I just found this great resource for firefighter machine embroidery designs at AllBrands.com – Type firefighter in the search box which would take you to Cactus Punch AM08 Firefighters Multi-Formatted CD. This CD works on all embroidery machines as long as you have a reader writer box or a machine that accepts floppys. This particular collection from Cactus Punch has 18 designs for 4″ sewing fields and 1 design for the 5 X 7 design field.

The information on machine embroidery designs would come in handy here. It would also be helpful if you had details on embroidery digitizing and you would find the information on digitizing software useful.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Antonia Valentine is a classic machine embroiderer recognised by the Australian Textile Arts and Surface Design Association Inc. After exploring various categories of hand and machine embroidery designs, she finally focused on freestyle machine and digital embroidery often enhanced with hand stitches too! Her tryst with artista embroidery began right here. Her embroidery photographs manipulated on the computer were often used as inspiration in the design process.

Her works are displayed at AStitch Design. Check out the garden collection. They are beautiful especially the tulips, poinsettia and the daffodils. All of them are artista and are digitised in Bernina © Artista software. They can be downloaded as Artista v2 and Artista v3. The information on machine embroidery techniques would come in handy here.

There are also quite a few free embroidery designs available at ‘AStitch’. You can scroll down and click on “Freebies”.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

These animals will really make your day colorful! Check out Designs By Sick – Animals of the World. The spray of embroidery threads with some excellent shaded effects make these creatures come to life. The best I liked out of all of them apart from the duck that you see alongside the post were the horse, elephant and the cow. All of them are sized at 3.5 x 3.5 inches and very useful to display as appliques on your home embroideries OR on dresses. The various formats that the 20 designs are available at are :

DST – Tajima embroidery machine, EXP – Melco embroidery machine, HUS – Viking, Husqvarna embroidery machine, JEF – Janome embroidery machine, PCS – Pfaff embroidery machine, PES – Brother, Baby Lock, embroidery Bernina machine, SEW – Janome, Kenmore, New Home, Elna embroidery machine, XXX – Singer, Compucon embroidery machine.

The information on machine embroidery would come in handy here.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

At the start of this new year, we have for you a one stop shop for all Indian embroidery designs at Indian Embroidery. India is famous for fabric decoration using traditional weaving, dyeing and embroidery. What is interesting is that each province of India has its own unique style of embroidery coming down from ancient times. In traditional Indian embroidery, the threads are dyed in natural vibrant colors and the embroidery is done using a variety of stitches unique to that form of embroidery. The simple running stitch of kantha or the satin and chain of Kashmiri Kashidakari depict the passion and life of the people of the state. The Chikan work of Lucknow resembles the fine marble carvings of the Mughal dynasty at Uttar Pradesh and Phulkari embroidery springs forth from the florals of Punjab. The intricate patterns and stitches of Katiawari and Sindhi embroidery entrap the beauty of the desert landscape of Rajasthan. The Mirror embroidery designs of Gujarat reflects the Persian influence on the state.

All the patterns are hand embroidered. The various forms of embroidery that you would find at this website are Kantha, Banjara, Kathi, Aari, Rabari, Kasuti, Soof, Zardozi, Chikankari, Mirror, Phulkari, Bidri, Kashmiri, Banni and Ahir embroideries. The history behind each of these designs is explained before proceeding on to the process of stitching each of them. This website should, to the best of my knowledge, cover all the varieties of Indian embroideries. If you do come to know of any more, please do let me know through the contact button below.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Hi everybody, I just came across some great looking eagle embroidery designs at an Embroidery Library – Click on “Creatures of Air”. These designs can be stitched using tajima, melco, brother, artista, viking, pfaff, jenome formats and the information on machine embroidery would come in very handy here. What I liked about these embroidery designs was the striking nature in which the birds have been sewed. The eagle here is 3.5″ wide x 3.45″height and it is done up with a total of 23545 stitches. Isn’t she a beauty? What is remarkable is that each feather of her body is clearly stitched out which provides for a great visual appeal. All the designs can be used as machine applique embroideries and the information on applique embroidery designs would come in useful here. You can also go through a free tutorial on applique instructions far down below on the home page of Embroidery Library.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I found these cute mardi gras embroidery designs at AllBrands.com – Type “mardi gras embroidery designs” in the search box and you will find a range of designs to choose from. Party wear at its best! These are great appliques and can put on T-shirts and costumes that you would want to wear for any party. If you see the one next to the post, apart from the beautiful embroidered mask, care has been taken to show the green frills around the neck and this to my mind brings life into the embroidery design. Happy party time!!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

All cross stich enthusiasts should definitely not miss this one! Among the best books on this particular form of hand embroidery is undoubtedly Cross Stitch Myth & Magic.

Cross Stitch Myth and Magic combines the talents of nine respected artists and designers to produce a unique collection of designs from the fascinating world of folklore and legend. All the 70 embroidery designs captures a special romance and enchantment which togethers creates a collection to delight both the mind and the eye. Imaginative designs for cushions, boxes, curtains, sachets, wall hangings are waiting for you.

This is a fantastic book for cross-stitch addicts! The book is full of charts for everything from wizards and unicorns to oriental dragons and zodiac motifs. There are 6 main categories for the charts: Myth & Magic, Winter Enchantment, Oriental Fantasy, Angelic Messengers, The Mystic Deep and Celestial Heaven. Within these categories there are also charts for complex, intricate, time-consuming masterpieces, as well as for smaller motifs. The complex charts are more suited to an experienced stitcher and most of the motifs are very easily done by the beginner stitcher.

The directions for working the charts are very clear and concise. The designs give the name of the designers of the charts, which is an added bonus in case you find yourself wishing to do more charts by that designer.

Need I say any more!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This is truly sparkling. Ordinary embroidery design sets transformed into a special glory through a sparkling template. Visit Embroidery.com for further details. This concept is courtesy “Adorable Ideas” whose unique contribution to the world of embroidery is well appreciated. Each embroidery design set contains the embroidery design file (which can be sewn using your embroidery machine), one sparkle template matching the particular design (made of rhinestones) and a CD with instructions and step by step demonstration video. Once you feel that the embroidery design sewn is perfect, you could then use the sparkle template, since there is only one template per set. (More templates can be purchased if necessary.) The design is machine washable. Rhinestones sparkle when light falls on it. They can be used on most fabrics except nylon, velvet, acrylic, leather and vinyl.

Amongst the sample sparkle embroidery designs – the goldfish, oops-a-daisy and movie star are really well done. To start this project, I would suggest the “Sparkling Sun and Palm trees”. Simple yet attractive. This is sized 4.24″ by 4.54″ and contains 4485 stitches. This is available in ART, CND, DST, EMB, EXP, HUS, JEF, PCM, PCS, PES VIP AND XXX formats. (to know more about formats, view PC Machine embroidery). The main color stops used are grill orange, french toast, olive drab and irish green.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Knitting has been a favourite of the embroidery enthusiasts the world over and it is time to make an analysis of the various embroidery knitting machines available today. The best resource I came across was at All Brands – Click on “Knitting Machines” on the navigation bar on the left hand side.

Most of the machines are from Artisan, American Bond and Haque – with a tilt towards American Bond for all categories of embroidery machines, ribbers and accessories. For simple sweaters, I recommend the American Bond Basic 100 Needle 8mm Ultimate Sweater Knitting Machine, Instructional Video & Yarn priced economically. The special features are that it stitches upto 1200 stitches per minute at 12 rows per minute. There is a higher version which stitches upto 1500 stitches per minute but the earlier one is perfect for home use. You can make cozy sweaters to the lofty Afghans (as they call it) comfortably in this knitting machine. The free accessories include a carry box, extension kit, row counter, intarsia keyplate, beginners pattern book and an instructional video.

You can cast on up to 130 needles and knit any number of rows you want in verigated or solid yarns or in stripes of different yarn colors. You can also knit a pattern to fit on the machine by putting needles into work and out of work to shape a sweater front, back and sleeves to later seam together by hand, sewing machine or serger. You can use the cut and sew method by knitting unshaped square panels, cutting them out to fit the garment pattern and putting in the seams by hand or machine.

If anybody wants to learn knitting from scratch, there is a FREE 5 day MINI COURSE for you at Knitting Tips. You would also find advanced courses for expert knitters at this same site.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Another great resource for you on free machine embroidery designs – ABC Embroidery. A repository of good embroideries indeed! Almost all the free patterns are perfectly suitable for 4×4 embroidery hoops. The information and tutorial on endless hoop embroidery designs would be helpful here.

The butterfly next to this post is a cutwork special – 2.91″ x 2.84″, contains 7246 stitches and is made of one single color. You can download this in all embroidery formats – ART, PES, HUS, JEF, XXX, DST, EXP, SHV, VIP or PCS. Special cutwork embroidery instructions have been included along with this download.

The information on digitizing embroidery software would come in useful if you are interested in knowing more about how one interfaces the PC with the embroidery machine.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites