from the editor

Greetings Machine Embroidery Friends!
Are there times when you want to throw the embroidery machine out the window and start over? Do you often sit at the machine perplexed as to why things are going wrong? Do you thread and rethread the machine only to have the same problem happen over and over again? Does your software give you grief? If you have a question, comment or tip about machine embroidery, please let us know at info@cmemag.com. We’ll do our best to answer your questions and provide insight from industry experts whenever possible. While we can’t guarantee a personal response to your inquiry, those of general interest will be published in an issue of Creative Machine Embroidery and/or featured in upcoming e-Update newsletters. Please include your full name and mailing address with each correspondence so you can receive a free gift if your answer is selected for publication.

Please note if you wish for your name to be kept anonymous. We will not publish mailing addresses or share them with third parties.

The following question was selected from a reader looking for an expert answer to her sewing dilemma. With this e-Update newsletter, we look to one of the leading embroidery companies for their words of wisdom. Read on to learn some tricks of the trade from Hoop It All: www.hoopitall.com.

Dear CME,
I constantly have thread breakage while embroidering designs. I’ve purchased new thread, thinking that old thread was brittle and of poor quality, and it still breaks in the middle of my designs. What’s happening and how do I fix it?
~ Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,
The higher the sewing speed, the greater the heat is that builds up on the needle. Materials with a low temperature melting point may have “melt residues” that stick to the needle. These residues come from binders in the thread and fabric, and the residue sticks to the eye and the needle shaft, causing thread to drag, bind, shred and break.

Solutions: Use special coated needles, a larger needle eye, and smoother thread and/or thread lubricants.

To reduce the size of the hole punched in the fabric and provide easy passage of the embroidery thread (especially with thick embroidery threads and metallic threads), use the smallest size needle consistent with the thread size. Select a smooth thread. Check it by passing it between your fingers. If the thread passes smoothly through your fingers, it will pass through the guides, tension disks and needle eye without heat build-up. A rough thread causes heat build-up in the needle.

If using a Teflon-coated or other “cool” needle, break-in the needle for about 50 cm before finally using it on light-colored materials, so that the slight amount of Teflon abraded doesn’t impair the quality of the end product.

Select a larger eye needle without having to use a larger size needle. The large eye can accommodate a wider range of thread sizes without increasing the thickness of the needle. Extra-large, long eye needles make for easier threading.

To keep the needle cool and free of “melt residue” from the thread and /or fabric, we recommend the use of our unique Lube a Thread. It applies a very thin film of silicone coolant to the thread as it passes through the 1⁄2” applicator, before passing through the needle.

If all of the above suggestions fail, then slow the machine to a lower speed if possible. When embroidering on dense materials, such as ball caps, 600 SPM is the maximum speed suggested.
~ Hoop It All

join in!

Creative Machine Embroidery is now on MySpace! Visit www.myspace.com/creativemachineembroidery and check out our page, participate in our blogs and view our photos. Become a friend and learn about exclusive special offers and opportunities. And meet fellow machine embroidery enthusiasts along the way!

good cause

On April 25, 20% of all sales at Embroidery.com will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Visit www.embroidery.com to get involved and make a purchase that really counts.

In this short video segment, Jenny interviews Darin Andersen, founder of Embroidery.com, about the Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser. She also interviews Jennifer and Madison Seamons about the disease and why Madison, who has Cystic Fibrosis, is positive about her future.

let us know

Do you purchase embroidery designs from our secure site: www.sewnshop.com? Are you a big fan of our exclusive free downloads? Let us know your thoughts so we can keep bringing you what you want. Please take a few minutes to fill out the form, and add any additional information in the "Comments" section. Share your input now!

order back issues & original designs

Looking for a back issue of CME? In addition to CME's original embroidery designs, you also can purchase copies of past subscriber issues, and past newsstand-only issues of Quilting & Embroidery, Paper & Embroidery and Holiday Embroidery on our secure shopping site at www.sewnshop.com. For phone and other ordering options, click here.

subscribe & win!

Thank you for subscribing to our CME e-Update newsletter. To show our appreciation, each month we randomly select a winner among our subscribers to receive a special embroidery-related prize. This month it's a Control-A-Twist Adjustable Spool Pin Thread Guide from Hemingworth: www.hemingworth.com.

If you're already a subscriber, you'll automatically be entered in the drawing. Congratulations to kokochrispy, the winner of Brass It Up HotFix shapes from Kandi Corp.

Sound good? Be sure to tell your embroidery-loving friends to subscribe to our e-Update newsletter so they'll have a chance to win each month, too!

The CME e-Update is a free email newsletter. Click here to review our privacy policy.
Creative Machine Embroidery magazine is published by CK Media, Inc.,
741 Corporate Circle, Suite A, Golden, CO 80401.
Copyright © 2008 CK Media. All rights reserved.