Replies

1. 
   WvVec | Jul 20, 2007 12:10am | #1

   Looking through some other posts, I discovered EmbLibrary and downloaded some files from them. Can't wait to use them.

   Any other suggestions?  Thanks in advance.

2. 
   MaryinColorado | Jul 20, 2007 03:34am | #2

   http://www.emblibrary.com is my current favorite.  If you like heirloom and beautiful baby/children's designs try http://www.marthapullen.com  She has a tv show on PBS (Marthas Sewing Room), and has an embroidery club you can join on a yearly basis and get tons of designs and instructions, also her magazine is Sew Beautiful, I also once belonged to thier internet club and got designs monthly plus extras plus patterns, the mag, etc.  Her clubs are great, you really get alot for the money.

   If you look for the padlock when you are ready to order from someone, it should be secure.  I mostly order from the larger commercial companies who have a reputation and also usually sell designs at the stores where the machines are sold.  Alot of the freebies and some for sale are poorly digitized and don't sew out well. 

   Amazing Designs Great Notions has some cool southwestern designs.  I have AD2015 pack with Kokopilli and such.

   Criswell Embroidery has cool lace items.  I have thier butterflys.

   http://www.nancysnotions.com has great ones, she also has a sewing show on PBS  Sewing with Nancy

   I have not liked Buzz Tools designs, they may have improved, but once bitten twice shy, they are not for me.

    

1. 
   WvVec | Jul 20, 2007 06:33pm | #3

   Thank you for all the great advice.

1. 
   MaryinColorado | Jul 20, 2007 07:29pm | #4

   You're welcome!  We love to share our experiences here! 

   You might want to go to the public library in your area and check out the machine embroidery books and magazines.  There is a wealth of info out there.  Mary

3. 
   MargieT | Jul 21, 2007 03:11am | #5

   Apart from Embroidery Library which I love I would also like to recommend the Secrets Of Embroidery site and the wonderful Sue Box - wwwsuebox.com.  Her designs are delightful and beautifully digitized.  Also Julie Hall has great children's designs and projects - http://www.juliehalldesigns.com.  I have found all sites to be secure. 

   Marg

   
   

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   Edited 7/20/2007 8:11 pm ET by MargieT

1. 
   WvVec | Jul 22, 2007 04:23pm | #6

   Thanks to all for the great advice. Sites like this are priceless.

4. 
   maggiecoops | Sep 13, 2007 03:29am | #7

   http://www.jennyhaskins.com/

   http://www.balboastitch.com/

   http://www.anita-goodesign.com/Ecommerce/Products.asp?CatID=1

   http://www.zundtdesign.com/Collection.htm

   http://www.scrigbys.com

   http://www.skeldalehouse.com/

   http://www.rowenacharlton.com/

   http://www.astitchahalf.com/

   http://www.hatchedinafrica.com/

   I have purchased from these sites   (and a few more) with no problems at all. Most offer downloads and an option to re download in case of PC crashes. Without exception the digitising has been excellent with no superfluous jump stitches or misalignments. Most offer samples on different collection pages and hatched in Africa has a wide assortment of free designs. I haven't included Embroidery Library or Sue Box as they've been submitted already. The Zundt designs and Bolboa sites have designs that are wonderful and well worth the more expensive price tags. Make certain the formats are the ones for your machine and fit your hoops as resizing pre converted designs isn't always successful. The digitisers have their software master files which are data only and can save to other design formats from them, resizing without increasing or decreasing the density settings they originally set.

1. 
   Cherrypops | Sep 13, 2007 04:12am | #8

   Hi Maggie,

   Thanks very much for these.

   I joined SkeldaleHouseDesigns Yahoo Group a while ago. Lovely designs to download.

1. 
   maggiecoops | Sep 13, 2007 04:44am | #9

   Thank you Cherrypops, there are so many sites now offering designs and some of them aren't as well digitised as they could be. Since I started digitising myself I have realised just how bad some of them are. but the sites I listed, and there are others as well, have been consistently good. I've got very picky now about which sites and digitisers I'll purchase from.

   When I first started machine embroidery I downloaded designs right left and centre, there were only 2 sites, now there popping up all over tied to showcase platforms and groups. I've since deleted 80% of them as being so badly digitised they weren't worth the time I needed to invest in them to make them stitchable. I now spend the time doing my own designs.

   There's an excellent site http://freeembroiderystuff.embroiderydesigns.com/ which has some extremely good embroidery related articles well worth reading. subjects range from pricing to techniques, I learnt a great deal about this addictive past time, including what causes push pull issues and how to identify stitch densities in pre digitised designs.

   Edited 9/12/2007 9:44 pm ET by maggiecoops

1. 
   Cherrypops | Sep 13, 2007 04:52am | #10

   I have purchased from embroidery library, yet to try. "Crazy K" here loves this site, given me help also.

   I am new to machine embroidery. My mother-in-law does it. She uses 'Generations' software for digitising. I'm not quite there yet.

   I've been given great advice here from the 'experts'. Glad to have you on my list.!

   Cp

1. 
   maggiecoops | Sep 13, 2007 06:17pm | #12

   Your mum has good taste Cherrypops, I purchased Generations when I visited family in Australia last year. It's a great programme, though I still have to find time to explore it more fully, there's a great support group on Yahoo

   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generations_In_Embroidery/

   I also have Janomes Digitiser Pro, Embirds Studio and cross stitch, a great value for money programme but for folks who want to auto digitise Studio isn't a good choice as it's aimed at manual digitising. Husqvarna pro V 5 a very old programme but excellent none the less. I did own the PEDesign V2.5 but donated that and the PE 200 embroidery machine to a friend. I love manual digitising and am totally addicted to it. It's the process I enjoy much more than the finished designs, in fact I have a habit of pushing the process further and further in order to learn more and end up mucking the design about so much it's not stitchable. But that's how I learn about the whys and wherefors of stitch fill angles, compensation, density settings etc. I enjoy it so much anyone who comes within grabbing distance is subjected to a "look at this see how altering this or that effects the design."

   I always swore I would never become a hobby bore, and guess what I've become. It keeps me busy and happy which can't be a bad thing, trouble is my once large enough sewing room has now become so full of machines and stashes, there's no room left for any more equipment. I've 2 single head 12 needle industrial embroidery machines, one second hand the other brand new, it was as cheap for me to buy the brand new one, as one of the top of the range embroidery/sewing combos, and the sewing field on the newest one is a modest 22" x 15". A Janome 10000 which has a wonderful stitch quality, I looked at all the others very carefully before buying it, but even though I lusted after Husqvarne, which as a sewing machine was impressive, the Janome won out as the embroidery unit was an integral part of the machine and the stitch quality was as good. I used the price difference to buy a serger (overlocker here in England) I haven't regretted my decision. Then I have a separate sewing machine, a Brother Super Ace 11, lovely machine as well, and my old faithful, a 43 year old mechanical Singer 328K with pattern cams still going strong. I use that one for free motion embroidery work which I first started in the late 50s and was taught by one of the Singer Artists when an Art student, her work was phenomenal, in fact all the Singer Ladies in the machine Embroidery and Lace Studios work w exquisite. Even now their work hasn't been matched by any designer including the Zundt digitisers. Perfect satin stitch with a treadle machine and straight stitch only.

   My other passion is machine knitting and I've converted my once very comfortable lounge into a knitting room to house my 8 knitting machines and enough yarn to knit for England. I crochet, hand knit, keep a marine fish tank, and spend hours researching imformation on all my hobbies. What I don't do a lot of is domestics, fortunately my 4 children are all adults and 3 of them have their own homes or they'd strve waiting on me to cook. Mind you when they were all tall enough to stand at an ironing board, sink, cooker, etc they were all taught how to cook, launder, iron, clean and sew. I was a working mum who needed her evenings for playing with er toys in order to stay sane and relaxed. Something my husband understood and encouraged. A relaxed happy parent meant a calm happy family, which he was all for. He died a month after I retired but before he died( we knew he was terminally ill) he bought me a computor of my own, as he told the children, "she'll play and exeriment with the darn thing so much she wont know what day of the week she's in. Ring her to make sure she goes to bed" He wasn't wrong.

2. 
   MaryinColorado | Sep 13, 2007 06:03pm | #11

   Thanks for the website referral!  I have been looking into digitizing software for my Husq/Viking Designer 1.  I am leaning toward the DraWings software but don't know anyone who uses it.  This website has alot of helpful info, so glad you posted it.  Mary

1. 
   maggiecoops | Sep 14, 2007 03:22am | #13

   Hi Mary, there's a lot of really good practical advice in those articles isn't there. I pop over to it weekly to pick up any new articles or tips and hints, I'm so grateful at just how generous some of the authors are with their expertise. It's like having my own personal tutor on hand. I know it's aimed at embroidery businesses, but translates very easily to the home hobbiest.

   Do you use any vector drawing packages, as I believe the Corel Drawings works very much like Corel Draw, I haven't used it but I do have Generations, a programme that also has excellent auto digitising. I mainly do manual digitising as I like to know exactly how a design is constructed so I can quickly edit any glitches. Not so easy with Auto Digitising. Whichever software you decide on in the end , you need to see first how much support is out there on the web, as digitising software can look like hieroglyphics at first.

2. 
   MaryinColorado | Sep 14, 2007 08:41am | #14

   I have used Corel Draw.  I have never tried digitizing in any form.  From what I have seen and experienced, the sewing companies just never seem to be up to date with computers.  The "latest" software always seems like a dinasaur and overpriced to the hilt.  Being impressed with Corel Draw, I think it makes sense that thier embroidery digitizing software would be more state of the art.  But they are not "sewing experts". 

   I live near a large metro area so there are alot of shops, just not satisfactory software.  Of course it is difficult to know the score, when I haven't digitized myself.  It seems that the autodigitizing is not quite "there" yet.  I may be mistaken, but I think I would prefer manual digitizing. 

   It is so disheartening to feel like you have to spend so much money, only to be disappointed.  That is why I haven't purchased any digitizing software even though I've been machine embroidering for many years. 

   Any insights you might provide would be greatly appreciated.  Mary

3. 
   maggiecoops | Sep 14, 2007 03:03pm | #15

   Hi Mary, manual digitising allows you to control sequencing (the stitching order) the fill types, densities used, travel paths to make life more comfy for your machine and to eliminate those annoying jump stitches which cause extra work. Digitising is not unlike tracing, only instead of using crayons to apply the colour and texture you use the various fill types on offer. I've looked at the commercial digital digitising software the industry uses, but as brilliant as they are, and they do make our domestic software look like kindergarten level, their prices are awesome as well.  As you are contemplating and not yet digitising, can I suggest you look at the Embird suite along with it's digitising plug in Studio, it's as powerful  ( in some instances more powerful ) as any top end software package on offer to the home digitiser who wants manual digitising. It's price tag is a lot lower as well. The basic package of a file management application, an extremely good one, and Editor with excellent design splitting capability, is fantastic, that costs $129, then the digitising plug in costs $150 and the design viewer, iconizer $20. so for $299 you have a very good digitising application. The Iconiser allows you to view your designs as an image rather than a file type.  Up grades are inexpensive, the last one was $30 as against $200 for one of my others, and intermediate updates are free. Support is plentiful with Yahoo groups and purchasable tutorials either as complete disc sets from people like Kathy Jones at flyingneedle.ca or Amy Webster  there are more. Kathy runs  studio and editor splitting clubs which charge $40 a year each for monthly downloadable lessons. They are really good value as she knows her stuff and how to pass her knowledge on in an easily digestible way. http://www.embird.com/  

   The reason I suggest this as a route is because having invested $1000 plus for a digitising package, it leaves a nasty taste if later you decide it's not for you. My first digitising package set me back $2000 and was so awkward to use, it just festered away on my PC. There was little or no support and the support they offered was for Auto digitizing only.  At the time a days tuition cost in excess of $300 and involved an overnight stay in an hotel as lessons were only given at their main offices miles from where I lived. That experience almost killed my desire to digitise. It took the purchase of a new different brand machine bundled with it's software to re awaken my interest, and a chance discovery of a free small video clip on manual digitising, that did it and now I'm hooked.

   A slightly more costly option is the Janome Digitiser Pro, it's a good workmanlike programme, has a short learning curve, has good auto digitising capability and it's manual tools and their functions, though limited are more than adequate to assist you to become a proficient digitiser.  It lacks some of the bells and whistles found in more expensive packages like Corel Drawings, but that's a benefit not a drawback. It forces you to find alternative solutions to create  designs that stitch consistently well. Too many packages rely on fancy fills, contoured fills etc, take a look at Balboa designs, or Embroidery library, most of the latters digitisers don't rely on fancy stitches to achieve good designs, and Balboa doesn't have one instance of a fancy fill that I've ever discovered, just a sound knowledge of the physics and techniques of digitising. It's worth considering that before parting with $1000 for a package you will soon discover you don't fully utilise because you don't need all the frills and extras.Plus you can use the difference to buy more thread and stabilisers.

4. 
   MaryinColorado | Sep 14, 2007 03:55pm | #16

   Thank You so much!  I printed out the info, it is very helpful and is just what I was hoping for.  I will definitely look into these options.  Mary

5. 
   Michika | Sep 16, 2007 12:26pm | #17

   A very good site for excellent embroidery designs is Sue Box Embroidery Designs - She is based in Tasmania, Australia.  I have had the pleasure of having digitizing lessons with her a couple of years ago, at a Bernina shop in Brisbane, Queensland.  Her site is worth a look.  I have purchased safely from her site.  I believe she has done designs for Bernina's range ( If I am not mistaken).  On most of her sets she has a free downloadable (is that a word?) design which  sews out just as good as the the ones you buy.  Marika

   Edited 9/16/2007 5:39 am ET by Michika