Spotlight on Janome’s Horizon Link Suite: Stitch Composer Part 2

Welcome back! Today is Part 2 of my look at Stitch Composer, Janome’s amazing software, which is one of the selections within the Horizon Link Suite CD included with the Janome MC 15000 Quiltmaker, and its two previous versions. To review my previous “Spotlight” posts on Horizon Link Suite, click on the link HERE. 

BUT! Did you know that Stitch Composer is also on a separate CD included with many other Janome machines, including the Skyline S7,Skyline S9, MC 9400QCP, MC 9450QCP, and the fabulous new Continental M7P.? This means you have the ability to design and create your OWN stitches right at your fingertips. Amazing! This also means that, though many of our Janome machines come with hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of stitches, the stitch count is really limitless since you have SEW much creative freedom and creative control through stitch composer.

In Part 1 of this look at Stitch Composer, I went over some of the basics and provided links to further resources of learning. I also showed the little sample of stitches I created; my name, which, I always think is a good, easy place to start. Today I’ll share with you how to get the newly created stitches from your computer to your sewing machine! If you’ve been following along with me through the previous Horizon Link Suite posts , these step should be quite familiar.

Across the top tool bar of the Stitch Composer screen you’ll click “Write a Design“, which means you are done creating and editing the design; the stitches, in this case, and now you want to send it somewhere. You will need to have your computer and sewing machine connected via the cable which came with your machine OR you can use a USB Flash Drive. The less data on this stick, the better. Your designs will load faster and be read by the sewing machine quicker.

Now you have to rename your stitch pattern by clicking the Rename tab. I label mine SC for Stitch Composer, then choose a specific name for the newly created stitch design. The .STX after the name is the file format – a Stitch File; STX. If it were an embroidery design, it would be JEF or JEF +; a Janome Embroidery File.

Next, select a destination where the design/ stitches will go. You can see at the top of the photo I have “USB Drive (E:)” selected from the drop down menu since I have a USB Flash Drive plugged into my laptop. Other choices are a direct connect to the sewing machine, or to save it to my PC. I can further select where the design/ stitches will go by selecting a folder in which to save them. Since we created stitches, not embroidery, I select the ORD, or Ordinary Sewing folder, which helps keep me organized. Once I click on the ORD folder, it is now listed as the destination in the drop down menu at the top of the photo. Click the ARROW between the Computer icon and the Sewing Machine/ USB Icon to complete the transfer. You’ll note there’s nothing showing in the window below since I have no other designs/ stitches saved in that folder. Once I transfer a design/ stitches to my sewing machine, I take my USB Flash Drive back to my laptop and delete all the data from it. Of course, that’s AFTER I have saved the design/ stitches to my PC, an external hard drive, or another USB Stick which has a much larger memory storage capacity. That way, you have back-ups of your master designs/ stitches, but the USB Flash Drive which you use to transfer the data stays clean and fast, and doesn’t get bogged down from having too much information stored on it.

After the data is transferred to the USB stick, a very important, and often over-looked step is to click along the lower task bar of your computer to “Safely Remove Hardware”. Removing the USB Flash Drive before receiving that message; just pulling it out of the computer can corrupt the files stored on the drive, and corrupt the drive itself, rendering all the data stored on it useless. No one wants that!

The next step is to plug the USB Flash Drive into the sewing machine’s USB port and retrieve the design/ stitches from the ORD folder. I recorded a little video to show those steps HERE. Though the machine on which I demoed was the Janome Continental M7P, the steps are the same regardless of the machine. Also, I forgot to wear my microphone, so be sure to turn your volume up to hear me better. Sorry about that!

I hope you have lots of fun creating whatever stitches your heart desires! Literally, the sky’s the limit! Want more info on Stitch Composer? It’ll be one of the classes at our Janome Sewing and Learning Centre in Oakville, ON, so you can write me at classes@janome-canada.com to be put on the mailing list!

Happy Sewing!!!