Effortless Embroidery: load and create designs on the HV Designer Epic 3

We explored a variety of embroidery design techniques yesterday, and now it’s time to see how easy it is to load an embroidery design into the HUSQVARNA VIKING Designer Epic 3 or, even more exciting, how to create embroidery designs from the tools in the Embroidery Edit Screen.

To maximize the tools on the Designer Epic 3, I ensure I’m connected to the internet and signed into my mySewnet account. Once connected to the internet, the Designer Epic 3 should connect automatically every time you turn the machine on, just like your other Wi-Fi devices—the same for the mySewnet account. Sometimes, I must sign into one or both, but it’s rare.

The third icon from the left indicates that I’m connected to my mySewnet account, and the second from the right shows that I’m connected to Wi-Fi. All is good, so let’s explore a bit more.

Now, let’s look at the menu on the right-hand side. Notice the four bars at the top of this menu, which allow it to be moved anywhere on the screen—which I love! This menu is where you load designs from numerous sources into the Embroidery Edit screen. There are several other functions as well. Combining designs from multiple sources is very easy.

The top icon on that bar is the Projection, a great tool but not something we’re looking at today. To know more about Projection, check out this QUILTsocial blog post.

The most obvious source for designs is those built into Designer Epic 3. As I review the various menu options, the icon will be highlighted on the bar along the right.

The designs are divided into various categories, which you can easily access through the tabs along the top of the designs. Scrolling through the tabs and moving up and down to see all the designs is easy. This screen shows designs from the Signature category of the built-in designs.

How does one know all the built-in designs, as there are over 900? That’s easy. If you remember, back on Day Two, I shared a video that explored the JoyOS Advisor. Within the Embroidery Section of the tutorials, there was a QR code to scan for the Design Booklet.

I scanned that code with my iPad, and there’s the Design Booklet for the Designer Epic 3. I could download a copy, so I always have it. I used to need a physical book for everything, but I have moved beyond that. A physical book can’t be updated, but an online book can be updated, never gets lost, and it’s easy to download to a device.

The front of the booklet contains some basic instructions for the various techniques we discussed the other day.

You’ll find a design picture, stitch count, and color information for each built-in design, including the embroidery fonts.

Another tab within the Design Menu option lets me download a design from the mySewnet Library. I must be logged in to mySewnet account and have a subscription to mySewnet Embroidery Software, which gives me unlimited access to the Library.

To make it easy to find these designs, there are search tools to help me find the right design.

While that’s exciting, we’ve only just begun! The next category is the Font Menu, where I can load any of the ten Embroidery Fonts or the six Stitch Fonts, which can be used in both sewing and embroidery modes. Eight of the embroidery fonts have multiple sizes, so there are many options to play with.

The next category on the menu bar is the Stitch Menu. YES – this is one many people are unfamiliar with, but you can utilize almost all 871 sewing mode stitches in embroidery mode. This is very exciting. If you open that menu, you’ll add one stitch at a time, which works for the larger stitches. For the smaller stitches or longer lines of stitching, it’s easier to use Create Sequence. I’m not going into detail today, but you can change the size of the stitches, use multiple stitches, and so many options.

The next category is File Manager, which allows me to download a file from my mySewnet account or a USB. The USB tab only appears if you have a USB connected to one of the two USB ports on the Designer Epic 3.

That’s a pretty exhaustive list of places to access embroidery files. But wait – did you know that you have some tools on the Design Epic 3 that allow you to create designs?

These tools are at the bottom of the Embroidery Edit screen, allowing you to create fantastic, personalized designs. We’ll have a quick look at them today: Create Sequence, Create Shape, and Create Applique.

Create Sequence allows us to import almost any sewing mode stitch and create decorative stitching lines. What’s important to note is that selecting any of those three icons will take us to a new screen with editing tools for that task. A new menu along the right-hand side allows me to import stitches or fonts. There isn’t time to explain in detail what each fantastic tool does, but the opportunities are endless.

The next category is Create Shape, which allows us to add sewing stitches or embroidery designs along the outline of predetermined shapes and fonts.

The final category is Create Applique. This allows you to create applique using basic shapes, including lettering.

Choose from 17 pre-set stitches or use another sewing mode stitches to finish the edges.

These options are incredible, and the possibilities are endless. You can combine these designs or fonts with existing embroidery designs, create something by bringing multiple designs into Embroidery Edit, or create something from scratch. The design possibilities are endless.

I’m off to create a design using those tools and will share it with you shortly.

I’m back and in the process of stitching the designs out.

And there are my designs! The large blue circle was created with Create Applique. I used my applique scissors to trim the excess fabric away. I pulled the outline of the letter E from Create Shape and selected a sewing mode stitch for the stitching around the edges.

The row of flowers was made using Create Shape (straight line) and a small built-in embroidery motif.

I created the lettering using one of the fonts and the curved envelope in the font menu, and to complete the look; I pulled the embroidery motif from the built-in designs.

Creating all those designs took about 5 minutes, which shows how easy it is to create something. These few examples just scratch the surface of what is possible.

Are you impressed by what you can do with the Embroidery Edit tools for the HUSQVARNA VIKING Designer Epic 3? It’s an impressive embroidery machine, and what I’m showing you scratches the surface of its abilities! Be sure to stop by your local HUSQVARNA VIKING dealer to get a more in-depth overview!

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss some of the embroidery techniques you can create with the mySewnet Embroidery Software. Stay tuned—there’s more great stuff to come!

Have a great day!

Ciao!

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: 10 of 36 types of machine embroidery with the HV Designer Epic 3!

Go to part 5: mySewnet Embroidery Software, more options for machine embroidery designs