactly 23-25cm as well. i'll then join them together.

the smiley face is just an illustration showing dat the edges of the design from each half need to be aligned with that of the other half. but the embroidely would actually cover the whole side of the hat once both are joined together.

I wish there was a way the machine could embroider on a 360 degrees hat!

thanks to you all!