Dear All,

You are welcome to visit the Embroidery Forum.   This has recently been launched…  Feel free to post in your articles in relevant categories and use it as your area to unwind.

There are various broad areas of interest like embroidery digitizing, business, technical  which are further subdivided into more specific topics.

Join the embroidery community and stay linked in.

Warm Regards

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True to its name, here is some seemingly simple but dazzling Unique Embroidery. This website has a selection of close to 180 free embroidery designs and it is growing by the day. Check the leafy petalled flower, elegantly embroidered using 7438 stitches. This is sized at 5.09 by 5.09 inches and is available for free download in ART, DST, EXP, HUS, JEF, PES, VIP, XXX machine embroidery formats. The information on how to convert the files from PC compatible software to your embroidery machine would come in handy and you could read it at PC-Machine formats embroidery.

The second embroidery design that caught my attention is the unique necklace. Using a combination of 2 vibrant colours, the pattern is beautiful. This has 8744 stitches and is sized at 9.36 by 14.41 inches. Both the outer and inner stitches combine to form this unique pattern.

Have you come across any such unique collections in your world of embroidery. You could showcase your designs at All Free Embroidery Designs. Feel free to share!

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Here is a great resource on some pretty embroidery fonts – The Embroidery Font Shop. All of them would make great appliques. Each font category has unique characteristics and should be used appropriately for the right person and dress. For example, the Aristocrat font denotes classiness while the Funky font is more casual. The Flirty font is best for teens, whilst the Monster font is the kids favourite. There are some good wedding fonts like Silverbell, Charming or Edwardian which you could use for special invites.
All fonts come in small, medium and large sizes with 26 letters. If the font style is such that the size varies depending on whether it is at the center or right/left position, then you would have both the size options. The embroidery fonts come in Jef, art, pcs, pcd, xxx, exp, csd, pec, pes, sew, hus, dst, vip formats (the information on machine embroidery would come in handy here).

Some of them are quite unique like Tinkertoy, Antique, Skittles. A good auto digitizing software for embroidery fonts is Singer Hyper Font – Font Auto Digitizing Software. The hyper font software easily converts any Windows True Type (R) font into embroidery embellishments.

Happy Embroidery Fonting!

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Here is a splendid lively resource for free machine embroidery designs. This is Deb’s Windstar Embroidery. The website has some unique categories like ‘Cute-N-Lovely’, ‘Celestials’, ‘Sayings and Phrases’ embroidery designs. There is also an ‘All Awareness’ appliques ribbon embroidery design set perfect for fund raising and charities.

I draw particular attention to the free machine embroidery designs section, which have some good designs available to you on free sign up. These designs are available in the pes, hus, jef or other formats of your choice and the same can be downloaded in a zipped file. Apart from this, the pdf-formatted design information file or color chart would give you all other details. The information on machine embroidery designs would come in handy here.
Check out the Peppermint Teddies Set (marching with Candy Canes). It is sized at 3.42″ by 3.78″ with a stitch count of 11,293. It contains 6 colors and is perfect for 4″ by 4″ hoop.

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Think creative, think Deanne Forrest. She is an original artist of the artwork and digitizer of embroidery designs. With a lot of support from her family she started Angelic Designs, which is a display of her unique contribution in various categories of embroidery like sewing, quilting and applique. A special mention of her work is that it stands out from the rest of the crowd.

The website has classified the patterns into sets – each of which rests on a particular theme. The striking themes that “wowed” me were Bathtub, Tooth Fairy and Monster Mania – all under applique. All these embroidery designs are done using machine embroidery techniques and are available in PES, HUS, DST, XXX, VIP, JEF, PCS, SEW formats. The information on machine embroidery would come in handy here.

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If you are interested in converting computer generated images, camera digitized files and clip arts into machine embroidery designs, you have reached the right place. I have been getting a few requests on queries related to converting pictures into embroidery designs and I hope that this post gives some insight into the process.

After doing some research, we found one software that is easy to install, easy to use and most important – easy to understand. Just THREE steps required! Design Authority is a home machine embroidery software, which needs Windows 98, Pentium III computer to work with. The final output can be exported to Brother(.pes), Elna(.sew), Janome(.sew), Melco(.exp), Tajima(.dst), Toyota(.10O), Barudan(.hduxx), Happy(.tap), Sunstar(.sst), Pfaff(.ksm), Juki(amsm3), Mitsubishi(,1xx), Komtekct(.cem) There is a section on free downloadable embroidery designs, where you can download samples of standard fill, advanced fill and photostitch embroideries! (You could also go to Diana portrait to see the art of photostitch hand embroidering.) The ship you see next to this post is a free standard fill embroidery design converted from a picture and is available in all machine formats.

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A friendly acquaintance drew my attention to this beautiful needlepoint tapestry website – Friendly Services. An excellent and wide range of embroidery designs in various categories ranging from crewel embroidery to cats, horses, christmas designs and other best sellers. (The name of the website is misleading though!)

Tapestry is an ancient art. Tradition has it that in Greek mythology, Penelope awaited her husband Ulysses while weaving tapestries. The tapestries were not only decorative, but played a practical role in covering the walls of huge castles. Medieval cartoon-painters and weavers produced the very same masterpieces that are shown on this web site. The ones I liked best were the best sellers.

Tapestry kits contain the canvas printed in full colour, yarn, needle, and instructions. The 100% cotton canvas is a double weave antique or white canvas called Old Penelope or White Penelope – the name coined from the mythological tale. The yarn is 100% pure wool. The kits may be stitched in either half-cross or tent stitch.

The goal of Friendly Services is to provide you with the best quality in hand craft products.

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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.

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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!

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This embroidery website has been haunting me for quite some time and I couldn’t resist writing about it – Embroidery Artwork. The classic hand embroidered Hunan silk embroidery designs also called as Magic Art is a perfect union of embroidery designing and art. The threads used are made of silk, floss or delicate cotton thread depending on the aspect of needlework. Embroidery artisans, usually more than one, work for several months in unison to create one design! The final output as you can see from the example next to this post – is breathtaking. This is indeed a private collectors fantasy. Just like the portrait of Diana, (this one in particular generally takes one year to complete after an order is placed) embroidery portraits for customers can be done on a made-to-order basis. Apart from this, the website also portrays sceneries, lakes, flowers and meadows in all its splendour.

This is definitely among the best in the collection of embroidery designs web sites.

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