Technical Difficulties with Embroidery Machine

Today started off pretty exciting for me. I pulled out my embroidery sewing machine, refreshed my memory on operating instructions and decided to embroider my Steem user name jluvs2fly on a piece of jean fabric that I could apply to a canvas tote bag.

I cut the piece of fabric, found some fusible webbing and ironed it onto the back and began to program my sewing machine.

I made sure that I had the right size needle and the proper color and type of thread. Sky blue of course.

Problem number one: I was following the instructions but I could not see the letters that I entered into the LCD panel on the machine. The trouble shooting guide said that the contrast button had been turned down. I finally found the contrast button which was hidden at the top of the machine and I was good to go. I chose the script letters because I thought that they were cute.

Problem number two: The bobbin thread broke so I replace it with some yellow thread since it would not be seen. Problem number 3: The top thread broke too, so I rethreaded the machine, replaced the yellow bobbin thread with the blue thread, cut off the J and started over again. Problem number 4: The fabric would not move with the needle and the whole thing bogged down. I had to pry the thread and paper from the feed dog. Oh, wait a minute! I forgot to remove the paper from the back of the fabric after I ironed it on! No wonder the machine was bogging down. Okay, problem solved. Let's get moving again. The J printed successfully and the L printed nicely, then the needle shifted to a new position and broke in two pieces!

Okay, it is obvious that I am not ready for prime time and that I need to practice on some scrap fabric until I get the hand of things again. It's been many years since I used this machine, but I wanted to personlize some things for my grandchildren. Oh well, I'll have to work this thing out.

The good news is that I do have some other needles but I am not sure if they are recommended for this fabric and the embroidery. I will re-read the manual and try this again in a couple of days. Tomorrow is my heavy art class day with pottery, charcoal drawing, yoga and Spanish. Where does the time go? I am too busy sometimes.

Have a good evening.