Finding Designs - Online

Finding Designs on the Net   There are many ways of finding embroidery designs on the Net.     Search Engines - probably the most common way when you first begin.  Search Engines are like the directory of the Internet. More information can be found in our books Secrets of Taming Computers and also in Secrets of Taming XP.  Basically, you go into a Search Engine (eg: Google, Yahoo, HotBot, Excite to name a few..) and type in a search phrase such as machine embroidery designs and press Enter.  The Search Engine will return you a list of websites with embroidery designs in them and you can start visiting them.  The trick is to remember where you are - it takes practice - very easy to get lost in the waves while you're surfing!  Use that Back button on your browser, and you can back up to your Search Engine any time you want, and check out the next site.   Links - when you're visiting various sites, you'll find that many of them have Links to other sites.  You can click on any of those you like the look of and you'll jump to that site.  In this way you can just keep on surfing and look for those designs you like.  Every time you find a site/designs that you like, press Control D on your browser - that will bookmark or save the page as one of your Favorites.   Mega Links - some sites have a huge list of related links.  I call these Mega Link sites.  They are like a directory of their own!  Ann the Gran's site is famous in the embroidery World, also Tweedy's Nest and Peri's to name a few.  We ourselves have a list of links of over 100 sites embroidery related sites on our Links Page.  The above-mentioned MegaLink sites are listed in that page of ours.   Sometimes a friend will recommend  a website to you and give you the URL (Internet Address). To go there you need to open your browser and type the URL exactly into the address bar of your browser, then press Enter.  You must type in the website address exactly as it is written otherwise you will get a message telling you that the page you requested could not be found.  Your browser will jump you to that page and you'll be away again!  This is all covered in greater detail with diagrams etc in our computer help books if you're not sure what I'm talking about!

Free Designs   Designs that are free for download are generally marked as FREE.  Some websites, however ONLY have free designs, and others are obscure and lack directions. So it can be confusing.  If a design has a big CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD button and no mention of payment, it's probably free.  If it's not, a payment screen will pop up, and you'll find out anyway.  Either way there's no harm - you can always Back... Back... Back... on that browser button and not go that-away.     Sometimes you'll be asked  to select the format that is appropriate to your machine. If you're not asked then the file that you download to your machine will probably have several formats included in it.   You just have to choose the right one for your machine.     We have some really great freebies available on this website - click here to check them out!    Freebies are usually in zipped files, you'll need to unzip the file and open the design in your particular format, from within your embroidery software.

   

Buying Designs on the Net Assuming that you have found an design you want to download, what do you do?  If it is not free you'll have to buy it - right?  Buy from reputable sites - as you gain experience on the Net you'll come to recognize the signs of a good Internet business.  Is the site clear and well laid out?  Easy to navigate?  Are full contact details provided?  Send a query to the owner of the website - see how long they take to respond.  Do they respond at all?  Is the site recommended to you?  Does it look professional? These are some of they ways to help you assess an Internet web-site.  The best sites (such as this one!) will give a full range of payment options - online Credit Card purchasing, Paypal, Fax, mail and phone.  Internet shoppers want their designs immediately, and the beauty of the system is that the designs can be instantly downloaded.  You should understand the payment and delivery process before you make your purchase.  If it's unclear, just email the web-site first and inquire.