A while ago I wrote about how excited I was to get the new Brother PR-1000 and how much time I thought it would save me. It has done that and much more.

There were some things that I didn’t realize would be so useful:

One favorite feature is the way the machine remembers what colors I have on the spools. When a new design is selected it highlights the spools that need to be changed for the next design. For example: I was doing a set of designs from a collection. All the designs had similar colors with just a few changes for each design. As soon as the new design was selected the colors that needed to be changed were highlighted in blue, making it very quick for me to get the new thread colors in position. It remembered that Prussian Blue was on spool 3, and even though Prussian Blue was the first color in the new design it was automatically assigned to spool 3 instead of me having to move it to spool 1 or manually re-assign it myself. In many cases I only needed to change 2 or 3 colors for the new design.

The Name Drop feature has saved me more time than I dreamed possible, especially when it is teamed with the LINK function. The Name Drop feature lets you save series of names that it will place in the proper position on a design. As soon as a design is completed a message pops up and asks, “Do you want to do the next design?” If “OK” is selected the finished design will clear and the next name in the queue will load in the next design automatically. I used a design from an Anita Goodesign holiday collection with Name Drop and completed a monogrammed Christmas stocking for every member of the family. Everyone loved them!

I have done plenty of large designs using the FF jumbo hoop and the alignment system in PE Design. I’ve never had problems with alignment, but I was careful and followed a “procedure” to make sure it lined up prior to stitching. Now I just divide the design in PE Design NEXT and let the Snowman® do the alignment. This requires no thinking on my part. I just need to be able to read and follow the simple steps that are displayed on the screen!

If you have a multi-needle machine, what are your favorite features? If you don’t have a multi-needle embroidery machine, be sure to stop by your local store and take a look at one in action. You’ll be amazed at how much time you can save!

Happy Stitching,
Carol