New into the business

I know I am probably going to hear a lot of flack about this but I saw a demo of a brother machine and I did not like it. It seemed to get a lot of "birdsnests" under it. When I went to the demo, the class was very nice as were the people and what I did learn there was what I did not want in a machine. I suggest you do some research on your big investment of a machine. I did and found the one that suited my needs. Before anyone bashs me here I am just telling my honest opinion. Thanks

bashing??? nope i totally agree with debbie tajima tajima tajima, Do not buy a brother machine! im not saying theyre not good, but birdnesting ive been doing this for along time and only run tajima and barudan, and i have only seen maybe one birdnest in my whole time with these machines. Melco brother etc.. its a everyday occurrence.

well melissa,
honestly buy a used tajima, you will not be disappointed. as for supplies are concerned do not buy them off dealers. over priced and too expensive.

pm me ill give you all the advice you need to get started the right way

Tajima! Tajima! Tajima!

Barudan works too. However, I am not a fan of their single heads. I think Tajima makes a better single than barudan, and tajima is a little easier to run out of the box. However, either brand will never steer you wrong. Tajima is doing a promotional deal right now on New single head NEO2's ... I have 6 of them. They are great.

I run almost 400 heads at my shop. If you are looking at bigger machines, say 8 head and up go barudan, otherwise go tajima.

I have a Barudan and wouldn't trade it for any other. I will say that Tajima and Barudan are in a league of their own (IMHO) when it comes to embroidery machines. I would rate Toyota 3rd. Deb, please don't take it as a bash. It is just an honest opinion. :)

Also the poster from The Art of Design is a great digitiser. Give him a try when you have an opportunity.

Just remember, you get what you pay for in this business. Whether it be the machine or the supplies you use to run the machine. I always stay with quality materials such as thread, backing, needles and digitising.

Good Luck,
Glenn
Sew Fine Designs

Never heard of Bravo.

Melco and Amaya are basically the same machine. They are chinese made, and they boast that they are made in the US. NO ... They are assembled in the US. Kind of like your German Volkswagen is assembled in Mexico. lol.

You can never go wrong with Tajima .... They are a little extra money, but unbelievably worth it. Their support is Fabulous, the training is awesome.

As far as your centering a design on a shirt, you would set the machine once, and then it stays. You will need to hoop them all the same however, I suggest buying a hooping aid. or you can use pins, chalk, whatever works for you if you don't want to shell out the cash for a hooping station right away. Some machines have laser trace so it will trace out your design with a laser and you can see how it will appear in the hoop.

Hopefully that helps.

So, how did the demo go?? Nosey people want to know. They were too scared to ask, so I thought I would ask for them. :)

I also like Tajima.

For supplies that will depend somewhat on what type of thread you use. Like machines, most people will say they like what they use. I use Madeira poly. I've used Robinson Anton a bit but it didn't run as well. I prefer to order from from a supplier that is a one day ship (Madeira in PA for me) because when I order I usually need something quickly but that's just my schedule. Where are you located? If we know your location we can suggest specific vendors that are close to you. For example, I get backing from Emblematic in NJ but that won't help you if you are located in CA.

Three main things that I would do differently if I started again would be to purchase a hooping station with my machine (I use Hoop Master), a folding board (cheap) and a collection of stock thread. Initially Iwasted a lot on money on shipping when buying thread. Also, I have a lot of colors that are very close so I waste money keeping colors in stock because they are used for jobs even though some of these shades really aren't necessary.

i've used alot of threads before, and ill be honest, isacord for my machines are not so good.
anton thread is not as good as isacord. I've used coats thread thats actually pretty good a little pricey though. sulky frays. metro breaks. what im getting at is Madeira is the best.
i run some 10 year old tajimas at 850 with ,madeira and a good design and i have a thread break maybe once every 8 runs. go with madeira.
also use this if you have a job of 20 pcs, and you need a color that you dont have and you have a 12 or a 4 head even a 2 head. dont buy 2 cones 12 cones etc.. use a drill bit large one. spin the cone and make more cones out of 1 cone. thread is expensive and goes bad after awhile. so make multiple cones it works. pm me and ill show you a video how to do it with a drill. you dont need the cone winder!

I would say Tajima, as they have been in the industry for a long time and reliable. We have had Tajima Machines for over 20 years and they still run well.

In terms of supplies, Tajima would be able to assist giving you the various frames and the various equipment.

You will also need digitizing software where you can purchase Wilcom which I personally think is the best, or you can outsource the digitizing service, I have used a company called mambodigitizing.com which has a US person you can speak with and charges $2/1000 stitches. May make sense to outsource your digitizing service initially as from my experience the digitizing is what makes your embroidery look good and also its important that you have least amount of thread breakages when running production.

Hope that helps