Welcome back! Today I’m going to continue our look into Janome’s fabulous software package, Horizon Link Suite, which is a CD included with the top-of-the-line Janome MC 15000 Quiltmaker. You can click on the link here to read Part 1 of this series, which was an overview of Horizon Link Suite and how to check that you have the latest version, which is 1.30/1.31.

When you click to open Horizon Link Suite on your laptop or desktop, EmbLink Tool (Embroidery Link Tool) is the first of seven tabs listed, each of which I’ll go over in the next few months.

The genius of EmbLink Tool is that it’s basically a remote design editor which allows you the freedom to create and edit embroidery designs away from your sewing machine! Isn’t that brilliant!? I have a laptop, so I love relaxing on the sofa, or curling up in bed with my cat laying next to me while I plan out and create my next embroidery design, or quilt label.

Now, there is SO much built into this program that there’s no way I can cover everything in this forum, but I wanted to go over a couple of areas where people tell me they’ve been stuck. This isn’t a difficult program to learn, it’s just like everything else in life, it takes practise and you actually have to use it to eventually get comfortable with it.

When you click to open EmbLink Tool, the first place you’ll want to look is the little blue question mark at the upper right corner of your screen.

Click on that and ALL the instructions; everything you’d ever need to know about EmbLink Tool will pop-up, including the option to print. This is especially useful if you’re like me and sew later at night when no one is available to help. You have built-in help every step of the way!

When you look at the main screen you’ll notice some icons are greyed out across the top tool bar. This is because an active editing area has not yet been created. Select “Editing Embroidery Designs” or click on the “Embroidery Edit” tab to bring up an active edit area.

You’ll notice the icons across the top toolbar are now all highlighted so they can be selected, including the “Convert to STX File” tab, which is where we find the popular “AcuStitch” Tool. There’s been a few previous posts on Janome Life on AcuStitch Tool, but I’ll write another one soon to show you all the fun I had creating an AcuStitch table runner.

Click the “Embroidery Edit” tab to see the drop down menu of all the hoop sizes available for the Janome MC 15000 Quiltmaker, including the optional Janome Hat Hoop and popular optional Janome Essential RE 18 5×7″ hoop.

Once you have your hoop size/ editing area selected, click on the “Designs” folder to find all of the designs which are built-in to the machine, or, where you have stored other designs you’d like to bring into the program.

ALL the fantastic editing capabilities built-in to your machine are also available to you, so resize, flip, corner, etc. whatever you wish. 

ALL the fonts built-in to your fabulous Janome MC 15000 Quiltmaker are also remotely available to you under the “Monograms” tab. 

The built-in “Embroidery Simulator“, which gives you a sneak peak of how your design will stitch out, is accessed under the “View” tab. 

You can change the order of how your designs stitch by selecting the design from the “Design List” along the right side of your screen. Simply select and drag to where you’d like it’s new position. In my case, I moved the word Janome from the bottom, last position, to the top so it’ll now stitch out first.

As part of EmbLink Tool, the “Layout Mode” allows you to combine and create LARGE, multi-hoop designs, so you have endless design possibilities at your fingertips. Click on the link here to read the previous Janome Life post.

When you’re ready to actually stitch out your design, you can “Send” it to the machine by connecting the black cable (which is included with the machine)  to your computer and in one of the two USB ports built-in to the side of the machine, OR, you can “Write a Design” and copy it to a USB Flash Drive. This is the method most people seem to prefer, but is also where some run into trouble.

You must “Rename” your design as you do not want to over-write the master designs which you’ve edited, and you must select WHERE you want your new design to be saved. On my screen I’ve circled the dialog box which has a little arrow pointing down, which will reveal more options. My PC is selected, but I want to click on the little down arrow and be sure to select my USB Flash Drive, which I’ve named Darth Vader. (It actually looks like Darth Vader  – I’m a BIG Star Wars fan!)

Now that I have the correct destination for my design selected, in my case, my removable Darth Vader USB Flash Drive, I can save my design to the Emb, or Embroidery Folder so I can easily find it later. I click on the folder and see everthing I have saved within that folder, so, now that I know this is where I want my design saved.  I click on the “ARROW” icon, which transfers the design from the computer to the USB Flash Drive.

If your designs aren’t opening in the machine, it could be that you have the wrong hoop size selected for the design; the design wasn’t actually stored in the Emb folder, (use the UP arrow on the machine to find the design outside of the folder) OR, your Flash Drive/ Memory Stick is too bogged down with dozens of designs so your machine is taking a long time to try to read and process all that data.
Think of this Flash Drive as a vehicle through which you transport data, or, specifically, embroidery files. You want this vehicle to be sleek and fast, so 16gb or less, and, once you have your design over to your machine, put the stick back into your computer, make a copy onto the computer or onto another Flash/Memory Stick and delete the design from the stick. Keep that one special stick, in my case, Darth Vader, just as a speedy vehicle to transfer designs to avoid any frustration.

Also, be sure to take the time to safely remove your USB Flash Drive from your computer. DON’T just pull it out! Doing so could corrupt the files and ultimately corrupt the Drive itself, which is another reason for sometimes having trouble opening designs.

This is my design on the LCD screen of my machine. If I wanted to, I could also continue to further refine and edit my design by taking it into the editing mode before stitching it out. SO much creative control! Create whatever you wish!

You always have an endless amount of creativity at your fingertips with Janome!

Please join me again soon when I delve into the next category of Janome’s Horizon Link Suite, Pattern Combo Tool.

Happy Sewing!