Stock Embroidery Designs for Home Embroidery Machines
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We ship our designs to you WORLD-WIDE by EMAIL. Designs are shipped in less than 24 hours from the time your order is placed. We do not have direct download due to the fact we give free individualized gifts with each purchase. We believe in personalized service.
CUSTOM DIGITIZING JOBS? --just contact us. You will be asked to send a photo image or description of what you would like Dru to design. You won't pay a cent until the design is the way you like at a mutually agreed price! AND there is NO obligation to buy it at all if you don't like the draft!!!
We offer free ongoing support for all our stock and custom designs. This means if you need something resized or a format change, you can always feel comfortable contacting us for free adjustments!
TIPS
FROM DRU
from her
EMBROIDERY SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
1. Use CUT-AWAY stabilizer on the wrong side of any knits or stretchy
fabrics.
2. Use TEAR-AWAY stabilizer on the wrong side of woven fabrics.
3. Use pointy, sharp, standard needles for woven fabrics.
4. Use ball-point needles for knits.
5. Use water-soluble stabilizer on the TOP surface of any velvet,
velour, terry-cloth, fleece, or deep-pile fabric...any time you want the
stitches to sit ON TOP of the fabric instead of getting buried in the
deep pile. When you're done sewing simply spray it with water or wipe it
with a wet clean washcloth, and it melts like cotton candy...and
waa-laa, you'll have a super looking professional design.
6. Use the SMALLEST hoop possible to get the job done...if you're sewing
a small design, pick a small hoop to ensure fabric stability and
prevent shifting.
7. Don't grit your teeth and stretch the fabric onto your hoop to make
it like a drum. This will lead to a puckered mess when you go to un-hoop
your design...instead smooth the fabric and stabilizer across your
bottom hoop frame, ease your inner hoop in and gently pull out any sags
or wrinkles, tighten your outer hoop, and then push your inner hoop a
tad further into the outer frame to give your fabric a smooth and
relaxed spread in the hoop. Only use spray adhesive if your fabric
doesn’t fit entirely in the hoop.
8. Change your needles any time you feel a burr on the tip or shaft.
9. Use lubricated monofilament polyester thread for your bobbin...white
for your lighter embroidery thread colors and black for your medium to
dark embroidery colors.
10. If you buy a software system, try to stay away certain systems that
only read PES versions 1 through 4. Lately most modern or up to date
digitizers and designers write their PES designs in V5 or V6. If you
already HAVE this outdated software, download the Wilcom Resizer program
for free from the Wilcom site. Open your V5-V6 designs, and then resave
it as a PES file. Wilcom will "dummy it down" to V4, and then your
software &/or machine can read it.
11. Oil your machine every 4 hours of embroidery sewing time. (unless it
is a self-lubricating model) If 4 hours of sew-time isn't up, and your
machine is making a clackity-clack (metal smacking on metal) sound, it's
time.
12. Pop off your throat-plate and brush out the fuzzies every 4 hours of
sewing time, otherwise you'll be sewing dust-bunnies into your designs,
which is very bad form.
13. If you catch the fever to download every free design from every free
embroidery forum, be very careful. There are some weirdos out there
that load viruses into their work just to be malicious. Most sites will
have a thread recommending who to stay away from and all their alias
names. There are a number of us ditizers and designers who are very
giving and honest, but unfortunately the crack-pots spoil the fun of
sharing freebies.
14. Although polyester thread is LESS bright and shiny and pretty than
others, it is the strongest. You will have the BEST luck with
POLYESTER...it breaks less easily, it fades less easily, and doesn't
bleed in the wash making it more laundry-proof, and it is a little more
wear-resistant and kid-proof. Don't buy a huge collection of giant
spools...thread actually goes bad if you keep it a long time. If you
suddenly have a certain color that keeps breaking, it's time to give it
the boot.
15. Once you get good, don't be afraid to take pride in your work and
charge clients appropriately. I've had folks say "Geeze, I can get that
at discount stores for less"...say, "go for it, but it won't be made
with the same loving quality". (They buy their junk at junk shops and
come crawling back complaining how their stuff was shabby) The other
thing to remember is that YOU are paying as much as $7 per spool for
your thread, so your prices should reflect it.
16. Once you master the basics of polyester embroidery, get a little
crazy...try some of the metallics, holographics, neons, and some of the
heat and light sensitive threads. Try not to jump on them right away,
because most of them take a special knack. Metallics do better if you
have a special needle for them. Be aware that some of the specialty
threads don't do well with being repeatedly twisted as they come unwound
from their spool. I use one thread that is plastic, and I let the spool
fly around on the floor to prevent it from breaking from getting too
twisted.
17. Always try to back-up your designs. I had a computer hard-drive fry a
few years back...I lost about a hundred thousand designs. I had bought a
$68 dog embroidery set (gone), and when I tried to get a replacement
from a retail store, their answer was "too bad-so sad". Lesson learned.
If you don't want to jerk around with disks, you can always save design
collections on other computers in your home. Another great way is to
simply email them to yourself, and store them in your email files. (I
have 4 computers in my home, and I back up my entire collection every
month to the computers in my home, plus I make disks every 6 months, AND
my email file gets quite a little work-out) Since I promise free
replacement files to my clients, you can bet I back up everything.
18. ALWAYS do a test-sew, especially if you are sewing it on an
important garment that you cannot replace.
19. If you get stuck, frustrated, or feel like throwing your sewing
machine against the wall, please feel free to contact Dru for help!
