1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,840 I've been teaching my daughter how to sew, and we've made some really cute creations together. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,160 But we wanted to take it to the next level, so we decided to look into embroidery machines. 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:12,720 I wanted to get something that was easy to use, easy to maintain, had a large enough 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,960 embroidery area for different types of projects, and the ability to do different types of fabrics, 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:24,080 including hats. She wanted color! And that's how we ended up with the Buy Mirror embroidery machine. 6 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:28,720 It's an entry-level commercial machine, and the first question you might have is, why commercial? 7 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,960 The first reason is that everything I read online said that you should get the biggest 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:38,240 embroidery area that you can afford, and this can do up to 20 by 14 inches. And secondly, 9 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:42,640 I wanted to be able to do hats, and most small machines that are for at-home hobby use aren't 10 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:47,040 able to do that. The other thing that she wanted was multiple colors, which meant we needed a 11 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:51,840 multi-needle machine. And lastly, Creator Warehouse recommended it. It's a no-brainer at that point. 12 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:56,880 They had friends in the embroidery industry who said that the Buy brand was basically a copy of 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:02,560 the Tajima brand, which is the ultimate embroidery brand, but at a fraction of the cost. 14 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,480 And this checked out. When I went to the local suppliers, I saw Brother brand machines where 15 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,760 they had six needles that were double the cost of the Buy Mirror machine, which has 15 needles. 16 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,000 The online ordering process was actually really simple. I just went online, placed my order, 17 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,960 and I actually picked it up at a local warehouse and saved $800 in shipping, which was amazing. 18 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:25,840 But it meant that Linus and two other guys had to finagle this machine out of the back of the 19 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:31,600 minivan, which was not great because it weighs about 260 pounds, just for the top half. Assembling 20 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:36,240 it was really easy, though. The top half didn't require very much assembly. We just had to install 21 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:41,440 these handrails. And then for the bottom half, it was as simple as a few thumb screws, and we added 22 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,600 the feet and the wheels on the bottom so that we can actually move the machine. And it also came 23 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:52,080 with all of these accessories that you see here. So the first one was the tool kit, a set of bobbins 24 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:58,240 that are pre-wound for us, some extra needles, some stabilizer, some oil and sewing oil. 25 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:04,320 Some threads. Oh yeah, it came with four different threads. It also came with two sets of hoops. 26 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,160 The two sets are exactly the same, and I think the reason for that is because when you have 27 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,600 something installed and the embroidery machine is working on it, you can be getting ready to prep 28 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:16,800 the next hoop to use. And it also came with the hat stations to be able to do hats. We haven't 29 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:22,800 used them yet, but we're excited to try. Now it's time to turn it on. After lots of reading online 30 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:28,000 and watching tons of YouTube videos from their website, I finally figured out how to use this 31 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:35,120 machine. The first step is what Kat did, which was turn it on. This machine actually uses a regular 32 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,440 120 volt power plug, so we didn't have to do anything special for the electrical in here 33 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,920 to get it to work, which is amazing considering most people who buy this machine start with it in 34 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:51,840 their home as kind of a side hustle business. The next step, oiling it. We see like a little 35 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:59,280 knob in here. You pull on it and pull out the bobbin. Here's the bobbin, thread's low. We should 36 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:07,200 note that. And then you put three to five drops of sewing oil in the bobbin area, and we can pop 37 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:13,360 it back in there and push till it clicks. Next, we have to oil this part. I'll leave these to it on. 38 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:21,680 Voila! One thing that I find really annoying is that this plate doesn't have pre-made holes in 39 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,520 it so that you don't have to unscrew it and screw it back on every single time you oil it. I've seen 40 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:35,360 lots of people make their own and there's just pre-done holes. See that hole? You put 41 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:42,960 three to five drops in that little hole, then oil all along the edge. She's in charge of servicing 42 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:48,320 the machine, as you can tell. I don't do that part. The next step was installing our different 43 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:53,120 threads, but we also had to program the different colors in here so that it knew which ones we 44 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:58,400 were selecting when we were changing it on the screen. I select number one, so now I get to choose 45 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:06,480 out of all these 18 pages of colors which color matches the most to my number one. And then when 46 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:14,400 you're done, click save. We had to do that for all 15 colors and you can see that the machine 47 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:20,080 is numbered here so that you can see which needle belongs to which one, as well as in the back here 48 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:25,280 when you're installing so that you can know which one back here corresponds to here because I lose 49 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:30,480 track of all the different threads. The next step after that was connecting it to Wi-Fi so that we 50 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,920 could upload patterns. It did come with a little USB stick, but it just seemed way simpler to connect 51 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:40,400 it to Wi-Fi and get started. This is the online software. It's very, very basic, but it works. 52 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:45,200 You just click upload pattern and then you drag and drop into here or you can click here and open 53 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:50,080 whatever file it is that you've got. They're also working on their own digitizing software, but it 54 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:56,960 is extremely basic right now. But mostly what I do is I get patterns from online websites and then I 55 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:02,880 upload it here to combine them all because this one here is too basic to really do anything. It does 56 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,880 say that it's in beta right now so hopefully in the future there will be way more functions. So the 57 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,120 next step is to choose what pattern you want to use. You have to do a tension test to make sure 58 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,040 that the threads on the top and the bobbin are at the right tension so you get nice clean lines. 59 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,360 Now that the machine is all set up, we have to actually get the fabric all set up to put 60 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:23,680 inside the machine. One thing that's really nice about these frames is that the sizes are 61 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,760 written right on the frame and that corresponds with the machine so it's really easy to make sure 62 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,720 that you've picked the right one. So you'll need two pieces of stabilizer that fit in the hoop. 63 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,240 The reason you need stabilizer is because it makes the fabric more stable when the machine 64 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,720 is going back and forth through the fabric. Grab your stabilizer and then you put the fabric on 65 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:46,080 top and then you put the front one on and then you press. You tighten the back of the hoop. 66 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,640 The little notches here, they slide under the little things on the handlebars 67 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:55,760 and you push it forward until it clicks into place on the little rectangle shaped holes. 68 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:01,280 Then if you have like a whole bunch of drapey extra like this, you just slide it over this little 69 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:07,120 bar here so then it doesn't get dirty if your floor is not the cleanest like ours. 70 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:16,960 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, three, four, all the way up. 71 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:21,040 And the reason she has to do this is because it doesn't actually highlight 72 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:26,960 which area you're changing so it's really difficult to know. So this is our workaround 73 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:32,160 for color coding it. You make sure that this says AA if you're doing a test. 74 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:37,680 Do you know what AA is? Yeah, it's like automatically automatic and then we click ready. 75 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:45,680 Sometimes it's handy to run a trace and the reason you run a trace is to make sure 76 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:50,320 that your embroidery is within the hoop. The last thing you want to do is have a needle 77 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,640 hit the edge of the hoop and for your design not to fit. Then you press the green button. 78 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,160 Oh wait, before we hit that button let's talk about our sponsors. There it goes. 79 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:05,680 One thing that I forgot to mention is the tension test isn't just a one-in-done thing. 80 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:10,400 You actually have to run a tension test every time you do a new fabric. We're not going to finish 81 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:13,920 that one on camera because it takes too long to do but we can show you some of the ones we did in 82 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,600 the past. You're supposed to have a third of white in the middle and then a third of the color on 83 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,880 either end and that's how you know you've got the right tension. This one here is probably perfect. 84 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,080 After thinking that we got the tension right it was time to start our first stuffy. 85 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,560 We tried this one but you can see that we still didn't get it quite right 86 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,800 and there were a lot of things we learned along the way. So when I go to select the color 87 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:41,360 I find four that's the insides of the ears. I want to turn that pink. So now the insides of the 88 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:46,400 ears are pink. Should we hoop it and get it ready to embroider? Sure. There's actually three different 89 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,800 types of stabilizers. So the one that came with the machine is the tear away stabilizer. When you're 90 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:55,760 done the embroidery you turn it around and to remove the stabilizer you just tear it off. There's 91 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:01,920 also cutaway stabilizer which is actually more stiff and in order to take that apart you have to 92 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:08,400 cut it. There's also washable stabilizer which some people use to put on top of a design and then 93 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:15,200 to get rid of it you wash it away with water. So I haven't actually looked at this pattern 94 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:20,480 and you said something about how there's applique. Applique is when you put another piece of fabric 95 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:27,040 on top and embroider that piece to the original piece. This is like green fabric and we added 96 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:33,040 brown on top. You could theoretically just embroider brown but the reason we did it with 97 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:37,520 the fabric is because we like the material and the feel of it and also because it saves a lot 98 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:42,160 of thread because it's such a big space. Exactly. Do you want to run a trace to make sure it's going 99 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:50,160 to fit? Sure. And it's like going around and looking to see if it's well traced. 100 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:57,600 Right now it's just doing like a little trace of the part that we're going to applique. 101 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:03,600 Now we have the white that we're going to use. A somewhat large-ish piece just in case. So you 102 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:07,280 just like place it on top of the red shape and make sure a nap is right. 103 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:19,680 We haven't, there's actually an applique feature on here but we haven't figured out 104 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:22,800 how to use that either so I just stick my hand in here and I try to cut it. 105 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:28,480 You shouldn't. I know, sorry. Now go. 106 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:36,000 The little screen shows what it's done so far. 107 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:45,280 Oh we got an error. Tension break. So when a tension break happens it doesn't actually tell 108 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:51,600 you what's wrong so you kind of have to figure out yourself. My guess because we noticed that the 109 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:56,960 bobbin was low earlier was that we've read out of thread on the bottom. Thank you. 110 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:07,440 This machine does have the ability to actually go backwards or forwards in stitches and retrace an 111 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:12,800 area that got this. Theoretically you should be able to put the hoop in, set it to go and just 112 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,000 take off and do something else for a bit and then come back later to a finished design. 113 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:21,200 One thing that I do recommend is just making sure you're nearby. You can be doing something else 114 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,880 but the minute you hear an error like that it's nice to be able to come back right away and deal 115 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,080 with it otherwise you'll come back two hours later expecting it to be done and then it's not 116 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:32,080 done because you have to deal with the error. Does it give you a time estimate? It does not give you 117 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:36,320 a time estimate but theoretically you can figure that out because it tells you the number of stitches 118 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:40,480 this design is and then it tells you how many stitches per minute you're going or you're running 119 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:46,000 at so this design is about 5,000 stitches. Right now we're running it at 700 stitches per minute 120 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,720 so about seven minutes. I know that you I say you can go away and do something else but honestly 121 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,880 it's mesmerizing to just sit here and watch. We've had to do a little bit more complicated 122 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,440 troubleshooting before for example we couldn't get our laser to start working but watching the 123 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:05,280 online videos and honestly the Facebook community has been amazing. There have been a couple times 124 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:10,640 where I've reached out to the support team on WhatsApp and they were in a different time zone 125 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:14,400 so it took a little bit longer to respond to me but when they did respond to me it was back and 126 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:20,160 forth really fast. Some machines do have local suppliers and technicians that can help repair 127 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,560 but I think this machine their intention is that it's all DIY and you figure it out yourself 128 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:29,120 but what happens if a part breaks? That's the part that I'm not sure. Do they ship it to me? 129 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:34,240 How long is that going to take? Is it going to be easy for me to figure out? So far I haven't had 130 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:39,440 any of those issues. Everything has been really simple day-to-day operation issues but if a part 131 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:45,840 inside here breaks what do we do? We have to learn how to digitize so right now we are just 132 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:51,360 buying embroidery files. It's done. Yes it is done. Yeah right now we're just buying embroidery 133 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,800 files and they cost maybe like three to five dollars each time but that's still three to five 134 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,920 dollars each time. So recently I downloaded a free software called Inkscape and Inkstitch 135 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:05,520 and I've been trying to do my own files but it's been it's been a really tough learning curve. 136 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:13,200 Let's tear the tear away so you grab it pretty much. I feel like every time we use the machine 137 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:17,680 we're learning something new whether it's learning a new fabric or learning a new design where it 138 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:22,800 sews itself together which is cool or learning how to applique. What else have we learned? Well 139 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:27,040 we learned how to hoop the fabric. Yeah I feel like that's a constant learning process. So the 140 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:33,360 end goal for us here is to a learn something new together and b start a side hustle so I can teach 141 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:40,880 her about business. She's had people request animals or people before and so if we can turn her 142 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:46,720 sewing hobby and embroidery hobby into something that funds her next hobby that's a plus in my books. 143 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,160 In order to run the side hustle though there's stuff that we have to figure out consumables 144 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:56,560 like where do I get blank hats maybe lttstore.com and blank shirts or sweaters. I also have to figure 145 00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:01,120 out where to buy stabilizer all the different types of stabilizer that we talked about earlier. 146 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:06,320 I might need to look into getting better hoops if it takes this long every single time to hoop 147 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:11,200 something that's not very efficient but I feel like all of that is to come later once we get the 148 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:16,320 basics going and part of the basic that we need to figure out is pricing. There are tons and tons 149 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:20,640 of guides out there including from by itself or from Maggie Frames one of the magnetic hoop 150 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:24,880 manufacturers and there's lots of online posts in the Facebook embroidery chat that go back and forth 151 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:28,880 about hey how do you price for this or how do you price for that. I've seen people say that they charge 152 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:35,600 about $15 for 5,000 stitches if we're running at 800 stitches per minute that's approximately $140 153 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:41,280 now that sounds like a lot but we haven't factored in any of the consumables and my time yet 154 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:46,160 or the cost of the machine or rent if you're renting a space so lots to figure out still 155 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:53,200 but it sounds like it could be something really good. I mean look how far we've come so far from 156 00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:00,960 doing little felt eyes to doing little embroidered eyes so I think we'll get there. So how much does 157 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:07,680 it all cost? Well it was about $5,400 but I saved $800 because I picked it up so it was about $4,600 158 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:13,680 and that sounds like a lot and it is a lot but when you consider some of the other machines that 159 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:21,120 were capable of doing the same things they were literally about $20,000 to $40,000 so it's a huge 160 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:27,840 savings from that perspective. Even the at-home machines were about $800 to start and they only 161 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:32,320 did a single color which meant that every single time you wanted to change a color you have to 162 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:36,880 change the thread which is extremely time-consuming especially if you're actually trying to turn 163 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:41,120 this into a side hustle. So I'm hoping once we figure out the next learning curve for this 164 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:45,360 side hustle thing and pricing and all that we'll actually be able to help recoup some of that cost. 165 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:51,920 And here's the finished product now I'm going to fill it up with stuffing and then I get a needle 166 00:14:51,920 --> 00:15:00,560 and thread and I just so close the hole. That is so cute. Thanks for watching make sure to 167 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:05,120 check out LTTstore.com. Bye!