Change

For a long time now, I've been considering changing to an embroidery machine with  even more needles.  I've been saving up for it for several years.

Part of the reason I didn't make the change was because I just didn't know what to get. 

The "logical" upgrade is the bigger Brother machine,  but I didn't really want that.  I don't know really know why.   I kept looking at a couple of alternates, but I wasn't sure, and kept coming back to the perceived reliability of Brother, and that Brother really is the most common multi needle for home embroiderers.

I'd been looking at machines made by a Japanese brand called Happy, on and off.   At one point,  possibly before I bought my 6 needle Brother, I thought I'd go for their 7  needle machine.  I chickened out, and bought Brother. Don't get me wrong, My machine is fine,  it's a good machine, easy to use.  A few things I'm frustrated with,  but it's the nature of the beast.    

There is only one supplier of Happy machines in the UK, and they are based in Manchester.  I thought I'd go and visit them to look at their machines " in the flesh", so I could make a proper decision.

And then it was Lockdown.

And then I didn't do much embroidery,  I concentrated on sewing clothes etc.   My Brother machine was rarely used.     I kept saving in my "multi needle" account, squirrelling away the proceeds from Ebay and Facebook sales,  putting in my birthday money,  putting in my share of the "for hobbies" money.

Then a few weeks ago, after I'd done a couple oof bits of embroidery,  I  decided I'd look again at getting a bigger machine.  If not now, when?

I looked at the Brother 10 needle, and just couldn't make myself spend the money, not even on a used one.

And then I saw a post offering a newish Happy machine for sale.    I read up on Happy, and looked at what the newer machine offered.    I liked what I read,  and I thought about buying it.  I dithered a little (would I really use it?), and then I decided I'd buy it.   In my searches loking for sold items (on various platforms and groups), it seemed very rare, unless it came from a hard commercial environment.   

I messaged the seller.

And I was too late.

It did galvanise me somewhat.   I spent quite some time searching and researching,  considering and discounting older machines,  and then I made my decision.  It would be a Happy,  it would be that model, and it would be soon.

Spurred on by my decisiveness, I started to work on my embroidery files, so that everything would be ready when I (eventually) got my new machine.   I've been through this before, and I knew how much work was involved and how long it takes.     What does that mean?

Slip over this if you don't have a head for detail. 

Well, different manufacturers use different file types for their machines.   I originally used a Janome single needle machine, and the files were all .jef.    When I moved to Brother,  I had to obtain .pes versions of my many thousands of embroidery design.  These usually arrive in zip files and need to be extracted and filed (and then catalogued).  Happy machines use another format, .dst,  so I need to go through the process again.

When I say thousands of files,  I mean thousands of files.    Of course some designs have just 1 file,  or a couple of  files if there are different sizes.     At the other end of the scale, there are the many alphabets and fonts that I own.   Let's say I have an alphabet with 26 letters, upper case, 26 letters lower case, 10 digits and, say  8  punctuation shapes.  That alphabet may come in 5 sizes.   So, that makes  350 individual files just for 1 alphabet.

Many of the lovely designers send zip files which contain all formats in them. This means that, for many of my designs, I already had the files available, I just needed to extract them and file them sensibly ready for cataloguing.      I'm very organised and methodical when it comes to data, so I started working through each designer that did this.

Another set of designers don't supply every format, but its possible to log in to my account and extract a previously purchased design in a new format.   Not difficult at all, just a little time consuming.

Then there's the set of designers where I had to email the designer to ask them to make the DST format available for me.   All but one responded very quickly.  i was then able to log into my accounts and download the zip files I needed.

That left the ones where the designers only created a couple of formats (not including .dst),  or where the designer no longer exists,  or where the designer said I'd have to rebuy the designs if I wanted them in another format.   All of those, well, i'll keep the old format in my catalogue, and convert them myself as and when I want to use them.

Going through all of this made me realise what amazing designs I have bought over the years (and what rubbish).   I started to keep a list of "must stitch", but the list was too long.  I decided I'd sort that out when it came to re-cataloguing everything.

At the end of this tranche, which took many hours of work,  I was ready to review my catalogue.   I use the excellent SandScomputing's Sewcat software for this.  It lets me build a virtual catalogue, which works like the index of a recipe book. .   The actual files are only stored once, in one place,   but they appear in many places in my virtual catalogue.     

I am meticulous about this.  Whenever I buy a design, I file it properly and I make myself catalogue it properly.  I never put designs in my file structure, unless I catalogue it.    Of course I'm tempted not to, but I know how quickly things spiral out of control.    And I'm fortunate that I am very data minded.

 Using the recipe analogy, let's say I had a recipe for "Spaghetti Bolognese".  I only want to store the recipe in one place  but I want to have that recipe pop up  from all the things I'm likely to search by.  So, in my virtual catalogue, I might list it under a whole load of different things.  For example,  I might want be searching for "pasta dishes",  or "Italian".  I might be looking for recipes by ingredients, so it would be referenced under "Tomato bases",  or "mince", or "pork", or "beef", or "garlic", or "mushrooms".    Maybe there are other characteristics I'm searching for,  "good with Bulgar wheat",  "not spicy",  "good in an emergency",  "stretchable",  "keep warm",  "freezes well",   "slow cook",  and "fast cook",  "good with baked potatoes".   Or other weird things "favourite", "Miss T favourite" , "Not for xx".    I only have one physical copy of the recipe,  but it might appear in dozens of places in my "virtual catalogue".

The virtual catalogue isn't about finding a design when you already know the exact on you want,  it's about looking for possible designs, and the criteria can be anything and everything.     Sometimes it's about making sure that designs don't get lost in a forest of designs.      The more effort I put into my catalogue,  the easier it will be to find designs when I want to make something.

I did a reasonable job of my catalogue when I switched format last time.  This time, I thought about all the learning I'd had since then,  and all the things I'd noticed when I'd been busy unzipping files.   The key, for me, is to not rush it, and to start with the designers I know that I want to use again and again.  Get those properly (exhaustively) catalogued, and then work through the rest.

Alongside this, I searched everywhere I could think of, at least once a day, for newly listed machines.    I contacted MidWest to ask some questions and  I discovered that MidWest have a southern showroom!  I think it's one where you go by appointment, rather than a" turn up on spec" place,  but it means that I can see the machine reasonably easily. If I'd known this 3 and a half years ago, I'd have already got my new machine.

The searches resulted in some other embroidery related stuff popping up, and I've bought some other bits and pieces which I wasn't expecting. 

Today, I've started to populate my new catalogue.    I've realised quite how serious I am about this,  because my catalogue is DST files only,  unless I don't have a DST version of a design.  I did think about just ignoring the non-DST files, but I have quite a lot of them, representing quite an outlay, and some of the files are really lovely.  

I could, of course, catalogue all versions of each file - but that slows the search functionality down.

I'm going to try not to rush through this.  I want to get it finished, but I want to do it right. RiIght for me, anyway.