Hi fallingup 13--welcome to a costly hobby! I have Bro ULTD 2003--two of them, and that's lots of thread & stabilizer. haha But it is so rewarding to see a finished project. Your format is .pes, so always choose that when downloading. Altho, most times the design will be in many formats inside a zipped folder. Just click on the free download (if you're talking about 'free') and it will d/l to your computer. Set up a folder & name it "downloads, or EMB", for instance. I have Win-XP and I have a D/L folder in My Documents. All my d/l's go into that folder. You must open the folder and unzip the design folder & save your ,pes design. I delete those I cannot use, eventually, when I know my 'saved' is not corrupted. Sometimes you might choose to send the design directly to your machine, if it is connected to the computer. If you use a flash drive, then you would 'copy' your designs to it. My machines use cards and floppy disks. So I save my designs to MY Documents page and then copy to a floppy. Again, if your machine connects directly, you will have an icon to drag the design to, or the machine will be in the list of options to copy to. You must always be sure your designs are unzipped, and that they are in .pes format, and that they are not too large for your hoop. Otherwise, you won't see the design.
Do you have any software programs installed? You might want to have a format conversion program(to change a pretty Janome design into a .pes--for instance. And an iconizer program so you can see images on the computer. And a program to resize your designs when needed. The iconizer will cost you, but there are 30 day trials...the others are free. I hope I have started you on a path of research...there is much to learn.

WOW....I didn't realize how much this entailed! Im going to copy and print out you instructions. I don't have any software installed yet. I'm going to let my daughter read this and help me. I'm not really computer literate...anymore. :) Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it very much. I think I'll be back here quite often haha. I know I will.

BTW, I had the darnedest time finding this thread again. Is there an easy way to track them?

I have the page bookmarked, so I just have to click to come here. I enjoy the 'sewing' forum and 'quilts' as well. Here are some sites for you to explore for free software embroidery programs:
.http://wilcomembroiderydesigns.blogspot.com/2012/05/free-download-wilcom-software.html (for sizing & editing)
www.compusewwithjan.com/.../freeconvertprograms
http://www.wingssystems.com/index.php/products/myeditor/ (this is my favorite free program)
You can get a group of folders already named for organizing your emb designs here: http://www.secretsof.com/content/608
There are others for 30 day trial to test. You might start w/ Sands computing for a trial of an iconizer to see your design images. There are even a few free softwares for digitizing your own designs. Try the freebies first, and see what you like before investing in a program.

Thank you so much for the help and the links! :)

I just got started on my new machine. It wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. I have 1 major problem.

I filled the bobbin, threaded the machine properly, and picked out a programmed pattern to try it out.

The pattern is a heart. The problem, the bobbin thread is showing on top instead of the color embroidery thread. I used a piece of sheeting material, and the stabilizer that came with the machine.

The heart came out very nice, the stitching is great. The red thread shows up on the wrong side, and only a small amount, that is almost all white too. A very tiny bit of red came out on the front when it first started.

I've tried re threading, removing and replacing the bobbin, but it still comes out with the bobbin thread on top.

I finally got too frustrated and left it. Can anyone give me an idea of what I'm doing wrong.

Pictured is the right side of fabric. You can see in the center where it started out red.

I appreciate any help and input I can get.

Oops, sorry, not a heart, a butterfly. Was gonna try the heart.

Oops, sorry, butterfly not a heart. I was gonna do the heart.

hi:)
Theres lots of software available now..You can also find some info about fonts, digitizing etc ..maybe you'll even enjoy the free font stuff..

Here is a link that might be useful: About Fonts and Designs

hi:)
Theres lots of software available now..You can also find some info about fonts, digitizing etc ..maybe you'll even enjoy the free font stuff..

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: About Fonts and Designs