Free Embroidery Designs

I bought the USB flash drive and when I download files off the internet, it says it can’t work (or something.) Is there a step I’m missing in order to get my machine to recognize the files?

what is the extension on the file? most embroidery designs are in zip format when you download them. the file format you need is either sew or jef, i’m not sure because i haven’t worked with a janome machine for awhile. you need to unzip the file before you use it. here are a few embroidery groups i belong to. the people on them are great and you will get so much information from them.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClassicEmbroideries/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EmbracingMachineEmbroidery/
http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/AmericanEmbroideryConference/?yguid=102878935

here is my favorite site for embroidery designs. they give away 49 free designs a day and are running a sale on their site right now.
http://www.designsbysick.com/amember/go.php?r=5647&i=l0">Designs by SiCK Embroidery Library

feel free to e-mail me if you need a futher explaination of how to un-zip files or if you have any other questions.

have fun.

I’m just trying to get an idea what I can sew on with this machine, and also which would be the best thread for embroidery? I know I can sew towels, but for some reason, I had difficulty sewing on one when I tried it. I’m thinking my machine doesn’t like the thread that I have so which embroidery thread serves best for that model? Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Embroidering towels or other napped fabric takes preparation of the fabric.

Be sure to use thread specifically for machine embroidery and bobbin thread specifically for machine embroidery.

There are tips, techniques and charts at Embroidery Library that would be very helpful to anyone who does machine embroidery. http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/holder.aspx?page=techniques

I have a Janome Memory Craft 200E. I have never used an embroidery machine before, so this is all greek to me! What format do the designs I purchase/download need to be in?

If this is your machine – http://www.allbrands.com/products/abp13701-0160.html

You need the jef format.

If you find designs that you like, but they are not jef, you can convert them by using Pulse Ambassador. This is a free software download used by many machine embroiderers.

http://www.pulsemicro.com/ambassadordownload

Before you download designs, create a folder on the PC’s hard drive and name it Embroidery or something you can easily recognize.

When you download a design, select SAVE and the folder you created.

The design file may be compressed or zipped – you will have to open this before sending to the embroidery machine.

Highlight the design file and select open or extract. You will now have two files; the zipped file and the open file. You can delete the zipped file.

If the file has to be converted to jef, open Pulse Ambassador and find the design file. Open and then SAVE AS using the jef format.

Make sure the designs you download are within the limitations of the embroidery machine – this is usually signified by the size of the hoop.

Back up your embroidery folder to flash drive or cd every time you add or make a change. This will ensure the saftey of the folder should the PC go wonky and loose you hard work.

It is also a good idea to have a catalog program so you can see the designs – Windows cannot read machine embroidery designs.

You can check Embird, Buzz Tools or Ann The Gran for this software. ATG has a demo you can download and try for a limited period of time.

Embroidery Library has several free tutorials, videos, tips & techniques that are very helpful.

http://www.emblibrary.com/el/elprojects/holder.aspx?page=techniques