I guess it could be said... better late than never :o)

It's been about two months since I trained Jane in Dallas, but according to the pictures she has been posting on Facebook she has been stitching up a storm.

I met Jane and Steve at ISS in Fort Worth last October and was thrilled in February when they called me and said that they were ready to move forward with the purchase of their new BRAVO.  What I find most fascinating about Jane is that she spent a year cleaning other peoples homes with the goal of raising enough extra money to invest in her embroidery machine.   Jane was prepped and ready for my arrival and eager to learn all that she could about her new investment and business opportunities.  

What a great, hospitable couple with a beautiful home in north Texas.    I look forward to my next trip to Dallas so I can stop in and see if Jane is ready for her next machine!

I've never claimed to be very good in geography, but as I travel as much as I do I have come to learn a lot about the mid-west and other parts of this great country.  My trip to Laredo Texas was certainly an experience to remember!    First of all... I didn't check my map before scheduling this training nor did I reserve a hotel room before I got there.   I know I know... duh!

Before I go on, I usually talk about my trainees in this blog, and Arturo and Julio were great students and I learned a few new words in Spanish during this training, but the trip there was certainly what I would call an adventure.

After driving south for 16 hours I ended up in quite literally the worst motel that I've ever stayed in.  The door plate was missing a few screws, there was mold above the shower, the walls looked like what you might find in a mechanic's shop with greasy fingerprints everywhere and the light bulbs were without fixtures.  If it weren't the last room for miles I certainly wouldn't have stayed, but it has given me good stories to tell about my travels. 

The hotel that Arturo set me up with in Laredo was the extreme opposite!  The building itself sat right on the US/Mexico border and was about 175 years old.   The time I spent in this hotel would have to be the most memorable ever!

Only in the mid-west could you find an embroidery shop in a farm supply store! 

Tami has been in business for many years and has been stitching on an old Melco EMC.   She has this reoccurring order that she has been doing on the EMC machine and it would take her 1 1/2 hours to sew, which only allowed her to get a few jackets done in a day.  With her new machine she has cut the time of stitching out this design down to 35 minutes.  This time saving is going to make a huge difference in Tami's production schedule.

Since Tami had some experience with embroidery before training began I decided that I would show her how to do micro-chenille.  What a great application that can only be done with the auto tension system on the Melco family of machines.   Tami was excited to learn something new and different that she could offer to her customers to set herself apart.

Rocker Patch

Recently I had someone interested in learning how to make Rocker Patches so I decided to make a short video to explain it to everyone. As you will see in the video learning to create rocker patches will help anyone with digitizing.  

McTees in Springview Nebraska

The scenic drive from Lincoln to Springview Nebraska is a bit long, at times boring, and really does nothing for the cell reception on my Verizon phone, but the drive north in my home state was well worth the trip.

James and Lori (both High School teachers)  purchased a screen printing and embroidery business in their small town in north central Nebraska and it is amazing the variety of jobs they have time to complete in their shop.   When they purchased their business they got two SWF Embroidery machines and a screen printing system, then as the opportunity presented iteself, they added a Melco machine to their shop.  Unfortunately for them, they didn't really know anyhing about the AMAYA and let it sit idle for nearly 6 months before we met in Kansas City at the DAX show earlier this month.

I spent a couple of days with the couple, starting out with going over their machine to make sure that was running properly and then proceeded to teach them how to run the machine.  Between their knowledge of embroidery and the ease of running the machine they were up to speed in no time.   I felt that the best part of the training was showing them how to use code sheets to make the best looking small letters ~ this is one part of each training that I really enjoy.  The amazement in peoples faces when we take small lettering and make just a few simple adjustments to transform the letters from yuck to wow makes my job worth it every time!

There is no doubt in my mind that James and Lori will continue to grow their business and be sucessful doing it and my explanation for this is simple.  They are great people, which it makes it easy to retain customers, but building on their client base will be easy for them.     Good luck and make lots of stitches for money!

One of the things I really love about my job is the great people I get to meet! This week I had the pleasure of spending two days in Albia, IA with Christy Luvstuen, her husband Doug and their daughter Jessica. Christy has been stitching on a Janome machine for about three years and after a year of research and a lot of conversations with Gary at Melco she made the leap to the BRAVO. Christy didn't find me on the Internet as a Bravo dealer (guess I need to do some work getting my website closer to the top of Google search), but she did make the right decision on the machine to buy and made the purchase through another dealer in Des Moines.

Christy doesn't just embroider, she also sews... a skill that I am always jealous of. Christy is in the process of making a doll and a quilt and showed me these great little bags she makes - the closure is made with a cut up tape measure. I am going to have to dig out my own sewing machine and give those bags a try, such a fun idea.

After the first day of training the family invited me to join them for dinner at Bogies Steakhouse in Albia. I have got to tell you that I had the best steak ever, and the atmosphere was great! If you are ever in south central Iowa, you will have to stop in and watch your steak being prepared. While there you can check out the deer on the wall. It is the largest whitetail ever shot, and it was shot by Christy and Doug's son.

After checking my email today it was a pleasure to see the following email forwarded to me from Gary at Melco.

"I want to thank you for everything you have done for me and especially thank you for sending Nancy, she is awesome.  My head actually hurts right now because I learned so much in the last two days.  She really knows what she is talking about and is a great teacher.  I felt very comfortable with her and just want you to know how very much I appriciate it."

Thanks for the kind words Christy!

Thread breaks

Stitching out a design can prove to be frustrating when experiencing an abundance of thread breaks, so in an effort to help my customers here are a few things to keep in mind.

1 - Are you getting thread breaks on all needles or is it isolated to a particular needle? 

• If you are getting thread breaks equally on multiple needles the problem could be from:
•  poor hooping or incorrect stabilizer
• the bobbin is in correct - make sure that when it is in the machine it unwinds counter clockwise
•  the presser foot could be too high
•  a poorly digitized design
•  a burr on the needle plate
• an incorrect setting in AMAYA OS - make sure you are stitching on auto instead of standard. 
• least likely... your hook timing could be off.

• If just certain needles are giving you problems start by:
•  checking the thread path and make sure the thread isn't getting stuck under the cone or wrapped around the thread tube
• using good thread (I like Iris polyester thread from EnMart)
•  make sure the thread is coming off the cone smoothly
•  the machine is threaded properly
•  the needle is installed properly with the thread guide to the front.  
• If everything looks okay with each of these things then try putting in a new needle... sometimes that does the trick.

To be honest, the biggest problem I see when people are experiencing a bunch of thread breaks is a poorly digitized design, especially when stitching small lettering or after re-sizing a design.  If I have done your training, remember that I suggest that you not make a satin stitch less than 1.5 mm wide. You can check the length of the stitches with the ruler tool in any level of DesignShop.  If you are not sure if the design is the problem, the easiest thing to do is load "1day.ofm"; this design is well digitized and has all three stitch types.   This simple test will let you know if the problem is with your machine or with your digitizing.

Star Graphics

When it comes to energy I think I've met my match.  Jerry just purchased a new embroidery machine to replace his EMT that has been giving him problems lately, he is also waiting for his laser engraver to arrive, he is adding both these machines to his screen printing business, news paper business, off set printing business and Jerry also publishes pdf books online, has a youtube channel and oh... I did mention that Jerry is 70 years old and he runs his businesses by himself?  There wasn't a lot that I could teach Jerry about embroidery, he's got me on experience, but it was great teaching him about his new machine.

Some of my friends think I have boundless amounts of energy, but I can only hope that in 30 years I can still have as much energy and drive for life as Jerry does.  

You can watch some of Jerry's video's on youtube.

The building next to Star Graphics burned down last September and Jerry caught it on video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6-wVlArSi0&list=UU7m-J31aAcBF2V4DSD_gpyw&index=1&feature=plcp

Here is a video of the old machine running a design - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgd-wwZj_0w&list=UU7m-J31aAcBF2V4DSD_gpyw&index=6&feature=plcp  I hope he posts one soon of his new machine running a design!  It's amazing to watch how differently the machines sew.

2nd time around...

The training that I did earlier this week is unique for me in that it's the 2nd round of training that I did on the same machines.  You see, in August 2010 I went to Kansas City to train Sheila on two brand new machines, she recently sold the machines and gave the new buyer my name as a trainer.  The girls (two AMAYA machines) have been split up but are both now residing in Poplar Bluffs, MO. 

One of the girls is finding a home with Tanya and Dale.  Tanya is looking forward to making lots of fun and creative gifts for her grandchildren.  With all the great designs out there for kids, this should prove to keep Tanya stitching for hours on end.  I can't wait to see what creative things she comes up with.

The other machine is now residing at Stinson Press.  Stinson Press is a multi-facated business offering screen printing, banners, business forms along with off-set printing and a mailing service.  I'm thinking that this machine is going to see a lot more logo work than her sister. 

It was a pleasure working with Tanya, Dale, Robert and Kelly.  It was nice going down and meeting the crew, and it's great that they see the value in getting the proper training to run their machines.  Melco machines are not hard to run, but it is nice when someone is able to help you with getting up and running and getting the background on hooping, stabilizers, needles, etc to keep the machines running smooth and the frustration to a minimum.

My wish for "the girls" is that they keep running smoothly and making lots of stitches.

Diggin My Threads/M.Y. Embroidery

One of the hardest things about starting a new business is trying to figure out what to name it.  Mindy from Diggin' My Threads or M.Y. Embroidery is no exception.  You see, Mindy's husband Dave owns an Excavation company thus the name Diggin' My Threads but Mindy's initials are MY so the name M.Y. Embroidery is also a perfect name for a company.   Leave a comment below if you want to help Mindy come up with a final decision on the name.

Dave's excavation company was needing some embroidered caps to give out to customers, so Mindy went out and got some quotes on embroidered caps.  The company that she went to was charging $25 per cap for an order of 12 caps and all they were allowed to put on the caps were the company name in an arc across the front of the cap.   The thought of shelling out $300 for 12 caps was a little rediculous, so Mindy decided to look into what it would cost to purchase her own embroidery machine and make her own caps.  By the end of training we had digitized a design for the cap which included lettering on the front and their logo on the side.  We were pleased with how the design looked and  as I left Mindy was ready to stitch out the other 11 caps that she needed. 

People ask me all the time what to charge for embroidery.  Now, I for one certainly think that we as embroiderers need to value our skills, investments and time, but I also believe that you need to keep your prices reasonable to keep your customers happy.   So, the moral of the story is.... if someone is charging you too much for embroidery - give me a call.  :o)  I'd be happy to hook you up with an embroidery machine and get you started making your own stitches for money.

Dakota Expressions

It has been a busy week... I am a couple days late in writing about the training I did with Dan and Robin in South Dakota. Dan has certainly got his hands full of work in the basement of the couple's home. Their new embroidery machine is an addition to the pad printer and laser engraver that they have already been making money with. I am impressed with the attention to detail that Dan and Robin have; they certainly are putting out quality products!

On day 1 of training I worked with Dan and he had a lot of questions about digitizing (as many people do). He had sent a few logos off to a digitizing company in India and as we started stitching these designs out he saw the value in good digitizing. As I started teaching about digitizing and the importance of underlay, proper density and proper stitch types he began to understand why some companies charge more for the service. It is true that you get what you pay for!

The company that I use for digitizing is www.artworksource.com and if you would like to check out their services you can email them at service@artworksource.com and give them my code Nancy2000 and they will send you a coupon code to get 1 design digitized for free!

Patch Pals

I didn't get to meet Mackenzie this week because she is off to college these days, however in the basement of her parents' house in eastern Iowa there is a full blown business that was started because she was diagnosed with severe amblyopia when she was three.

To find out more about amblyopia or Mackenzie click here!

You may be wondering what Mackenzie or amblyopia have to do with embroidery... well, I'm going to tell you.   Cathy and Bill came up with an ingenious idea years ago when they were faced with reality of making their daughter wear an eye patch most of the day every day... make it fun!  They began looking for a way to decorate the eye patches and found embroidery to be an ideal solution.  For years the patches were being sent to a local embroidery shop to be embroidered.  This past week I had the pleasure of meeting Bill and Cathy and working with them to bring the embroidery portion of the business in house.   The use of their embroidery machine is going to give them more control of the lead time on the patches. 

If you have been following my posts you will remember the link that I posted about Marks book - "The Spirit of an American Entrepreneur" -  That spirit was alive in Cathy and Bill!   

One of my recent trainees sent me an email with a scanned image of a business card and was having trouble remembering how to use the vector conversion tool in Design Shop.  This doesn't work for those of you who have Design Shop Lite or Design Shop without the Vector Option.  The vector option is available in Package B when purchasing a BRAVO.   As with many things, there are more ways to accomplish the same thing, but this is my personal favorite.

Limitless Lasering

Traveled to the metropolis of Milan Minnesota this week to teach Randy and his son how to use their new embroidery machine. Randy isn't just learning about embroidery though.... Embroidery is going to add to the product offerings of his sign vinyl, sublimation and engraving business. The next step in the new business is going to be direct to garment printing. Sounds like Randy is well on his way to building a one stop shop for anything printed.

Randy raised his 4 kids while running a carpet laying business and he decided that laying carpet is getting a bit harder on him with each passing year. Randy also has several head of cattle, and now that the kids are gone he is having to take care of chores by himself. He began thinking it's time to change gears and cash in the cattle for some printing equipment that he can run without worrying about the weather (and believe me, it was freeeeezng in MN this week).

Maximum Promotions

I had a great time teaching Vesna and Alex at Maximum Promotions in Sioux Falls how to run their new embroidery machines. Maximum Promotions is a fairly large company that has gone national with it's flag business. As a Nebraskan, they were eager to show me the flag that they made for the Huskers. The 60'x80 flag that you can see in the attached photo has made by hand by Vesna and her team in the Applique department. Vesna and Alex are going to be instrumental in helping Maximum Promotions bring the embroidery production in house, giving them more control over price and lead times. Another benefit to having the machines in house is that they can create a single piece for their sales force to take out on sales calls. This is a very effective strategy in selling embroidered goods. If you haven't tried this yet, give it a shot!

Mark Nelsen, the owner of Maximum Promotions is also an author. As a fellow entrepreneur he recognized in me what he calls "a gift". The gift being the Spirit of the American Entrepreneur - which also happens to be the title of the book he wrote about those of us who choose to open our own business. I have read the book - it's free and it's online here.

Please take a couple of hours to read the book, especially if you feel like you also have the "gift".

Holy Coats!

Who wouldn't love to land a huge account?  Diane at Decorative Designs by Diane is working on an order of coats - in fact she has already done over 5000 coats for this one customer, and they are also needing caps, shirts, bags and other items.  MONEY!!!!

Diane has been embroidering for several years on a Happy machine and recently purchased her first AMAYA machine.  There was a few times today that she mentioned that she wasn't always happy with her Happy, so I hope that the time we spent in training will give her the knowledge base to appreciate the auto-tension system of her new machine. 

Diane's family experienced a rough month of January this year including the loss of her job as an ER nurse after 20 plus years.  Nursing full time while building her embroidery business was a great way for Diane and her husband to support their family, but after the loss of her nursing job the family is still going strong with several clients including the money client with the thousands and thousands of coats.

Just like Diane, many people purchase embroidery machines and start building their business while working a full time job.    Not only is it possible to have a part time job working for yourself to pay for those extra things like a trip to Hawaii (yah, that's what I'm saving my embroidery money for this year), it is possible to build a solid business that can provide the income you need in case you find yourself in a situation like Diane.

Kansas Juvenile Correction Complex (KJCC)

Ok, so I got dispatched to the KJCC in Topeka today to do a training.  As it's name implies... it's a jail for juvies.  The walk through the halls of the high security side of the facility was a bit intimidating, but when I got to the work study building I was welcomed into a program with a hard working bunch of kids.  The work study program purchased a used Melco Amaya XT machine to replace a 3 head Brother machine for use in the textiles program. 

Of course we set to work on making sure that the facilitators and students alike got familiar with their new embroidery machine - which actually was easy work for me!  The kids were drawn to the ease of opening designs in AMAYA OS and selecting colors to stitch ~ their enthusiasm was infectious.  They were familiar with the ins and outs of embroidery, so moving from the Brother to the AMAYA was like upgrading from DOS to Windows! 

As we sat and waited for the designs to stitch I had the opportunity to see the other things that were going on in the program.  These kids are learning how to be creative and make stadium seats, draw string back packs, regular back packs, duffle bags, computer bags, eReader cases and more.  As a non-sewer myself I made a comment to one of the boys that I was working with that I was impressed with a bag that another student was making.  He replied with "yah, but after the first couple it gets boring" however, the young man working on the bag said "no, it never get's boring because you just need to keep coming up with new ideas for the bags".  This is so true - the young man had designed many bags and his pride in them showed through.

Now, these kids are in juvie for a reason (I don't know the reason and the reason is really insignificant to me) but they are using their time in the correctional facility to learn a skill, which I admire.  They are making anywhere from $.25 to $1.25 per hour, so they may not come away with a lot of money, but I hope that they come away with the skill and pride to make something of themselves one day. 

Who knew embroidery could be so inspiring?

Layette

If you are in the Dallas area and have need some high end monogrammed kids gifts be sure to stop by Layette!

After the first day of training I went to dinner with Ailsa and her 5 year old son Cam.  What a cutie that boy is!  I just have to say that Ailsa is doing a great job raising a respectful and outgoing son.  While at the restaurant I was impressed when Cam told the waitress what he would like for dinner (a challenging enough thing for a young person to do).  What I was more impress with is how Ailsa is instilling in Cam the importance of making eye contact with people when he speaks to them - I think the waitress was impressed with Cam as well.  Kudos to you Ailsa!


I met Ailsa (the founder and owner of Layette) at the ISS Show in Fort Worth in October 2011 while demonstrating the BRAVO embroidery machine in the EnMart booth.   Ailsa decided to purchase her machine from me because she didn't know anything about embroidery and wanted the two days of on-site training that I offer when I sell a machine.

I wish Ailsa and her great friends the best of luck in their new endeavor!

All work and no play...

After not near enough training I went to Florida to run the Disney World Half Marathon. My goal this year was not to beat my time from last year, but to enjoy the run and to meet new people, and I did... both. Early in the run (maybe mile 2) I saw the back of a shirt that said "I run for mental health" - so I started a conversation with the young lady by saying "I run for mental health too". I of course meant stress relief, but it turns out that Rachel, Rob, Daniel and Hannah have created a team to raise money for the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. They are such a nice family and I ended up seeing them off and on throughout the race. I am going to follow the family on Facebook and might just look into becoming part of their team! For more information on the family check out their website at

I ended up finishing in 2 hours and 29 minutes. 7 minutes slower than last year, but like I said, I didn't really train much this year and I had a great time.

While in Florida I also had a chance to enjoy a slice of key lime pie at Bahama Breeze, pigged out on some rock shrimp and checked out some alligators in the wild.