Reviews By Sarah : Date September 15, 2011
I will start by saying I recieved a Babylock Ellure sewing/embroidery machine for christmas of 2010. We immediately realized we would need a software program to maximize the possibilities of my machine. In looking for a program we saw how expensive software programs are. wow. We found Embroidery magic 2 and read some reviews that said it doesn't come with a manual but is realtively easy to use. The truth is it does not come with a manual and some buttons are easy to use but the digitizing aspect of it is alittle more difficult. I went to some classes given by the place I got my machine and they went over all the software programs they sell. This showed me that Embroidery Magic 2 has all the same features that the expensive programs do! The trouble is the names of the actions are alittle different. Long story short. Once you know the program and have made up several designs it is super easy and is very comparable to the more expensive programs. I purchased the Pantograms Type Library 1 and got 75 fonts that just installed directly to the program very easily. I am new to embroidering and sewing. My husband is computer savy so he helps me but now 8-9 months after purchasing this program we are very happy with it and don't plan to "upgrade" to something else unless we find something necessary that we cannot do. I have windows 7 and it works perfectly. I gave 4 stars only because it takes time to learn the program.
Reviews By Beauno : Date October 5, 2011
Like many others, I just wanted to take any of my images and digitize them to threads. It's achievable with this crazy software but you must know some things. Otherwise you'll be spending a week or two like I did making worthless patterns that the embroidery machine (I have a pe700 with the cardreader) won't recognize. I consider myself very tech savvy in my own world, and conquering this beast I thought would be no problem. Hah.
Just having this software is NOT enough to get the designs to your brother machine. I needed to also download Tajima Ambassador so that it could convert the DST files that EM2 makes to PES files that the brother understands. Thats not a big deal to me, but for some, it might be a curve ball they weren't expecting.
Once the design is saved in a PES file thru Tajima, then you must fire up your PED / cardreader and only to find that it cannot even see your design. After a few of these failings, you'll feel like you been run thru the ringer. When digitizing images to threads, some things I found out thru trial and error were that the design in EM2 must be CENTERED first. I think this enables the EM2 to know where the first and last stitch is. You won't find this in any tutorial either. You'll spend weeks to figure this out. Also the brother PED software just recognizes 4x4 designs. I've made designs that were 3.5x3 and still the PED won't recognize them until I scale them down further. Yes, you will be scaling down until the PED recognizes it.
Reviews By Mo : Date December 29, 2010
I purchased this product through amazon.com but it was sent from C&C Sales NY, Inc. It is a digitizing software program for embroidery. I researched instructional videos on line and this seemed very user friendly so I went with it. However, it is not compatable with Vista!!! Today I called 800-872-1555 X 211 which is Creative Series for Pantogram software. I was told it will not work with Vista and there will never be a patch for it. I was further told to contact the distributer I purchased from for refund or download Windows 7 for an additional Embroidery Magic 2 Embroidery Machine Software Digitize$119.00. Amazon can not help me since it was third party and I have had great difficulty contacting C&C. First phone call to them from the Virgin Islands claimed to not know anything and not be related to them in any part (even though their name is C&C Sales). Further research on line seems unlikely that I will ever be able to return this product. I am not opposed to updating to Windows 7 if guaranteed it will work but we all know how that is. My PC is two to three years old and may not be able to run Windows 7 and if it can, there is no guarantee that Embroidery Magic 2 will work. Not sure if I should throw good money after bad. Will keep you informed.
12/30/10 Update: I have been contacted by C&C Sales NY, Inc. and offered a refund. Let me start with I really, really want this software. However, Windows 7 software will not ship to the U.S.V.I. and my internet connection will time out way before downloading this. I have been all over the Internet looking for support because, again, I really want this software.
Reviews By LG : Date November 20, 2012
I love this product. After having bought some embroidery patterns for about $1 to $15, I wanted to create my own and save money. This product is fantastic! I was able to create my own design and sew it out on my Brother SE400. They also have a great support group in Yahoo to give advice and resolve issues. I also bought 2 tutorials dvds from [...] for the basic and advance digitizing to help me get started. I found it more useful than the John Deer book on Digitizing. I am also able to add lettering to premade designs, or add lettering later to the ones I created. Remember to save your design in .PPL format and then the .DST so that you can go back and edit your design. It also comes with a database to store information and organize your library which is very useful. I would highly recommend this product. I was able to run it under both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Reviews By Diane P. Green : Date January 14, 2013
I have had this software for several months and find it easy to use to create cross-stitched items. Recommend this as an add on for any purchase of the Futura CE-250.
Reviews By D. Hallett : Date July 22, 2008
I've been doing machine embroidery for about 5 years, and just purchased my first Brother machine (which I absolutely adore). Before that, I have 2 other machines, and I used card readers/writers by Amazing Box. My first one broke. The second one still works. But, these Amazing Box products are amazingly flimsy, light and cheap. The software barely works with any operating system, and trying to used the things was always on a hope and a prayer.
Then, because I want everything to be just perfect with my new and expensive Brother machine, I bought the PED Basic box with blank card media. I plugged it into my USB, loaded the software, and transferred a design from my computer to the card without having to even look at any instructions. The card then went into my machine, the machine picked out the design, and everything stitched flawlessly.
The PED Basic card reader/writer is small and compact, but has a good amount of weight to it. It feels sturdy and of high quality. It is fast and simple to use. So, even if I didn't have 2 inferior products to compare this to, I'd still have to give this box 5 stars.
And, you definitely can't beat the price at Amazon! Now, I just have to find an additional blank card, since I like to have 2 or 3 of them "just in case".
Reviews By SOBella Mommy : Date May 19, 2008
Not much to say about this... just that it works well for transferring embroidery files from your computer to the data card. Easy to use, basic program. Lets you do minor resizing of files, and you can look at a preview of what the design will look like once stitched.
I just wish that you could do more with this program, as far as minor edits, especially for the high cost... but I have another program for that now.
If you have Windows Vista, go to the Brother website to download a different driver for the card reader - don't use the included disc.
Reviews By Mommy of Two : Date March 9, 2009
If you have windows Vista, make sure you download the software directly from the Brother's Website. It only takes a couple of minutes to download the software. The program is easy to use and I was able to find a lot of free embroidery designs to use with my SE350. The software reads PES files. You can google for free pes format embroidery designs and tons of links will pop up.
Reviews By Serene : Date August 3, 2007
Electric Quilt 6 upgrade only works if you have the previous version installed. If you do not, you need to purchase the full version not the upgrade.
EQ6 makes if fast and easy to create blocks and add them to your library. I particularly like the help videos they have included. They have expanded the paper-pieced library to include some cute & fun items such as vegies, beach scenes and more animals. With the expanded fabric library its easier now more than ever to make your quilts look just right.
EQ6 is an essential quilters tool. My one peeve with it is that they do not offer downloadable expansions from their website, and creating layouts is still a little awkward.
Reviews By Cecelia : Date September 20, 2009
I had a hard time with this program at first because it didn't have the Adobe software interface I'm familiar with (Illustrator, etc.). It has its own rules for rotating, copying, etc.
2 days go I embarked on creating a Storm at Sea quilt from a picture that I liked. In the process, I really learned how EQ works. My conclusion: It's a great quilt design playpen. It moved me to write this review.
Within the program there are tutorial videos and there are more on the EQ website, and on youtube. I'm a visual learner. Once I see it, I get it. Then if I need more details the manual makes sense to me.
The quick design changes I was able to make would have taken ages in Illustrator. The program goes much deeper than I initially thought.
Today I imported pictures of appliques I liked, then traced over them (the bezier tools are more intuitive than Illustrator) and created my own applique blocks. Then saved them to an applique block library I created.
So if you're intimidated, well, so was I, but once you dig in, it's really fun and opens up a world of possibilities. I would have given it 4 stars, because the interface is slightly clunky compared to design software. But what it does, it does so very well. Ya just gotta make friends with it.
Reviews By mom of three boys : Date July 29, 2008
I'm having so much fun with this program. It's tutorial and book make it very easy to learn. As a matter of fact, my 6 year old has been designing quilts with it. It's a program that will grow with me as the complexity of my projects increase.
