Sew What Pro Archives - Page 3 of 5

Print it!

Posted by Rosemary on April 14, 2014

It’s a rainy day in Alabama. I love a good ole rainy day, but we seem to have them every Monday which gets old because Mondays are hard enough. That, and the fact that little Maggie does not like to go to the restroom out in the rain, which makes for an interesting day when it’s raining and the back yard is flooded. Who can blame her? Here is a photo of her last Friday on a dry day. She’s a Lab trapped in a little furry body. She loves to dig and bark at every bird, squirrel, bee and mosquito she sees. This was taken 5 minutes before we were to leave town Friday…. Needless to say we were delayed.

Blog readers…Pay attention to the “ad buttons” on the right! These are a few of my favorite places or products. I blogged about Pic Monkey recently, which is a fun editing photo program I use a lot. “New” to the blog are Southern Homes & Gardens, which is a fabulous home & garden store here in Montgomery. SH&G is owned by some family friends (or some friends’ family) and they are selling a lot of items found in their store online now. Check it out! I’ve been discussing a giveaway with SH&G so stay tuned for that too.

Now, pay close attention to the CARBONITE button! Being in the web business with digital products, if I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it 2,356 times {and usually on a weekly basis} from customers…. “MY COMPUTER CRASHED AND I LOST EVERYTHING!!!!!!!” Most of these emails are urgent and dramatic b/c said customer has just lost thousands of dollars worth of digital embroidery files! Applique Cafe now has the Your Account feature where you can log in and access any purchases you’ve made since 11/8/11. However, this system is not foolproof! There are also like 2,356 applique websites out there now. It may take you a while to email them all or to log in to access those designs you spent your hard earned money on!

There are a variety of options depending on how many computers you have and if you are a business or just a home user like most people. Click on the link and check it out! You can also try it free which is always good. We’ve been using it for years! It’s money well spent.

PRINT IT!! This is not rocket science and I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know. However…. I have been using this feature a lot lately so I thought I’d share. Old age maybe?? Do you ever wonder how big to make a monogram or where to put it? As you all know, I use Monogram Wizard Plus and Sew What-Pro software and both allow you to print what you are working on which is GREAT.

Below is Sew What-Pro.

And Monogram Wizard Plus.

I’ve done several “polo” type shirts this week, so I formatted the monogram in MWP as best as I could (meaning I guessed on size), then printed a copy of it and cut it out to lay on the shirt. This helps me to see if my size is right, and it also helps with placement! Sorry these pics are a little fuzzy. I guess all the rain has my camera fogged up.

I’m also doing 5 towels for graduation gifts. These are for guys going off to college, so we decided to do their initials straight across and I used MWP “Library” font. I wanted to make sure this was going to look right, so I guestimated the size of the initials and printed it so I could make sure it would look right.

Here’s the finished towel! Looks great!

Again, not rocket science, but I thought I’d share in case you ever get in a bind or are undecided on a monogram or design! I also discussed recently how printing your design when trying to cover an old monogram helps out too. You can read that post HERE!

Have you noticed anything new on Applique Cafe? Yes, Easter designs are 1/2 off! There are also a few new buttons on my website. I am constantly looking over my website and making sure it’s as user friendly as possible, and not confusing, and “neat” looking. Like my designs, I like to keep things SIMPLE. I added a few buttons to help better navigate to those important areas ~ YOUR ACCOUNT (your purchases saved under your email address), GET NEWS (subscribe to our newsletter which goes out usually once per month with new design and sale info) and of course MY BLOG! That’s where you are now! Check it out!

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, How To, Software | Tagged: Tagged With: Applique Cafe, Monogram Wizard Plus, Sew What Pro

Sew What Whaaa???

Posted by Rosemary on April 10, 2014

Today I have been dreaming of summer. The weather has been glorious and I long for the days of NOT getting up at 6:30 to get the kids off to school. I dream of no homework, packing snack or lunches, waking up with no where to be, and taking the kids to the pool every other day if they want to go. 6 weeks!!! I’m taking bets of how long it will take me to complain about the 100+ degree temps and the fact that the kids are driving me nuts! 🙂

If you were on Facebook today then you hopefully liked my post of this A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E t-shirt from Sassy Kid Blanks. This is our Lollipop Trio design with bright, fun and adorable fabrics! Melissa does a great job with the blanks, but she also sends me photos from time to time of my designs that she has sewn! Love….

Y’all…. I have been pushing Sew What-Pro for YEARS!! It’s simple to use and it’s affordable (ONLY $65). What else do you need to know? While dreaming of summer today, I’ve also been working on my website and blog and newsletter trying to tweak things here and there to make shopping and browsing easier but also helpful and informative. Well…. I stumbled upon some videos from the S & S Computing website and my life may be changed regarding Sew What-Pro. Helllooooo TUTORIALS!! I watched a few of them, and the 2 that caught my eye were…..

Adding “fabric” to your applique design on screen. Granted there aren’t a ton of choices and it looks like digital fabric of course, but it’s a pretty cool feature if you are trying to pick out colors or visualize fabric.

Also… I knew about the View Album Icons feature, which shows your font folder and what’s inside on the right as shown below. BUT… what I did not know is that if you add the first letter and move it to the left of your work area, THEN click the ICON button on the toolbar, AND click Alphabet Mode in the font folder on the right… you can click on the rest of the letters you need and SWP will place them in a row for you! You still might have to arrange them and space them a little, but the old way I was doing it, it piled all of the letters on top of one another and then you’d have to separate and arrange them! GENIUS!!!! This is a huge time saver! After you’ve arranged them, then you can go in to EDIT, and JOIN THREADS to make it all 1 step and thread color.

Check out the VIDEOS and I will too, and let’s all figure out what else is FABULOUS about Sew What-Pro!! I am so glad that I have started selling it and have enjoyed answering questions and sharing this great and inexpensive program!! It’s perfect for beginners and old timers like me! Now I have even more reasons to recommend it to my applique friends! Update: I forgot to mention – watch the Pull Compensation video FOR SURE!! I had no idea…

Are you on Instagram? I love IG for many reasons. I used to love Facebook, but scrolling through all of the ads and blog posts people want me to read (not to mention the cray cray things people post), I love IG more. Granted I still like Facebook and spend wayyyy too much time on there, but IG is great for JUST photos! I like to post on there the random things I’m working on in my sewing room! It’s not all Applique Cafe designs. I still take customer orders, so I monogram a lot and do all sorts of things. Here are a few photos of what I did today….

This is a C-U-T-E picnic blanket from none other than Target. It folds and zips up so it’s easy to tote. This is for a friend for her friend’s wedding gift. Hopefully these people are not reading my blog. I used our Paw Prints design (4×4 on each side – right one I flip flopped for a mirror image in SWP). The font is Monogram Wizard Plus “Library” font and I narrowed up the letters so they would be tall and big. These folks are Auburn fans! #wareagle

I also monogrammed this HAT today and I used my fast frames. Several followers on IG asked for a blog post or tutorial on how to do this, so I will work on that asap! Font: MWP Cotillion (Fishtail)

I also had a friend bring me a couple of shirts to do, and for this one she wanted to match both of the shorts shown. I happened to have the orange fabric, so I used that and tied in the green with the accents of the FISH design. This is actually our Two Fish design, and I used the 6×10 file and deleted the top fish! That left a fish that fit nicely in my 5×7 hoop and I did enlarge it a little after I put it ON my machine. {Most machines will shrink or enlarge 10-20%} We may offer this as a single fish design and might come up with a girly version too. Did I mention that I edited the design in Sew What-Pro?

Lastly, my friend asked me to do the Cool Dog on this gray t-shirt. She specifically said use red and navy, so I pulled these fabrics together and it turned out cute. I love red on gray!

In case you missed it, I will be at Ruthie’s Notions down in Baker, FL on Friday/Saturday May 2-3. I rode down there yesterday and spent several hours with Ruthie and am excited ~~and extremely nervous~~ about this class! Ruthie is a Babylock dealer and sells tons of “notions” and all of the fabulous Babylock machines. My machine is a Brother PR650 and it was basically the same as the Babylock. I believe they are manufactured by the same folks. Anywho, if you are interested in learning about applique and embroidery and are in the area or willing to travel, check out the details HERE!

If you have suggestions of topics I could cover, please comment or email me! My target audience is a beginner, or someone who’s just learning about embroidery & applique. I plan to also discuss starting or growing your embroidery business (which I have never taught before). This is the longest class time-span I’ve ever taught, so I have a lot of work to do! I’ve already had someone email me with ideas so if you have any, please let me know ~ rosemarygulledge@appliquecafe.com or comment! THANKS!!

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, Design, Software | Tagged: Tagged With: Applique Cafe, Instagram, Monogram Wizard Plus, Sew What Pro

Embroidery Software and Fabric

Posted by Rosemary on March 14, 2014

Happy ~~Thursday~~ Friday! Sometimes it takes me a day or two to get a post up… I am so excited to post about a “new” product I am now selling on the website!! No, not all of the cute and simple applique designs even though I AM excited about selling those too. I am now selling the wonderful, affordable, not really new, but easy-to-use embroidery software I have been recommending to anyone who asks or will listen for the past several years. SEW WHAT-PRO!

What do I use it for? Mainly I use it for merging a name or initials with an applique design. An example is below. I formatted the name “andrew” in Monogram Wizard Plus (font is Kazoo). I save it to my computer. I open SWP and OPEN the new fish design and then MERGE in the saved name. I then arrange it all and center the whole design and then put it on my machine to sew! There is a lot more you can do with SWP, but that’s my main use for it.

ALSO, I use it even when I’m just sewing an applique design with NO NAME. I like to *SEE* what I am sewing on my computer screen, so I open all of my files in SWP so I can see them. You can click on the thread chart on the right and see which step is next! You can also use SWP to delete parts of a design. A lot of people also use it to merge bought embroidery fonts together. When you buy embroidery fonts on the internet (NOT using a monogram software such as Monogram Wiz Plus), each letter is it’s own file, so you have to merge the letters together to form a name or initials. SWP can do that!

Please check it out on my website (Sew What-Pro) if you are looking for software such as this! It’s only $65 and it’s the best $65 I’ve ever spent. There is more info on the listing and also a manual you can download to look over.

I had several people ask me where this Footprint design came from from a previous post. I did this design on some burp cloths for a local ministry so the design was sent to me. Thank you to my blog reader who reported where the design can be found! It looks like it’s part of a set, but maybe you could email the website and just get this design? You can find it HERE. (ps designs are a little pricey compared to American sites?)

Now on to FABRIC! Last weekend the fam traveled to Destin, FL for a soccer tournament for my middle child. We normally take a route which leads us through Troy (AL), around Elba and someway here and there we end up at the beach. Well, there was road construction somewhere near Elba and we ended up NOT going the way we had planned. When I realized we were heading towards Opp, AL, I got excited b/c TJ’s Fabrics is in Opp! I had not been through there in a long time and was overwhelmed by all of the beautiful fabric that has now taken over the store! Last time I was there 1/2 the store was fabric and 1/2 was gifts and drug store type items. This time, fabric was everywhere!! Everything is arranged by colors and chevrons and I could have spent all day there had the kids and hubs not been waiting in the car. Lucky for you, they have an awesome website so if you aren’t in Alabama or traveling through the area, you can order online. If you ARE traveling to the beach (Destin, Panama City Beach, Seagrove/Seaside, etc) then DETOUR!! Plug it in the GPS and stop by, and tell TJ I said “HI”!! 🙂

My selfie for 2014! I will let the pictures speak for themselves…..

See what I mean? This is just HALF of the store! They also have a studio room (right side of photo) where they do classes and quilting and all that. Oh, you can still get a prescription filled there too! 😉