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I've been teaching my daughter how to sew and we've made some really cute creations [music] together, but we

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wanted to take it to the next level. So, we decided to look into embroidery machines. [music] I wanted to get

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something that was easy to use, easy to maintain, had a large enough [music]

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embroidery area for different types of projects, and the ability to do

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different types of fabrics, including hats. She wanted

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>> colors. And that's how we ended up with the buy

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mirror embroidery machine. [music] It's an entry-level commercial machine. And

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the first question you might have is why commercial? The first reason is that

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everything I read online said that you should get the biggest embroidery area

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that you can afford. And this can do up to 20 by 14 in. [music] And secondly, I

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wanted to be able to do hats and most small machines that are for at home

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hobby use aren't able to do that. The other thing that she wanted was multiple

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colors, which meant we needed a multi- needle machine. And lastly, Creator

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Warehouse recommended it. It's a no-brainer at that point. They had friends in the embroidery industry who

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said that the buy brand was basically a copy of the Tajima brand, which [music]

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is the ultimate embroidery brand, but at a fraction of the cost. And this checked

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out. When I went to the local suppliers, I saw Brother brand machines where they

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had [music] six needles that were double the cost of the buy mirror machine,

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which has 15 needles. The online ordering process was actually really

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simple. [music] I just went online, placed my order, and I actually picked it up at a local warehouse and saved

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$800 [music] in shipping, which was amazing. But it

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meant that Lionus and two other guys had to finangle this machine out of the back

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of the minivan. Uh, which was not great cuz it [music] weighs about 260 lb just

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for the top half. Assembling it was really easy, though. The top half didn't

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require very much assembly. We just had to install these handrails. And then for

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the bottom half, it was as simple as a few thumb screws and we added the feet

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and the wheels on the bottom so that we can actually move the machine. And it

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also [music] came with all of these accessories that you see here. So, the

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first one was the tool kit, a set of

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bobbins that are pre-wound [music] for us, some extra needles, some

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stabilizer, some oil and sewing oil,

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>> some threads. >> Oh, yeah. It came with four different threads. It also came with some two sets

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of hoops. The two sets [music] are exactly the same. And I think the reason

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for that is because when you have something installed and the embroidery machine is working on it, you can be

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getting ready to prep [music] the next hoop to use. And it also came with the

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hat stations to be able to do hats. We haven't used them yet, but we're excited

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to try. >> Now, it's time to turn it on. >> After lots of reading online and

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watching tons of YouTube videos from their website, [music] I finally figured

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out how to use this machine. The first step is what Cat did, which was turn it

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on. Um, this machine actually uses a regular 120 volt [music] power plug. So,

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we didn't have to do anything special for the electrical in here to get it to work, which is amazing considering most

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people who buy this machine [music] start with it in their home as kind of a

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side hustle business. The next step, >> oiling it.

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>> We see like a little knob in here. You pull on it and pull out the bobin.

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Here's the bobin. Thread's low. You should note [music] that. And then you

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put three to five drops of sewing oil in

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the bobin area. And we can pop it back in there and push till it clicks. Next,

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we have to oil this part. ldstore.com.

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Voila. One thing that I find really annoying is that [music] this plate

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doesn't have pre-made holes in it so that you don't have to unscrew it and

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screw it back on every single time you oil it. I've seen [music] lots of people make their own and there's just pre-done

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holes.

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See that hole? And you put three to five drops in that little hole. Then oil all

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along the edge. >> She's in charge of servicing the

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machine. As you can tell, [laughter] I don't do that part. The next step was

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installing our different threads, but we [music] also had to program the

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different colors in here so that it knew which ones we were selecting when we

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were changing it on the screen. >> I select number one. So now I get to

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choose out of all these 18 pages of

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colors which color matches the most to

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my number one. And then when you're done, click save.

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We had to do that for all 15 colors. And you can see that the machine is numbered

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[music] here so that you can see which needle belongs to which one. As well as

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in the back here when you're installing [music] so that you can know which one

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back here corresponds to here cuz I lose track of all the different threads. The

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next step after that was connecting it to Wi-Fi [music] so that we could upload

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patterns. It did come with a little USB stick, but it just seemed way simpler to

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[music] connect it to Wi-Fi and get started. This is the online software. It's very, very basic, but it works. You

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just click upload pattern and then you drag and drop into here [music] or you

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can click here and open whatever file it is that you've got. They're also working

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on their own digitizing software but it is extremely [music] basic right now. Um

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but mostly what I do is I get patterns

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from [music] online websites and then I upload it here to combine them all

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because this one here is too basic to really do anything. It does say that

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it's in beta [music] right now. So hopefully in the future there will be way more functions.

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>> So the next step is to choose what pattern you want to use. You have to do

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a tension test to make sure that the threads [music] on the top and the bobbin are at the right tension so you

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get nice clean lines. Now that the machine is all set up, we have to

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actually get the fabric all set up to put inside the machine. One thing that's

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really nice about these frames is that the sizes are written right on the frame

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and that corresponds with the machine. So, it's really easy to make sure that you've picked the right one.

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>> So, you'll need two pieces of stabilizer that fit in the hoop.

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>> The reason you need stabilizer is because it makes the fabric more stable when the machine is going back and forth

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through the fabric. Grab your stabilizer >> and then you put the fabric on top and

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then you put the front one on and then you press. >> You tighten the back of the hoop, the

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little notches here. They slide under the little things on the handlebars and

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you push it forward until it clicks into place on the little rectangle-shaped

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holes. Then if you have like a whole bunch of drapey extra like this, you

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just slide it over this little bar here. So then it doesn't get dirty if your

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floor is not the cleanest like ours.

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>> Oh, we forgot to select all the different colors. Do you want to show them that? >> What I like to do is just go one, two,

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three, four, all the way up.

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>> And the reason she has to do this is because it doesn't actually highlight

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which area you're changing. So it's really difficult to know. So we we we

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this is our workound for color coding it. You make sure that this says AA if

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you're doing a test. >> Do you know what AA is? >> Yeah, it's like [music] automatically

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automatic. And then we click ready.

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>> Sometimes it's handy to run a trace. And

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the reason you run a trace is to make sure that your embroidery is within the

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hoop. The last thing you want to do is have a needle hit the edge of the hoop

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and for your design not to fit. >> Then you press the green button.

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>> One thing that I forgot to mention is the tension test isn't [music] just a

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oneandone thing. You actually have to run a tension test every time you do a

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new fabric. We're not going to fish finish that one on camera because [music] it takes too long to do, but we

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can show you some of the ones we did in the past. You're supposed to have a third of white in the middle and then a

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third of the color on either end. [music] And that's how you know you've got the right tension. This one here is

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probably perfect. After thinking that we got the tension [music] right, it was time to start our first stuffy. Uh we

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tried this one, but you can see that we still didn't get it quite right. [music]

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And there were a lot of things we learned along the way. >> So like when I go to select the color, I

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find four. That's the insides of the ears. I want to turn that pink. So now

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the insides of the ears are pink. Should we hoop it and get it ready to

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embroider? >> Sure. There's actually three different types of stabilizers. So, the one that

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came with the machine is the tear away stabilizer. [music] When you're done the embroidery, you

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turn it around and to remove the stabilizer, you just tear it off. Uh

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there's also cutaway stabilizer, which is actually more stiff, and in order to

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take that apart, you have to cut it. There's also washable stabilizer, which

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some people use to put [music] on top of a design, and then to get rid of it, you

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wash it away with water.

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So, I haven't actually [music] looked at this pattern, and you said something about how there's applique. Mhm.

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>> Applique is [music] when you put another piece of fabric on top and embroider

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that piece to the original piece. >> This is like green fabric [music] and we

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added brown on top. >> You could theoretically just embroider

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brown, but the reason we did it with the fabric is because we like the [music]

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material and the feel of it, and also because it saves a lot of thread because

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it's such a big space. >> Exactly. Do you want to run a [music]

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trace to make sure it's going to fit? >> Sure.

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And it's like going around and looking see if it's well traced.

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>> Right now it's just doing like a little trace of the part that we're going to

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applique. >> Now we have the white that we're going to use. A somewhat largeish piece just

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in case. So you just like place it on top of the red shape and make sure nap

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is right.

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We haven't um there's actually an applique feature on here, but we haven't

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figured out how to use that either. So I just stick my hand in here and I try to

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cut it. >> You shouldn't. >> I know. [music] Sorry.

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Now go.

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>> The little screen shows what it's done so far.

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Oh, we got an error. Tension break. So, when a tension break happens, it doesn't

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actually tell you what's wrong. [music] So, you kind of have to figure out yourself. Um, my guess, because we

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[music] noticed that the bobbin was low earlier, was that we ran out of thread

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on the bottom. Tada. >> Thank you.

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This machine does have the ability to actually go backwards or forwards in

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stitches and retrace an area that got missed. Theoretically, you should be

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able to put the hoop in, set it to go, and just take off and do something else

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for a bit and then come back later to a finished design. Um, one thing that I do

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recommend is just making sure you're nearby. You can be doing something else,

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but the minute you hear an error like that, it's nice to be able to come back right away and deal with it. Otherwise,

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you'll come back 2 hours later expecting it to be done and then it's not done because you have to deal with the error.

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>> Does it give you a time estimate? >> It does not give you a time estimate,

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but theoretically, you can figure that out because it tells you the number of

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stitches this design is and then it tells you how many stitches per minute

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you're going or you're running at. So, this design is about 5,000 stitches.

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Right now, we're running it at 700 stitches per minute. So, about 7

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minutes. I know that you I say you can go away and do something else, but

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honestly, it's mesmerizing to just sit here and watch. We've had to do a little

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bit more complicated troubleshooting before. For example, we couldn't get our

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laser to start working, but watching the online videos, and honestly, the

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Facebook community [music] has been amazing. Uh there have been a couple

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times where I've reached out to the support team on WhatsApp, and they were

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in a different time zone, so it took a little bit longer to respond to me, but when they did respond to me, it was back

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and forth really fast. Some machines do have local suppliers and technicians

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that can help repair, but I think this machine, their intention is that it's

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all DIY [music] and you figure it out yourself. Um, but what happens if a part

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breaks? That's the part that I'm not sure. Do they ship it to me? Uh, how

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long is that going to take? Is it going to be easy for me to figure out? So far,

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I haven't had any of those issues. Everything has been really simple

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day-to-day operation issues. But if a part inside here breaks, what do we do?

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We have to learn how to digitize. So, [music] right now we are just buying

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embroidery files and >> done. Yes, it is done. Um, yeah, right

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now we're just buying embroidery files and [music] they cost maybe like $3 to $5 each time, but that's still $3 to $5

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each time. Uh, so recently I downloaded a free software called Inkscape [music]

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and Ink Stitch and I've been trying to do my own files, but it's been it's been

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a really tough learning curve. >> Let's tear the terror away. So, you grab

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it [screaming] pretty much. I feel like every time we

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use the machine, we're learning something new. Whether it's learning a

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new fabric or learning a new design where it sews itself together, which is

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cool, or learning how to applique. What else have we learned?

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>> Well, we learned how to hoop the fabric. >> Yep. I feel like that's a constant

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learning process. So, the end goal for us here is to a learn something new

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together and b start a side hustle so I can teach her about business. She's had

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people request animals or people before.

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And so if we can turn her sewing hobby and embroidery hobby into something that

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funds her next hobby, that's a plus in my books. In order to run the side

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hustle though, there's stuff that we have to figure out. Consumables, like where do I get blank hats? Maybe

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ltstore.com. Um, and blank shirts or sweaters. I also

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have to figure out where to buy stabilizer, all the different types of

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stabilizer that we talked about earlier. Uh, I might need to look into getting

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better hoops. If it takes this long every single time to hoop something,

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that's not very efficient. But I feel like all of that is to come later once

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we get the basics going. And part of the basic that we need to figure out is

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pricing. There are tons and tons of guides out there, including from buy

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itself or from Maggie Frames, one of the magnetic hoop manufacturers. And there's

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lots of online posts in the Facebook embroidery chat that go back and forth

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about, hey, how do you price for this or how do you price for that? I've seen people say that they charge about $15

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for 5,000 stitches if we're running at 800 stitches per minute. That's

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approximately $140 an hour. Now, that

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sounds like a lot, but we haven't factored in any of the consumables and my time yet or the cost of the machine

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or rent if you're renting a space. So, lots to figure out still, but it sounds

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like it could be something really good. [laughter]

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I mean, look how far we've come so far from doing little felt eyes to doing

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little embroidered eyes. So, I think we'll get there. So, how much does it

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all cost? Well, it was about $5,400, but

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I saved $800 because I picked it up. So, it was about $4,600. Um, and that sounds

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like a lot, and it is a lot, but when you consider some of the other machines

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that were capable of doing the same things, they were literally about 20 to

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$40,000. So, it's a huge savings from

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that perspective. Um, even the athome machines were about $800 to start and

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they only did a single color, which meant that every single time you wanted

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to change a color, you have to change the thread, which is extremely

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timeconuming, especially if you're actually trying to turn this into a side hustle. So, I'm hoping once we figure

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out the next learning curve for this side hustle thing and pricing and all

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that, we'll actually be able to help recoup some of that cost. >> And here's the finished product. Now I'm

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going to fill it up with stuffing. And then I get a needle and thread and I

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just sew close the hole. >> That is so cute.

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Okay, >> thanks for watching. Make sure to check out lttstore.com.

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Bye.