Finding new designs

[GrannyKat60]

I'm new to this, how do I find any new designs now that I've downloaded all I want when I became a member.

[tndenim]

The internet is full of freebies. Check out the posts for links to free designs. You'll find plenty. Not to mention all the new ones you'll find here all the time.

This is a ncie web site to learn from to - loads of talent and information available. Enjoy and welcome to the forum.

[saskia]

if you search Google and type: embroidery freebie's you will find plenty.

[rajanip]

Thanks for the tips tndenim and sasika. Its very helpful for person like me who is very new to embroidery. Let me start google ...

[MotownMarie]

tndenim, I've googled for free embroidery designs but not embroidery freebies, I'll try it that way, thanks.

I'm new to embroidery by machine and am starting to sew again after a long inactive time. Lots has changed.

I sit in front of the tv with my laptop at night and download and sort designs - there's a lot of them!

[Cutiepie]

There are TONS of designs available to download from the internet. Some are quite nice, while others are junk, and even worse, you can get to sites that have spyware and such garbage.

To tell the difference between good and junk kind of takes some experience, including sewing things out and watching how they sew, but some day you will find yourself being more selective about what you download. Start being organized now! That is important, and something I wish I had been told when I was just starting. Decide how you are going to sort your designs, and do it every time. I save my designs in folders according to where I downloaded them from and who digitized them. Others sort according to the subject matter (Angels, Snowmen, Summer, etc). If you do that, I recommend that you amend the name with the site information so that you can remember where you got things. This is especially necessary if you are wanting to direct someone to where you got it.

THIS IS VITAL INFORMATION, especially for newbies. You are NOT allowed to share designs, even if you got them for free. This means NEVER, and this means YOU. It is illegal, and is in essence stealing from the digitizer. Even if the design was free, it was placed on the site as a means of advertising, so if you just give it to someone, that someone doesn't see the "ad" and won't potentially see that design they just "have to have" from the digitizer. The ONLY time you can ever give away a design (or sell it, for that matter), is if you either digitized the design from artwork that you own the copyright to, or you purchased the right to sell it from the digitizer. Copyright is the key.

Staying away from the spyware and virus sites is a bit easier. The number one reason for giving away free designs is so that people can sample the digitizer's work and then buy with confidence in the quality of the product. With few exceptions, if the website is ONLY giving away their designs and don't sell anything, they are probably making their money a different way (that is, they are tracking you for spamming purposes). This isn't a hard and fast rule, since some digitizers are starting out giving away freebies in order to begin building a fan base before they try their hand at selling. There are others who give away their work for some other reason (I know of one site that gives away Christian-oriented designs as a form of missionary work). You can usually find out why the designs are freebies by reading the "about" section of the website. If you can't find that, I recommend you stay away.

While it is fairly easy to find free designs by Googling for them, we do have a resource right here on the Designs by SiCK forums. In the forum that is titled "Embroidery Design Freebie Links", members of the forum have posted links to free designs they have found on sites other than Designs by SiCK. On the forum titled "Forum Member Designs for Download", some of our talented forum members have posted designs they have digitized so that other forum members may download them. Look around, and have fun!

[ldingeldine]

I first started buying very expensive designs, from the shop I bought my machine, They said not to get from the internet, they will not stitch out right, and could harm your machine.
POPPEY COCK!, There are many fine designs on the internet inexpensive ones and free ones, I can now afford to embroider. There are many I only want to uswe once and paying gobs on money on on design is not what I want to do. However I do take what Cutie Pie very seriously, she has good advice.

[GrannyKat60]

Thank you all for the good advice. I have found a lot of designs and have tried some of them. One thing I found out is to ALWAYS try a sample stitchout of the designs as is or when changing the size. One design stitched out great but was too big so I shrunk it with Wilcom True Sizer and it was a mess.

[Sewinggranny]

I am new to the site, I am finding my way around and am enjoying it very much....thanks for advice on finding freebies.