started, and did you start with a free program? If so which one if so would you recommend? Did you find tutorials and if so which are the best ones to learn from? Any other information you could give me would be appreiciated.

HI Diane
I started out the same as you :-)
wanting to do my own designs
I was lucky enough to be able to ask my local dealer
who allowed me to play with both his Embird and Pe Design even giving me some basic lessons on both.. pesronally I preferred Embird and went ahead a purchased it from secretsof.com
I have never looked back even when I upgraded my machines I received pe design 7 as a bonus put it onto my pc had a play but could not find the ease with this as I do with embird.
There are many wonderful digitizers about that offer free tutorials on which ever software you choose..
I never purchased any I preferreed to play and find out the hardway..
I did do the rose cottage monthly task for about a year.. I can reccommend this as its lots of
people from beginers to the professional digitising the same design and you can learn together plus it gives you a deadline of about a month to work to.
fabulous way to gain experinece.

either way have the best of fun through trial and error :-)
Big hugs from London
Maria xx

I started embroidering in 2001 with a Brother ULT and loved it. It came with PEDesign 4 which I upgraded to 5 but never really learned to use it to make good designs. I moved up to an Amaya XT in 2007 along with Design Shop which I have upgraded to Version 9. It took me a lot of trial and error practice before I was able to please myself with designs. Once I started using Design Shop I was hooked on digitizing. A lot of people really like Embird and it is a lot less expensive than most. I have it but have not yet taken enough time to learn it. I am trying some of the tutorial groups and sites and hope to be able to utilize some of the neat features that Embird has.

Good luck to you with your digitizing adventures. Please let us know what program you choose.

Marcelle
http://embroideryavenue.com/
http://embroidery.gotop100.com/

Diane.....I have a Bernina machine and it has proprietary software which I use Bernina V6. I have never had any lessons, just started playing with it and got frustrated alot, and the book seemed to confuse me more to read through, so I just refer to it as needed. Once you master the basics, it is really fun......

Hi Dianne, I was embroidering for 10 years before I started to digitize. I was not using my embroidery machine very often though. But when I decided to digitize I jumped straight in and bought generations. I have never used anything else but I see that ksgram1 has. I love generations, I have done a course on digitizing, I have been digitizing for 2 years and there is alway more to learn. If you want to learn be prepared to take the time to learn and use software that has tutorials. You will be a better embroiderer if you learn to digitize. It is not for everyone though.

Hi Diane,
I am new to digitizing. I have a digitizing program called PE Design 5 from Brother. It is an old program my friend handed down to me as she bought a new program not upgraded from this one. What was wonderful is she has given me little lessons along the way. I was computer savvy already having used photoshop and other graphic programs, which I think has made this easier for me. I think it helped that I watched the machine as it stitched out to figure out the order of stitching on lots of designs before I ever started attempting to digitize. There is logic to the whole process, of course, just like programming. I would like to purchase PE Design 8, like my friend, but for now, I'll continue until I have conquered everything on 5. In the meantime, I'm saving to buy that expensive program, and also considering other programs. I may just stay with this and spend my money on a new machine instead! Thanks for asking this question as I'm really interested in all the answers!

By the way, I use a Mac, so I use Parallels to run Windows XP on my MacBook Pro to run the PE Design. I also use StitchBuddy to view my files which is wonderful!
What I have digitized on my own has been really rewarding and has given me the ability to personalize items even more. That has been really fun. It's great to have an idea and then to work it out on the computer and then to bring it into a design, sew it and see your idea in stitches! It's quite a rush!

Hi Diane
When I bought my machine about 5 years ago I also bought the bernina software to go with it. Then it was V4 and as I was working fultime I just used the auto digitiser to make my designs. I am now working much less and have upgraded to Bernina V6. I am working through the manual (which is 3 thick folders) as I want to do it well I just make lots of designs in the new area I am learning about (At the moment I am doing appliquet). I am not feeling confident enough to share my designs, but maybe that will come in the future. I do love making the designs though. I have just finished my first in the hoop coaster design and I hope this will work out well.

Hi Diane, I started with PE Design. It was a big mistake for me because the tutorials were difficult to understand and there was so much involved in using the program. I now own Generations. It's wonderful! It's easy to use, and they offered a trade- in on my old software. There are tutorials(videos) on their site that help you learn quickly. This is expensive software so you can buy a trial version for around $59 to try it before you decide to buy it or not. The customer service has been outstanding. I am so happy with my purchase. They gave me so many extras. This software is top of the line and hasn't had to be updated in nine years. Most other programs are updated every two years. Perhaps you would like to check into it at Artistic Threadworks. Hugs, Marjorie

I too embroidered a few years before breaking out into digitizing. It has been very easy for me. Now, having said that, I think there are 2 reasons it has been easy. First, I am pretty computer savvy. I've been working with computers since I was a kid so they don't scare me. I am not afraid to just say, "hey, let's see if this works...." Secondly, I bought top of the line Bernina Designer Plus software which was around $2,000. (Gasp!) That program is a dream. I can do anything with it. I know it is a ton-o-money but I also knew I had hundreds of ideas in my head that I wanted to digitize and would eventually do so as a side job. I have no regrets.

My avatar (the rainbow colored vine) is probably one of my first designs digitized and is still a hot seller of mine. Best of luck!!

:) cynthia

In answer to you question. I am in the UK so my answers may differ a little from others.

My first digitising programme was a fairly basic one as I did not want to pay a lot of money for it. I wanted to test my skill and see how I understood what the programme required of me. It was not too long before I outgrew this programme. It was not able to do some of the more detailed work I required.

I do not auto digitise. Every thing is manually input. All stitches are examined to ensure I get the results I require.

The latest digitising programme I purchased was one that went with my machine. Digitizer MB (this is produced by Wilcom - I think thats the right name) as I wanted a programme that worked at a professional level. The financial outlay took a lot of thinking about, but I am pleased I took the plunge. I found both the on screen help and the manual - yes it has a printed manual - so I am able to read it away from the computer - very helpful. Here in the UK we have a direct contact telephone number and the person at the other end is so very knowledgable that he even talked me tho some thing I had got stuck on, and I had only described my problem over the phone. A few questions from him and he knew exactly what I needed to do.

The way I learned about what I wanted from my designs was to watch my embroidery machine stitch some designs I purchased form quality designers. (There are too many people who think they can just import a picture, clik auto digitise and then try to sell the end ressult. I'm sure we have all made a purchase of a design that looked great - was the picture of a acutal stitch out or a screen shot of the digitisation?- but what was the result we got?)

Digitisation is very satisfying. To see your design stitch out before your very eyes is something else.

I'm sure others will have much more to say than I have. There are so many people on here who are so very talented.

I bought my embroidery machine 2 years ago and got familiar with all the designs and embroidered a lot of designs. I think it is important to have a bit of practice with a finish work, this way when you start digitalize you know what sort of final work you want to do.

Everybody was very kind with embird. I bought it a year ago but I was struggling with it. Well there is no secret you must work hard to learn it (I think!). It is because there is a lot you can do with that programm, it has a large range of fonctions.

Here's the first site I went to and it was ever so helpful to get started:
http://cafire7.com/index.html

Some body mention recently the web site of Katy Jones. Maybe some one can give you the link.
It seems very good.
Just before I bought 2 cd to learn to digitalise with any digitizing programm.
I just started the lesson but I think I made a mistake to go for some lesson for any programm. I am going to see !!
If you have embird, look for some lesson with embird.

I hope I helped you, I am only a debutant, I am sure you are going to get more advice.
Don't forget to search in some old topics because your question comes back very regulary and you will get a lot of good advice. Good luck
Have fun but whatch out it is very adictive !!
Cathie J.

I wish I could say I am a digitizer, but I am not. I bought Embird 5 years ago, but house chores and work I did not have the time to learn Studio, now I am retired and I would like to learn how to digitize my own ideas. I know a little bit, I like Embird it gives you a full 30 day trial so you could see if you like it, beside that it is affordable, i could not pay PE-Design or something like that. I used Secret of Embroidery not only is 10% cheaper but it gives you bonus you could used to get MORE DESIGNS!!!! There are many Free tutorials, I like Embird 101 yahoo group.