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.