Maple Reviews

Every triumphant moment calls for a celebration, and every celebration requires a little congratulatory token called gift. Ocasions such as weddings, birthdays, parties, graduations and many others would simply be incomplete and unhappy without gifts. Giving gifts in fact is one of the most important elements in every celebration. Imagine a Christmas without gifts. Whether it came from Santa Claus or you parents, gifts always give a smile to the person receiving it.

How do you choose the gift you give? We often spend so many hours trying to find a supposedly right gift that we want to give. You might have already experienced this first hand, but finding the right gift is a very hard task. Even if you really know the person, you will still wonder about the gift that could make him smile. You will think countless times as to what could b the gift that he will truly appreciate.

Finding the right gift and deciding how to present it entails a lot of effort and work. Often times, we would only recognize this problem if it is almost too late. Rush hours, late night buys, Christmas rush – these are all nightmares of any gift buyer worldwide.

If you are experiencing these problems, then I’m pretty sure, you have yet to discover this brilliant gift giving idea. This is now your rare chance.

How would you want to receive a gift that is specially made for you? How would want to have an item with your name on it? That sounds really exciting right? How can you frown about a gift that is specially crafted for you? Wouldn’t that be one of the best things you can receive on your birthday? Wouldn’t that be an unforgettable gift on a regular Christmas celebration?

If you want to give a special gift to someone you love or someone close to you, you can always try gift customization. And there’s no better way to do this than to put embroidery on those gifts.

Customized gifts are becoming more and more popular these days. It is simple classic and timeless. It can never go out of season. It can never fail to bring a smile to its recipient. No gift will be too bad if it is specially made for its receiver.

Remember that the purpose of giving a gift is to make your recipient happy. You can even bring tears of joy with a simple gift. Always think of what your receiver would like to have, not what you want to give. People often mistake in choosing their gifts because they choose what is appealing to their senses. The pick what is palatable to their sensibilities. They easily forget that the item they are getting is not for them. Customization of gifts through embroidery will always remind of that.

From clothing, to accessories, to personal items, to home decors – there is no limit as to what you can customize with embroidery. What do you think of a cute dress with an embroidered “Princess Hannah” tag as a gift to your lovely niece, Hannah? How about a baseball cap with a name “Champ” as a Christmas gift to your 6 year old baseball player nephew? How about a scribble “Greatest Grandpa” on your grandfather’s red hat? How about an “I love you” message on a special handkerchief that you used during your first date 10 years ago? My embroidery tags may be too cheesy and I’m sure you can come up with something more unique and more special. After all, this is the very essence of this gift giving idea – be creative, be imaginative, and be special!

There are a number of people and experts who can do this for you. Going through the internet and you shall find a couple of websites where you can order customized and embroidered items within a simple click. But if you really want to give them the most special and most unique gift, I suggest you do the embroidering yourself. It isn’t that hard anyway. Think of it as a labor of love, after all it’s not the value or cost of a gift that counts, but the thought of giving gift.

Whether you’re an old time embroider or a just new and starting one, getting the good embroidery software should be your priority. Choosing one is tricky, especially if you don’t have much knowledge about software and programs. Getting the right software is as crucial as finishing your one greatest embroidery masterpiece – that is where you cannot afford any mistake.

Embroidery Software is a specialized tool that combines graphics and sewing technology. These two worlds are very apart but with some high tech rendering, programmers and coders were able to put a bonding between these two.

You can easily tell whether a sewing machine is good or not. You can take a look at its specifications. You can check and test it. You can see how it pulls the thread and sew it on a piece of cloth. You can even hear its sound to tell if the internal mechanisms are working fine. You can touch it and feel it, like a horse rider trying to get the feeling of his horse. The sewing machine is your major tool and it is the easy to make a connection with it.

That goes for the sewing machine, alone. But what if we combine it with the embroidery software, or what if you are looking for the embroidery software alone. Of course, the criteria would change.

Embroidery software is just like any other software. When looking for one, you should know what it can and what I cannot do. And most importantly, you should be aware of how it does things.

First, the embroidery software should allow you to reduce, edit, view convert and alter your embroidery designs. These are the most basic things that you should check. If the software doesn’t allow you to do that, then you should rethink and reconsider if you are going to get that software.

Apart from those basic requirements, you should also see to it that the software allows you to manipulate non-traditional shapes. It should give you the flexibility to turn strokes on complicated shapes (complicated shapes are those that need four or more lines in order to be drawn). If the software does not allow you to do this, you will be very limited in creating your designs.

Filling the insides of the designs should also be automatic. Some software will force you to do the filling and coloring of the design manually. Look for those that will allow you to do that by simply turning strokes and holes and dragging you desired color. Remember that the reason you want an Embroidery Software is for your job to be easier and more efficient.

Search for other automated procedures and features to allow you to do image repetition, image overlapping and overlaying.

Find the software that will also allow you to blend colors easily. Embroidery after all is usually done with multiple colors of string. This feature will allow you to experiment and test the right color combinations suitable to your design.

Shadow effect and cross stitch effect are also very helpful. It avoids coming up with a boring and lifeless design. It can also add depth to embroidery designs.

It would also be the best if you can find a tool that will allow you to design and execute the classic and traditional embroidering techniques such as the stemstich. Doing so will give a very nice traditional look to your modern design. This can actually make your design more embroidery-like rather than a digital alienating artwork.

Having a good design database on your software will also be a great help. Imagine thousands of ready made templates available for stitching within few clicks. These templates also are usually customizable you will never run out of ideas. This is also a great way to allow your customers to really decide on the design that they want (if you’re running embroidery business).

Lastly, find the software that provides comprehensive support system. Find the one that offers updates as well as tips and tricks on how maximize the software usage.

Finding your way to automated embroidery is as simple as installing a software, that is if you know what to look for in a good embroidery software.

Your fashion is your character. What you wear reflects who you are. If you wear common and uninteresting clothes, it can mean that you are a boring person. And nobody wants to be called as such.

People often judge by watching how other people dress them selves. One look and they will be able to deduce many facts about you. It is as if your whole biography is written in your shirt. It is as if there is a whole psychoanalytical report printed in your pants.

People can easily tell who you are and what you do by simply looking at your clothes. Try looking outside for instance, examine the people walking by. You can easily tell or at least predict where that person came from, or what that person does by looking at the clothes they wear. Seeing a man with long sleeve well iron polo will probably tell you he is into corporate world. The guy wearing jerseys, holding a ball will most likely be into basketball and the athletic type in general. That little girl in her pink dress, who chases butterflies while carrying his cute rag doll will tell you that she is innocent, carefree and blissful.

These are just few examples. I’m sure you know these things very well. Whether having this kind of system of thought is wrong or not is the point of discussion in this writing. I think the more important note is that these things exist. They are real; unavoidable they are here to stay forever.

Stereotypes follow this trend. And unless you have a thick stomach, you wouldn’t really mind what others would tell you. That is why you should pay attention to what you wear. Apart from the issues that vulgar and inappropriate clothing bring, there are other fashion related issue that should be tackled – among them the issue of sameness.

It is indeed to look cool. That is why many people often mimic those hot and fashion stars in choosing their clothes. Whatever this Hollywood star wears, they buy it, they get it, and they wear it. It is as if they are the unsung clones of the famous people, like they are the unofficial doubles of these stars.

Another thing is the bandwagon effect. If this is the “in” style, this is what I would wear. That idea is very common, both in the teens and the young at hearts. It is as if they only rely on fashion magazines in what they should wear. Whatever a certain designer tells, they follow it like their religion. Whatever is being endorsed in TV or in magazines they would immediately buy it and wear it the next day.

Have you ever experienced walking on a street, school or in office, and then one of your co-workers or your neighbors will accidentally bump you, only to notice that you two are wearing the same thing? How about strolling the mall, then a look at your left then you will see a mannequin wearing the same thing that you are wearing right at the instant. Embarrassing right?

This shouldn’t be the case. There are many ways to make your clothes and the way you appear unique. You can give character and identity to what you wear even if you didn’t order the clothes from a personal tailor. You can have clothes that resemble you even if you get it because your idol endorsed it. You can make your popular clothe unique and yet still in style. How? You can achieve this by adding embroidered prints on it.

Embroidered patches and clothe parts can add dimension into what you wear. It is cheap, easily customizable into your taste. With the latest trend of automated embroidery production, you can simple have whatever design that you like. Putting a little embroidered material on what you wear can make a big difference. It can also be a way of expressing your self. How does having a single design that represents your character appearing on your handkerchief, or your t-shirt’s patch spot? These are just a few ways on how you can be unique and expressive with embroidered designs and patches.

If you are considering the purchase of an embroidery machine, what kind of items should you be looking for? Of course, it all depends on how complicated your embroidery tasks are going to be, but in general you will want to make notes on the following:

You may wish to make a checklist perhaps on your accounting program where you can type out what you’ve found about each brand and model number of each embroidery machine. This would be entered on the far left and all other things can be entered as the importance of different functions is amassed.

For instance you may wish to record what the embroidery field size is. A machine that offers you a 4 1/2” by 6 ¾” may be fine for one person, but another may need a machine that will be able to work on an embroidery field size of 6”X10” again depending on the size of work you will be using. Also, make sure you are comparing inches with inches and millimeters with millimeters.

Media recognition is of extreme importance. For instance must you utilize only floppy disks, or will the machine be able to recognize a direct connection to your PC, with an optional Flash/floppy drive and allow you to write your own memory cards for use later? Also important is what format it uses.

Will the machine be able to be moved stitch by stitch for those ultra complicated stitches? Is that on the machine now, or is it an option and therefore what will it cost if it is an option? Can it do in hoop basting? Is it limited by design rotation capabilities, and if so by how much? Can the machine perform ordinary sewing or will you have to use yet another machine for sewing?

How many utility, decorative, quilting, or heirloom stitches is it capable of doing? How about for buttonholes and eyelets? Will you have the ability to produce your very own decorative and utility stitches and if so how? Is the machine updateable online or through some other means, and if so what, where and how? Does it have the option for an endless hoop? Is the machine capable of taking L-sized prewound bobbins? How many stitches per minute can it accomplish? How many fonts come with the machine? How many different feet come with the machine, and which are they?

Talk to others who own embroidery machines, and ask them which their favorite is and why? There are so many different brands available. Just a few of them are Brother, Ricoma, Janome, Dakota Collectibles, Melco, Babylock, Toyota, and Singer. Some of these are commercial embroidery machines, and some made strictly for home use.

Finally you will want to know what kind of warranty is on the embroidery machine? You will want specifics regarding how long is the mechanical warranty, and electronic warranty? Does the defects in material and workmanship have a year’s worth of service, for labor and parts? If it needs to be shipped back, who handles shipping costs?