getting started with embroidery

Hi Andrew, welcome to the board.

Its great to know that you guys are trying to expand your business from prints to embroidery. Doing embroidery is not such a big hassle when you have basic knowlege or have links to a person who know embroidery well. You can learn the concepts of fabric types / threads / needles / stablizers / etc very quickly after some experiments. There is however a steep learning curve of digitizing. Digitizing is an art, that re-presents the quality of the design itself. A poorly digitized file will result in a untidy embroidery.

I would suggest you buy a machine that has link to someone who could give to good knowledge of sewing embroidery designs on different types of fabrics. Without that it would be somewhat to learn the basic concepts of needle and thread types.

I am going to write and put some articles on our site soon. I hope they help all those newbies.

Let me know if you need any further help.

As far as the machine itself, buying used machines is not a bad way to go. You can get factory refurbished machines from some of the manufacturers and they usually come with warranty although it is not as long as the new ones. Buying versus leasing, there is little difference. Most of the finance companies only leave a buy out of $1 or maybe $100 because they want you to keep the machine. They don't want you to turn it in at the end of the lease like you would a car. The only difference may be writing off the payment n the lease versus taking the deprciation of the machine itself. That is a question btter suited for your accountant. Ours told us to go ahead and buy our machine.

I would talk to several sales people, but remember, they are sales people. You can get a lot of information about the machines from them, but you have to wade through a little BS to get it all sorted out. As per my standard response, try and catch an SGIA or ISS or similar trade show near you. All the manufacturers will be there and they will all be happy to tell you why thier machine is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Hope this helps a little.

harofreak, If your boss is looking for the best machines you need to talk to someone with Tajima. You all are probably looking for something with at least 6 heads. We run (2) 6 head Tajimas. They are the best machines you can buy and they have a good lease program with a low buyout cost.

Software is a personal thing. I use the Melco Design Shop Pro+ and really like it. However that is the only program I have ever used. I would get a demo version from several companies and try them out. That way you can see what works best for you. What I like, you might hate, and vice versa.