I have a commercial embroidery machine and we recently lost useability of the
digitizing programme I had. Watch that whatever you buy will work on subsequent
computers if you are spending a lot. Pulse designed for 32 bit computers will
NOT work on 64 bit !! The upgrade is a mere $5000. Pretty steep when it was
them that didn't consider future compatibilty. Wilcom offers similar features
and a similar price for a trade in. They really seem to be the biggest
commercial brands (in English speaking countries anyway)Having said that, there
is freebie stuff around e.g. Sofiesew and Thread. Both have strengths and
weaknesses. For a full commercial grade software, I-cliqq is pretty good value
for money, but it is still expensive for fully functional software rather than
limited size/ stitch numbers or rearranging existing designs. You can buy or
commission a lot of designs for the price of the software. If you do commission
a design, specify what textural finish you want or you will!
get satin stitch by default, which is not always appropriate. I know my
requirements a different from a domestic machine, but if you are doing costume
work you will also need to have options for underlay stitches and changing
density to account for differing fabrics. Some of the cheaper domestic programs
may not have many options.Feel free to contact me for any other information. I
hope to have my new software in the next week or so and may be able to take
digitizing commissions as soon as I am up and running. At least a fellow
costumer will have a better idea of authentic look than some off shore cheapie
firms.
Although it would be nice to do hand embroidery, realistically I have
too many other things on my schedule. For a while I toyed with the idea
of getting a high-end sewing/embroidery machine, but I already have two
perfectly good sewing machines and a huge price tag is a bit
intimidating. I am thinking of buying a Brother PE770, which is a
fairly inexpensive dedicated embroidery machine. It takes a flash drive
so I can import designs from my computer.
I want to do historic embroidery designs and I want to create or at
least customize my own. I'm used to using graphic design software (scan
editing and draw programs), but I know little about embroidery design
software. Any suggestions?
Fran
Lavolta Press
Books on making historic clothing
www.lavoltapress.com
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