All about mySewnet ecosystem and how it makes embroidery so easy

It’s the last day of posts for this week. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 and all its features.

I’ve mentioned a few components of the mySewnet ecosystem throughout the week. Today, I want to focus on the ecosystem and how everything is connected. I want you to see how the connectivity makes embroidery so much easier.

There are days when I’m very technically challenged, so I was a bit worried if I would be able to link all this technology together. The good news? The mySewnet ecosystem does a fabulous job of simplifying the connectivity between the Designer EPIC 2, the computer, and smart devices.

I’ll start with a description of each of the components in the mySewnet ecosystem and then I’ll show you a quick demo so you can see how the various components are all connected. Be prepared to be blown away!

Let’s have a look at all the components.

To get the most out of the mySewnet ecosystem, you need a Wi-Fi enabled sewing/embroidery machine like the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2. The Designer EPIC 2 also contains a lot of built-in information such as interactive tutorials, the User’s Guide, an Accessory Guide and a whole lot more. This information is easy to pull up on the large touch screen.

The mySewnet ecosystem also consists of three apps for smart devices and the mySewnet website. You can link the technology to the Premier +2 software (available for PC or Mac) as well.

It sounds a bit daunting, but the mySewnet ecosystem ties all this technology together and allows the components to seamlessly talk together. Be that a tablet, a smartphone, computer, and the Designer EPIC 2, they all play together nicely and make designing and stitching out embroideries a breeze.

I’ll start with the mySewnet website because it’s the glue that ties everything together. The first thing to do is to open a mySewnet account. It’s a free account and provides cloud-based storage for embroidery files. Unless using a Wi-Fi enabled sewing/embroidery machine like the Designer EPIC 2, you’ll get limited use from the account.

Go to the Husqvarna Viking website and click on mySewnet in the top right-hand corner. Follow along with the instructions and next thing you know – you’ve got an account.

As part of the mySewnet account, you’ll get access to Project Creator which allows you to write project instructions including pictures and embroidery designs if applicable. Those files (please respect copyright) can be shared with anyone you choose or you can keep them private. No one else can see those files unless you choose to share.

I did a post about Project Creator – How to use the exciting technology of mySewnet file sharing a while back. There’s a link to a file you can access in the post as well as some detailed instructions on how to open the files.

mySewnet library is a subscription-based resource of over 4,000 embroidery designs with new designs being added each week. This is incredible!

There are all kinds of designs in the library including ribbon embroidery, seasonal designs and so much more. The library is very well organized so search by a specific theme, technique, or browse the categories.

Here’s the beauty of the library. I can browse the library on my smartphone while I wait for the kettle to boil (to make a cup of tea of course!). Find the file I want, touch the paper airplane icon to send the embroidery file to my Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2. Note: The Designer EPIC 2 must be logged into the mySewnet account for the file to transfer. 

It’s seamless, easy and takes no time at all.

By creating a mySewnet account, you’ll get access to the mySewnet cloud. This is a free storage area with 100 MB of storage for your embroidery designs. Instead of creating an embroidery design and putting it on a USB, I simply save it to mySewnet cloud so I can access it.

If I’m at a friend’s house to embroidery on their Designer EPIC 2 or I’m off to class at my local dealer, I don’t need to bring the design with me on a USB, I can save it to mySewnet cloud and access the file through the Wi-Fi at the other location. No Wi-Fi where I’m going? I’m pretty good at using my smart device as a hotspot.

There are also three free apps you can download from wherever you access the apps for your smart device. Each of these apps is connected to the mySewnet ecosystem to provide you with some amazing tools.

The mySewMonitor app allows the use of the Design Placement I mentioned in yesterday’s post. By taking a photo of my hooped project, I can send a picture of the hooped fabric to the Designer EPIC 2 via the mySewnet ecosystem. A bit of tweaking in the Embroidery Edit screen and my design will be perfectly positioned when it’s stitched out.

The mySewMonitor also allows me to monitor the stitch-out progress when I’m embroidering. That way, if I don’t happen to be in the same room, I can monitor the progress and know when to attend to the machine either because the thread needs to be changed, the embroidery is completed or whatever.

Do you know how exciting that is? It frees up so much time. I no longer have to babysit the embroidery machine 100% of the time and get perfect design placement. I love this app.

QuickDesign is another free app you can download to your smart device. It allows me to take a picture of an image, utilize one of six digitizing formats, and save the file in the mySewnet cloud. I can then access the embroidery file on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 because the file resides in the cloud storage.

QuickDesign has some editing capabilities. Should I wish to do more editing, I can do so in the Embroidery Edit screen on the Designer EPIC 2 or in the Premier +2 software.

The JoyOS Advisor is the third of the three free apps. This one is also amazing and contains all kinds of information. How-to videos, tutorials, stabilizer guides are just a few of the items in this app. It’s mostly geared to the Wi-Fi enabled sewing/embroidery machines, but there is information in there for everyone. The stabilizer guide is an excellent resource.

I can also access mySewnet account from this app and that’s where I’ll find any Project Creator files that have been shared with me or ones I’ve created.

The JoyOS Advisor is also built into the Designer EPIC 2, so I can access all this information right on the screen. Don’t know how to make a buttonhole? There’s a guided tour of how to do that. What’s a rolled hem? That information is there as well. How to get started – threading the sewing machine and a whole lot more is in the JoyOS Advisor. It’s like having an expert right at your side.

I haven’t said it yet, but you know what I’m going to say. I highly recommend you sit down and read the User’s Guide. Keep in mind the entire User’s Guide is built into the JoyOS Advisor on the Designer EPIC 2 (it’s not in the app).

This is the last component of the mySewnet ecosystem. The blog gets updated once a week and I’ll see the latest entries at the top of the screen when I turn on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2. Tips and hints, sewing instructions, and the latest additions to the mySewnet library are just a few of the topics added each week.

What if the project includes an embroidery design? There’ll be a link in the instructions which will allow you to save the file to your mySewnet cloud.

I love this! There are so many great projects and ideas, I want to try them all! So much and it’s all at your fingertips.

Thanks to Margaret for providing me with some extra flowers from when she stitched out this file. The flowers are gorgeous and can be used as appliques or stand-alone flowers.

Unless you see the mySewnet ecosystem in action, it may seem very complex. It’s not. In my sample below, I tried to work in as many components of the ecosystem as I could. Note: This ISN’T a tutorial, but it’ll give you a good idea of how the mySewnet ecosystem works. 

Sit back and prepare to be wowed.

I started with a huge coloring book with a variety of images. Since I’m also known as  Crazyquilteronabike, I couldn’t resist using the image of the bicycle.

Using the QuickDesign app, I took a photo of the bicycle. I previewed each of the 6 digitizing options and chose Satin Large.

Using the editing tools in QuickDesign, I was able to eliminate most of the extraneous elements I didn’t want as part of my embroidery.

You’ll notice there’s a wee bit of the picture frame left at the top of the handlebars. I was afraid to delete it in the app for fear of touching the handlebars.

I saved the embroidery file (yes – the app creates an embroidery file!) to the mySewnet cloud.

I called the file bicycle.vp3, which you can see when I open the mySewnet cloud on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2.

I only had to provide the file name and the app created the extension (.vp3).

I can also see the bicycle.vp3 embroidery file when I access the mySewnet cloud from my computer.

I can open the bicycle.vp3 file in Embroidery Edit on the Designer EPIC 2 by touching the file on the mySewnet cloud file menu.

Before I do any further editing here, I’m sending the file to the Premier +2 software so I can eliminate the line of stitching above the handlebar.

I should also have deleted the straight line of stitching. I thought it was a jump stitch, but it wasn’t.

I just retook the picture – the straight line was a shadowing of the image on the other side of the coloring page. What a good learning experience.

Touching the paper airplane icon on the bottom of the screen on the Designer EPIC 2, I’m able to forward the embroidery file. If I had a second Wi-Fi sewing/embroidery machine connected to the network, I could send the file there or I can send it to my laptop which is what I did.

Think of the possibilities in a class environment!

The bicycle embroidery file is now loaded into the Premier +2 software. I used Modify to remove the line of satin stitching above the handlebar.

You can see here the line of satin stitching above the handlebars is gone. As I mentioned, the straight line was a result of the sensitivity of the camera when it took the picture. The second time I did this and all the odd stitches were cleaned up, the new design is clean.

I wanted to add some lettering to the embroidery file. I found an appropriate quote and used the lettering function in the Premier +2 software to make it happen.

Once the lettering was done, I had the choice of sending the file directly back to the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 or saving it to the mySewnet cloud.

I decided to send the file directly to the Designer EPIC 2.

Now it’s time to hoop the fabric. I used Design Placement in the mySewMonitor app. Why? Because the piece of fabric I was using wasn’t the full size of the hoop (I know – a bad habit), but we all do it. And I wanted the bicycle placed just so on the diagonal background.

My hooped fabric now appears as the background on the Embroidery Edit screen of the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2. I did mark chalk lines to help with the hooping process.

Now it’s time to load the embroidery file. I could have gone to the mySewnet cloud to load the file, but I went somewhere else.

I opened the JoyOS Advisor on my phone.

Here’s why I went to the JoyOS Advisor. I wanted to share the bicycle embroidery file with you, so I created a project file in Project Creator. All the projects I’ve created or those that have been shared with me show up on the JoyOS Advisor.

When you open the project file, you’ll get access to the brief instructions I wrote and you also get access to the embroidery file I created. I know – that just totally blows me away.

Then I touched the link to the embroidery file (the bike picture) and the file was sent to the Designer EPIC 2.

The Designer EPIC 2 will always confirm if I want to download a file.

There’s my embroidery file shown on top of the background of my hooped fabric. Wow!!!

Every time I do this, I’m just amazed. And it’s so simple. The key is to get everything to connect to the mySewnet account.

I moved into Embroidery Stitch-Out mode. Then I left the room. But I was able to monitor the progress of the stitch-out process by using the Monitor feature on the mySewMonitor app on my smartphone.

The app shows me the same progress information I would see if I were sitting in front of the Designer EPIC 2.

To recap what I just did. I went from the image on the right in a coloring book to the finished design on the left. It was so easy and fast to do.

Now here’s the best part, I’m sharing the bicycle embroidery file with you here. Have fun with it and if you stitch something out, send me a picture.

To get access, you must click on the link and then at the bottom of the resulting webpage, save the project to your mySewnet cloud. Then you can access the file from the cloud and your smartphone.

NOTE: – While you’ll be able to download the project file, you can’t access the embroidery file if you don’t have a Wi-Fi enabled embroidery machine. 

As a quilter, I never thought I’d get this excited about a sewing/embroidery machine, however, I think it’ll be very difficult to give this one up. The possibilities of creating new and exciting items or upcycling existing items are endless. My brain is going in a million directions at once.

The Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 sewing/embroidery machine is fabulous. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what can be done with this amazing sewing/embroidery machine.

Here’s a very cool video to watch how the Designer EPIC 2 has made sewing and embroidery so much easier. In case you missed it before, here’s the complete list of features and benefits.

It’s hard to believe, but the best just got better!

Have a great day!

Ciao!