Free Embroidery Designs

I have been wanting to purchase my own monogramming (Embroidery) machine. I do not sew or use sewing machines, but I would love to own my own embroidery machine to make items for myself o for gifts. I do not plan on making items to sell or anything….just personal use (bags, bath towels, t-shirts, etc….). Does anyone know a good machine to recommend to me? (I’m pretty sure I will have to buy a sewing/embroidery machine). Thanks!!!! Also, is embroidery machines hard to use (for someone that doens’t really have any experience with sewing machines).

Embroidery machines are easy to use. Start with small, simple projects to help you learn the machine and the different techniques.

This is long due to the explaination regarding how to download designs from the Internet.

The sewing/embroidery combos are usually more expensive. However, the Brother se400 sold at Walmart is a combo and a bargain at less than $500.

There will be several designs and fonts for monogramming built into the embroidery machine.

This model has USB connectivity, which means you do not have to purchase additional software to send downloads from the Internet to the machine for embroidering. And you will want to download as there are thousands of free downloads, plus many more for sale.

There is a cable that comes with the machine that you connect to the machine and your PC – all embroidery software programs are Windows supported, so Mac users have an added expense when using these programs.

To utilize the downloads, you create a folder on the hard drive of your PC. Give it a name you can easily find. Then as you find designs you want to down load (be sure they are .pes and within the hoop size of the embroidery machine) save them to the folder.

Many, if not all downloads are zipped files. You will have to unzip or extract before the embroidery machine can read the file. Mouse over the zipped file and a mini screen will come up. Select unzip or extract all. This will provide the file you need to keep. The zipped file can be deleted.

To send to the embroidery machine, hook-up the cable. A new drive letter will appear. Select the designs from the folder on the hard drive and send to the new drive letter. This will then allow you to access the designs from the embroidery machine.

Once the transfer to the embroidery machine has been made, the embroidery machine and PC no longer need to be connected.

Some of this will be addressed in the manual for the machine. There are also several forums you can join (free) and ask questions. http://www.sewforum.com is an excellant one.

A great one for tips and techniques (free videos and print-outs) is Embroidery Library. Take special note of the type of stabilizer and hooping techniques for the different types of fabrics that are to be embroidered. http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/holder.aspx?page=techniques

PS: All embroidery machines have formats and pes is used by Brother and Babylock. The other brands of embroidery machines have different formats.

All formats, except Bernina’s art format can be converted to that of the embroidery machine, meaning if you have an art formatted design, it will only work on a Bernina embroidery machine that has the art format – confusing, but that’s Bernina!

Pulse Ambassador is a free software program that I have used for conversion of machine embroidery formats. Here is a tutorial for this software http://www.annthegran.com/cs/forums/t/4745.aspx

The Brother 400SE at Walmart is a good bargain. You get a quality name brand machine that you can use as a sewing machine or an embroidery machine (EM).

There are designs and fonts for names and letters built into the EM.

You can select letter types, size and enter on the screen.

As long as the size is within the size of the hoop that comes with the EM, no additional software will be needed.

The hoop that come with the EM indicates the largest area that the EM is designed for.

In addition, this model has USB connectivity, which means you can connect to your PC and send designs that you have downloaded to your PC to the EM.

Create a folder on the hard drive of the PC and name it Emb Downloads.

Then search the Internet for free downloads and save them to the Emb Downloads folder.

Make sure they are .pes format and sized within the hoop size of the EM.

Then as you want to use one of the downloads, connect the cable that comes with the EM to the PC.

A new drive letter will appear on the screen of the PC.

You send the design from the folder to new drive letter and then to the EM.

Are you looking for machine embroidery designs? Try the machine brand web sites, they all have downloads of free sample designs of the collections that they sell. Also, most designers have a free sample of the work that they sell. Some of my favorites:

http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/uk/1556.htm
http://www.brother-usa.com/HomeSewing/GetCreative/free-designs.aspx
http://www.elnausa.com/
http://www.singerco.com/projects/
http://www.pfaffusa.com/4704.html
http://www.embroideryonline.com/products/SpecialDeals.aspx
http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/default.aspx
http://freeembroiderystuff.embroiderydesigns.com/stockdesigns.aspx

Have fun!!

I am looking for a website where i can find cute applique alphabets in a pes format for my brother machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

You will have to search the various sites that offer free downloads. More than likely you will have to purchase the design package.

Try http://www.sewforum.com for free designs, you can even request certain designs at no charge.

There are some here for sale – http://shop.ebay.com/sis.html?_nkw=Curly+APPLIQUE+ALPHABET+Machine+Embroidery+Design+Fonts

I am new to embroidery and am looking for a pretty monogram font for our initial to put on kitchen towels…I can’t figure this out…trying to download a free one, but it’s in a .ttf file. My machine only recognizes .pes or .dst files. How can i convert this? Or, where can I find free downloads already in .pes format? Thanks!

Embroidery machines only recognize machine embroidery formats.

You will need machine embroidery digitizing software for what you are wanting to do. This software starts at about $1,000.

You can find many free embroidery downloads by googling "free machine embroidery designs".

Most will be either pes or they will offer pes as an option.

If you find something you really like in a format other that pes or dst, you can convert to pes with conversion software. Pulse Ambassador is one program that you can download and use and it is free. It has to be a machine embroidery format.

Google and they will come.

prefer free downloads

Dover Clip art series of books & CD-ROMs. They are Royalty Free. You might need to work on the clip art in a Graphics Program to get it ready for autodigitizing. The black & white Dover CD ROM clip art works best since their color clipart has too many dithered colors. Dover has the biggest collection of clipart for embroidery & foreign art.

The Dover Books (without CDs) are inexpensive. You could scan them.

Free Downloads sometimes are Roayalty Free. Check to see if you can resell the digitized designs from the free downloads. Upon going on these graphic free sites, just be careful of POPUPs. Sometimes they also give your PC pests– Depends on the sites.

I have a free site from Australia that I heard about from Stitches, an Australian Sewing Magazine from www.ericas.com. "LaceFairy" has free clip art that is for non-commercial use. Maybe from that site you can find some others.

It is the big Graphic sites that the POPUPs & adware are problems. The Lacefairy site seemed ok.

If not is there a way to convert other formats to vsp format?

Husquvarna web site has a monthly free design as well as archives. I have the 4D program and it converts everything. Some of the web sites offer free downloads to convert patterns. You can buy the 3D program much cheaper on Ebay than it was now that 4D has come out.
Good Luck
Sherry PA

Are you a beginner in the art of embroidery trying to figure out what kind of design to work on? Or are you an experienced embroiderer who is running out of design ideas? Perhaps you might be an embroidery fanatic who loves to make designs come alive on fabric but do not have the artistic skills to conjure up your own designs.

It is really fulfilling to be able to finish an embroidery project and see a pattern translated onto fabric. But it could also be challenging to create your own designs. Fortunately, there are several free machine embroidery patterns available for you to use these days. You just have to select your favorite among a wide variety of embroidery patterns and you can start stitching right away.

For more information on free machine embroidery downloads click here

Are you a beginner in the art of embroidery trying to figure out what kind of design to work on? Or are you an experienced embroiderer who is running out of design ideas? Perhaps you might be an embroidery fanatic who loves to make designs come alive on fabric but do not have the artistic skills to conjure up your own designs.

It is really fulfilling to be able to finish an embroidery project and see a pattern translated onto fabric. But it could also be challenging to create your own designs. Fortunately, there are several free machine embroidery patterns available for you to use these days. You just have to select your favorite among a wide variety of embroidery patterns and you can start stitching right away.

For more information on free cross stitch downloads click here

Whether their dogs are big Black Labrador Retrievers or tiny brown Chihuahuas, dog lovers enjoy using dog-centered graphics. And all dog lovers seem to like free graphics of dog paw prints. You like them, but where can you find free graphics of dog paw prints?

Computer Software Programs

For more information on free embroidery fonts downloads click here