Singer has introduced a brand new embroidery machine and the name is Futura Quartet. I have ordered one and will review it for you. The Futura has multi-hooping, new hoop clips to clip-on instead of screwing the hoop in place, and a much larger hoop. Â
Well I have been embroidering a while now on my new Futura Quartet. Here are some quick tips I will pass on to you:
1.Fast forward or reverse in embroidery can be set to run continuous by just pushing in on the needle up or down / the reverse button a second time. Ask me how I know!
2. Make sure you drop your feed when embroidering. Helps the machine run more smoothly. When you raise the feed to sew you need to push down to push left when raising the feed to sew.
3. I suggest you buy Stitch N Sew designer if you want to digitize. The Quartet has auto Punch but no editing. Here is a Designer digitized dog and an autopunch dog. Compare the 2.
 The autopunch has breaks in the outline. If I had editing I could help the design look smoother. With the Designer I can hand punch the outlines and hide the jump stitches and eliminate wild long stitches. The dog design is going to be a bone placemat for a friend of mine.
4.The new hoop is about 10″ X 6″. There is also a 4″ X 4″ hoop. Make sure you clear everything behind your embroidery arm so it will swing clear and not bump anything. The new program will auto split any design that is too big to fit your large hoop.
The multi-hooping is easy to do. Just be accurate when you mark your fabric with a cross hair center. I will do a seperate blog and video on the multi hooping later.
5. The Quartet has adjustable speed and will go really fast or really slow, depending on your needs. Â Long jump stitches may cause your needle to break. If you have them in your design, adjust your speed to be in a slower range.
6. The threading is very easy but I do have some hints. Hold on to the top thread to give tension as you lead the thread through the threader. Do not pull tight when you place the thread in the cutter. Use the threader with the presser foot up and the needle all the way up. Before you pull the loop through, clip the thread in front of the cutter and pull the loop through using your curved scissor or tweezer.
6.Some of the built in designs are lovely. Under special designs I found this flower. I plan to embroider it as a 3-d design on tulle with a washaway. I will embroider the flower as a filled design. I also eliminated the fill to make the flower open. I will combine all the flower onto a pillow top for my friend.
7. The Quartet has lots of storage. The free arm slide on bed has a flip up unit in the front and back of the arm. These are indicated by the large red arrows. When using the embroidery arm you also have storage at the end of the embroidery arm.
8. The extra wide arm measures 8″ from the needle center to the machine body. Extra space makes larger designs and quilting much easier to do. This is a very useful feature.
9. Swift Smart threading of the top and bobbin threads is very easy and accurate. I have not had a beep yet from a misthread. The bobbin case threading is impossible to mess up.
10. You now have a decorative stitch tie off.
I think this machine is going to give the top end machines a run for the money. The price and the features with software are outstanding and there is nothing I know of to match it.
Jenny
