# Sophie Sew



## n2mouse (Nov 1, 2012)

I want to start into Embroidery and have looked at buying a used 1 head machine. Do they generally come with digitizing software or not?

If not, I was wondering if anyone has used the freeware SophieSew and can tell me how good or bad it works?

Thanks!


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## n2mouse (Nov 1, 2012)

Anyone used Sophie Sew and can share experiences, please?


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## AlisonB (Sep 26, 2010)

Never used it but Googled it to see more. Sounded interesting on their home page. Found they also have a Facebook page. There are good and bad comments in the "Posts to Page". It is free so could be worth trying out. Do you have an old computer/laptop that you could load it onto to test it on before deciding whether it works for you?


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## NiceThreadsLLC (Mar 20, 2012)

I tried it ages ago(4-6-ish years?) and I wasn't thrilled. It may be better now. Being free you can't really go wrong giving it a try, but I do feel that a lot of the time you get what you pay for . Worst case you lose the time you spent trying it, best case you've saved yourself a lot of money. It might be hard to gauge just how well it works for you if you don't have a machine to test designs on though.


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## mwehling23 (Feb 16, 2012)

Any digitizing software you get is going to have a huge learning curve. There really isn't a program out there that will just spit out a design (well, there are many that "spit" out designs, but they aren't good designs). Many companies claim that you just import a picture and you will have a great design ready to be stitched out. Unfortunately it isn't that easy. I would suggest that you observe a ton good designs stitch out before you venture out to designing your own. 

A cheap editing/digitizing software is Embird. I have used that program for many years. I started out as doing embroidery for myself and then started a small home-based business. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that a program like Wilcom has but it does everything that I need it to do.


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## n2mouse (Nov 1, 2012)

I have heard of Embird before. How much does it cost? And is it better/the same/worse than Sophie Sew?


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## mwehling23 (Feb 16, 2012)

Check out the website embrid.com 

The basic program is $164 which does editing such as combining designs. It can resize designs also but I don't recommend it especially if it has shading. 

The digitizing module is $150. This allows you to make your own embroidery designs. I downloaded SophieSews and couldn't it out. There are tons of tutorials for Embird as well as tons of Yahoo! Groups out there. 

The Font Engine is $145. This allows you to take true type fonts and convert them to embroidery designs. Depending on the font that you choose the outcome is sometimes hit or miss. If you know what to look for in a font and have some understanding about digitizing for lettering you should be able to get some great results. 

Another add on is called Iconizer. This allows you to actually see little icons of your embroidery designs in the windows explorer window. This is $20. 

You start with the basic program and add on the features that you need. Most of the updates to the program are free. However when there is a major overhaul of the program the upgrade fee is usually around $20.


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## S Paul Williams (Oct 15, 2011)

mwehling23 said:


> Check out the website embrid.com


Just to correct the typo  . The site is embird.com


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