Free Embroidery Designs

I have a janome machine and want to create my own lace design. I really want to do my own. Does anyone use Embird or some other program? How hard is it to do?

I use the Digitizer10000 software that Janome sells. I know you can do some digitizing with Embird, but I don’t know how.
The steps I take in D10K are:
1. Scan the design (I draw out my designs first)
2. First layer is straight line embroidery, no satin stitch. This keeps the design in place. This is done in color 1.
3. Satin stitch the design over the straight lines. Do this in color 2.
4. Satin stitch again, with a stitch slight wider than before, starting and stopping in different places. Do this in color 3.
5. Finally, satin stitch one more time right over #4 (color3). Do this in color 4.
6. Stitch it out and fine tune as needed.
I use the different colors so I can tell which layer needs adjusting. I have made some where the stitches in the satin lines get closer (tighter) with each layer. For testing purposes, I keep the different colors and stitch out using netting between Solvy. I have found that if my design is weak and needs a lot of help that the netting keeps it all together – very important the first test stitch!
From there, I tweak the design as needed. Once I like how it stitches out, I change all the colors to one so the machine doesn’t stop between layers anymore. I save multiple copies as I work.
Laces can be time consuming to digitize. I have created two small lace pieces but I prefer to purchase the designs.
Good luck!

Again, that program is called Digitizer10000. Sold by Janome dealers. There is a new version, DigitizerPro that has some wonderful features, including the ability to digitize any TrueType font you have on your computer. Cool! And it can digitize photos, too. Still one color, but my local dealer said the programmers are working on color!