Selecting and editing a machine embroidery design on the Dreamweaver XE

Yesterday on QUILTsocial I showed you how easy it is to switch the Brother Dreamweaver XE from a regular sewing machine into an embroidery machine by installing the embroidery unit. Today I’m playing around with the Embroidery Edit function to design a customized monogram for the tote bag I’m making this week.

Step 1 – select Embroidery Edit

When the Dreamweaver XE turns on, this is the first screen that appears on the LCD display. Up until now I’ve been using the ‘Sewing’ function exclusively. Today I’ll select ‘Embroidery Edit’. Unlike the ‘Embroidery’ function (in which you can embroider designs exactly as they are saved in the machine), this function allows you to combine, move, edit and rotate designs on the LCD screen.

You’ll notice that some of the icons on the embroidery screen look like they are ‘stacked’ on top of each other. This indicates that another screen will appear when this icon is selected and allowing for further options to choose from.

Step 2 – find a design

I selected the first grouping on the screen, and this is the next screen that came up. Whenever you see this up/down arrow bar on the right side of the screen, this means that you can scroll through the many designs available by pulling up or down on the cursor in the arrow bar.

Once you see a design you like, select it by pressing its icon on the Dreamweaver XE LCD touchscreen.

My Fiber Friend has been to Ireland a few times and absolutely loved it, so I picked the shamrock design to work with.

Next press set to save your selected embroidery design on the embroidery screen.

Step 3 – change the size

To make the design bigger or smaller, select the ‘size’ button on the Dreamweaver XE. You can shrink, enlarge or even stretch the selected embroidery design.

Press the enlarge button to make the design larger equally in all directions.The other buttons will make it smaller or stretch/shrink it in one direction. Check the measurements shown on the screen to see how big it will actually be when it’s stitched out on the fabric.

Step 4 – make a copy

For my design, I want to have shamrocks at the top and bottom and have her name in the middle. To make another copy of my selected embroidery design I press the duplicate button on the LCD screen.

The duplicated image shows up on the Dreamweaver XE‘s LCD embroidery screen just below the original design image.

Step 5 – rotate the design

Now I want to rotate the design so that it’s upside down. The rotate button on the Dreamweaver XE will bring up the rotating options that are available.

Press the 90 degree button to rotate the selected image on the design screen. To rotate 180 degrees, just press it twice.

Now that my two shamrock designs are where I’d like them to be, I want to add her name. To add another element to your design just press the “add” button at the bottom of the screen.

Tomorrow I’ll show you all of the different fonts that are available on the Brother Dreamweaver XE and I’ll finish designing the monogram for my bag. This machine is so much fun to use! I can’t wait to see how my design looks stitched out on the side of the tote bag!