Hi, I'm the Brother PE800 embroidery machine, and I basically print using thread. Seriously. I'm the only machine in the Makerspace with a touchscreen, and you can choose one of my built-in patterns, or bring your own (I accept .PES embroidery files) on a USB drive, and after you resize and position it, all you have to do is attach the embroidery hoop, thread me, put the foot down and hit the green button. I'll do the rest of the work (until it's time to change thread colors: that part is your job... every single time).
Supplies
I use a lot of thread in specific colors. Now, if you don't care about the color changes and are fine with embroidering the whole thing in a single color, you can just hit the green button immediately every time I pause to let you change thread colors. But I'm not terrible to thread, and you'll get used to it with some practice.
The Textile Makerspace has a full range of basic colors of embroidery thread. There's a number on the top of each spool that corresponds to the number that I'll give you for the color(s) I want you to thread me with. If you can't find an exact match, you can look for something close.
Tricks and tips
Fun fact: the bobbin thread color actually doesn't matter (unless you're using the built-in fonts), because there's just so many stitches with an embroidery that you can't see it (unlike with a regular sewing machine). What does matter is that it needs to be polyester thread (any color embroidery thread will do), or I'm probably going to jam.
If I run low on bobbin thread in the middle of an embroidery, don't panic: you can replace the bobbin and I'll pick up where I left off (or you can choose to go back a few stitches).
Fun facts
I was the big-ticket purchase on the first funding the Textile Makerspace ever received, from an anonymous alum.
Instructions
Embroidery pattern resources
- TurtleStitch: a drag-and-drop coding environment for creating algorithmic patterns; it won't output .pes files like we need, but you can convert the file format using embroidermodder.
- TurtleThread: a Python library for creating algorithmic patterns; can save as .pes.