Tag: Free embroidery designs

Fun Free Embroidery Designs

In past years, Christmas in July has always brought out lots of sales and free stuff from embroidery companies and quilting sites. This year was no exception. I think the online embroidery companies have outdone themselves this year. July isn’t the only month you can download free or inexpensive designs. If you are new to embroidery, this is a great way to add to your stash of embroidery designs. With costs of everything the way it is, saving money on designs is always a good thing.

Whether you are a newbie to machine embroidery or a seasoned professional, you can never have enough machine embroidery designs. The companies I have listed below are just a few of the companies that I found have great sales or free designs. Check out all the “creative Links” on the right and see what fun and wonderful designs you can find free or inexpensively. Here are just a few to get you started.

http://www.oesd.com has pages and pages of $1.00 designs. Many are part of a pack of designs. You might like that one design and then buy the whole pack. They also have some free standing lace/applique Christmas ornaments that are gorgeous

http://www.emblibrary.com gives you one or 2 free designs every month, then all throughout the month they have deep sales on different designs. Be sure to sign up for the Christmas Club. You can get free designs before Christmas.

Oh My Crafty Supplies http://www.ohmycs.com has a free design every day. If you miss the free one you can usually get it next day for a dollar.

Check out http://www.designsbyjuju.com. because they have great designs. If you are a quilter and want to do you own quilting with your embroidery machine, then check out their “end to end” quilting designs. They are amazing, easy to do, and your quilts look like they were quilted on a long arm machine.

Anita Goodesign at http://www.anitagoodesign.com always has something on sale on their online store. Their designs are beautiful and instructions are easy to follow.

I love doing Mylar embroidery designs. Get some fun, inexpensive or free designs from http://www.charmingstation.com They have a whole series of snow men designs that are free. Their free turkey design is adorable. Their packs of designs are also inexpensive. Check out the chocolate mug rugs. They have no calories!

I was just given a new site that a friend just loves. http://www.sarastockdesigns.com has great in the hoop projects and the big thing is key fobs.

Many of the embroidery companies have “IN THE HOOP” projects. You can complete the project totally in the hoop or with a minimal amount of sewing. These make great presents for friends or relatives. Instructions are generally easy to follow and everyone will be amazed at what you created.

This is just a few places you can find wonderful embroidery. Check them out and enjoy starting on some great presents for the holidays.

I will be doing more educational blogs in the future and I genuinely hope you enjoy them. Please pass my link on to your sewing friends. I try to make them informative and help you to enjoy what you are creating. If you haven’t already, please sign up to follow my blog as Google likes us bloggers to have followers. You will get an email each time I publish a new blog. Also, please check out my past blogs. They cover things like, stabilizers,  threads, needles, etc. Use it as a reference source. Also, if something new or different has come on the market, I will revise that particular blog, so you are always up to date.

Happy Sewing,

Molly

Free is Fun Again!

Whenever I teach an embroidery class my students ask where did you get that design and most times, if I give them a design, it’s because I got that design for free.  Every body likes to get things free. In the quilting and embroidery world there are a lot of companies who every month, give you a free quilting pattern or free embroidery designs. My last “Free is Fun” blog talked about some of the free embroidery designs you can get.  Well here are a few more.

Check out Hatched in Africa. This is a wonderful company in  South Africa that has “All Sorts of Embroidery” as well as projects and supplies. You can download your designs and you will get a free design with each purchase. Secrets of Embroidery  has 60 different designers. Each one has their own unique style and you can go crazy trying to decide what you want.  You can download some of their free designs to try out the company. Be careful, you will get hooked and want to try more.  I told you about Zundt Designs in my last Free is Fun blog. I said their designs are beautiful and stitch out well. Try their FSL – “free standing lace”  bowls with Floriani metallic thread. Lovely! Their designs are a little pricey but whatever your buy,  you will make often,  which makes it worth the price.

Almost all the companies have free designs and some give you free designs every month like Embroidery Library.  They also have a special Christmas Club. As you buy designs, you get points towards free designs. Like your very own Christmas present of embroidery designs.

Anita  Goodesigns  have exquisite designs. Up until now, you could only purchase their designs from a store like ours, Expert Sewing Center, but now you can purchase designs direct. Register with them and you will get word each week about a $5 or $10 “mini pack” that you can download immediately.

Embroidery Garden has a lot of “In The Hoop” projects that are always fun to do.

Embroidery Panda has sooo many designs that they sell for twenty five cents. Can’t beat that price!

If you can’t afford to immediately buy “everything you love” then these free designs are a great way to build your stock of patterns and designs, try out their company and find they suit your style. Naturally, I will always buy a design or two along with my free designs.

Many of these companies will have video tutorials to answer a lot of your questions. In the future, I will add some that I think you might like.

Not an embroiderer? Quilters have just as many free things on line. Nancy’s Notions isn’t just a store to buy supplies, it also has a section where your can download free projects and quilting blocks. Check it out.

Another of my favorite sites is QuiltersCache.com . They have traditional and new style quilt blocks in all sizes, complete with instructions, etc that you can download for free.

There are so many resources of free “stuff” if you just take the time to search them out. I will have more for you in the future. It’s a great incentive for you to check my blog often to see who else I can tell you about. 🙂 I will only talk about the companies that I personally love and I know are honorable and reputable to do business with. These are companies I have purchased from for many years. To get many of these “freebies” you need to register with the website, then you will get emails for when they have sales, or you can just sign in to see what they have new.

TIP: Make sure you use the proper needle for your embroidery project. Most projects you will use a 75-11 embroidery needle. If you are working on denim or thick fabric projects, you may want to try a 90-14 embroidery needle. If using Metallic thread, use a needle rated for metallic thread. The eye is a little larger to allow the thread to travel through the eye a little cooler. Please read my blog that tells you about the various needles and when to use them. The proper size needle really can make a difference in the quality of your project.

Check all the Creative Links on the right to go direct to the various websites I talk about.

Please click the follow button and sign up to follow my blog. You will get an email each time I publish something new. Check out my past blogs and I’d appreciate it if you would pass on my link to your sewing, quilting and embroidery friends.

Until next time …. happy sewing!

***PLEASE SCROLL DOWN OR CLICK ON LINKS AT RIGHT TO READ MY PAST BLOGS. THANK YOU. 

To Hoop or Not To Hoop, That is the Question?

Hooping can be a mystery to a lot of “newbie” embroiderers and for some old timers who maybe don’t know some of the new techniques. It all really depends on what you are getting ready to embroider. The consensus is that hooping your product is always the best way to have a design turn out with little or no puckering. Sometimes you can’t.

Decisions are made depending on whether the product will get what they call Hoop Burn. (a ring left from the hoop crushing the nap down)

If you are going to embroider a  flat or waffle kitchen towel  hooping is your best bet. You can use a tearaway stabilizer with 505 spray or Floriani Perfect Stick. For a Red-work style design using Floriani Wet n Gone Tacky wash away type works nicely. Continue reading “To Hoop or Not To Hoop, That is the Question?”

Free is Fun!

Every body likes to get things free. In the quilting and embroidery world there are a lot of companies who every month give you a free quilting pattern or free embroidery designs. If you can’t afford to immediately buy “everything you love” then these free designs are a great way to build your stock of patterns and designs, try out their company and find they are always beautiful. Naturally, I will always buy a design or two along with my free designs.  Embroidery Library (see link) always have 2 designs free each month in multi sizes and formats. They also have amazing sales each month. $5 to $9  designs can be purchased for $1 to $1.25. You will need to register with them to get their emails. Trust me, the buys are worth it. Smart Needle designs always have cute freebies and Zundt Designs has several designs you can try free to see how you like their company. I can tell you Zundt designs are beautiful. They may be a little more expensive than some of the other companies, but they are worth it. Anita Goodesign is another company with exquisite designs.(see link) Up until now, you could only purchase their designs from a store like ours, Expert Sewing, but now you can purchase designs direct. Register with them and you will get word each week about a $5 or $10 “mini pack” that you can download immediately. Continue reading “Free is Fun!”