I do a lot of machine embroidery. I really like the idea of designing my own embroidery designs. over the course of the past 6 months I have searched and downloaded many 30 day trials of embroidery digitizing software. Most of them were great but really much too expensive for me. In fact I think for a software program to be priced in the $1K+ range is overkill for mark-up on the part of the seller.

One of the most expensive programs out there that is pushed on to home embroidery sewers is MasterWorks by Design Gallery. They are in the $1500 and up range. That is the price of one CD program disk. If they priced it more in the $50 range they would probably make more money, but no they want it all and they want it from home users. Don't get me wrong, the program is good but it was still not perfect. I used it to design my Steelers headband (you can see it here and how I made it too) and the program saw the "t" as an "l" and did the stars all wrong. I had to remove the wording by hand and redo the font. For a $1500 program it failed to do a simple job.

So on went my search for a better program. Then I found Digitize n' Stitch by Amazing Designs and it has performed much better. It doesn't have the bells and whistles that MasterWorks has but it recognizes pictures better. I used it to create the Habitat logo seen here. It only took 15 minutes and that included setting up and sewing out the pattern. I didn't have to change a thing. Digitize n' Stitch can be found priced anywhere from $249 down to $149. If you see it priced cheaper than $149 let me know by commenting because I still have 20 days left to go on my free 30 day trial and I am shopping around for the best price. Amazing Designs offers 30 day free trials on most of their software.

Here is a website you will want to bookmark and keep as a handy reference. It has short and valuable how-to videos on how to attach and use the many different types of accessories and presser feet for regular and overlock sewing machines. Here is the page for the video for using and installing the adjustable overcast foot but if you go to the long list under the video you will find links to all the other sewing videos on the site. I found out how to use my freehand quilting foot with the handy video on the site. If your sewing machine came with a box of sewing feet that you are not sure what they do then you'll want to check out every one of the videos.

Adjustable overcast foot video

One of the best ways to generate an interest in your work is to do some work for charity. Just a few days ago I stumbled on an ad on Craigslist about a charity looking for someone to machine embroider a few items for them. Number one, I am always ready to help out where I can and number two, I am sure that someone will notice my work and I might get a job or two from it.

Well I contacted them and I not only got the volunteer job of embroidering some of their items but I got a chance to digitize their logo too. Here is a photo of the embroidery that I will be doing for them:


Feel good about yourself and your work and do some work for a charity.

After a pep talk from a family member I have been trying my hand at machine embroidered baseball caps. The heavier material lends itself well to intense machine embroidery. My main problem so far has been learning to place the embroidery just right on the front of the cap. Too high and it won't be seen and too low it won't be seen either (view blocked by the bill of the cap).

I have screwed up a few caps already, just by learning. Since I have a lot of perfection to go on doing caps I have decided that many of my friends will be getting surprise gifts in the next few days of embroidered baseball caps.... no I won't be giving them my duds.

Almost every one of them has their own small business so I would make a cap catered to their business. They can then tell their other friends where they got the caps and it might bring me some extra work and customers.

Now I am looking around for some machine embroidery patterns that are small yet business like looking. I was looking for some heavy equipment patterns and found a awful lot of toy looking backhoes and dump trucks, not professional at all. I finally found what I was looking for after some long searches.

Make this tote for the bride to be or for yourself. Just a touch of elegance. You can use satin or if you are daring, real silk. The free pattern is courtesy of Babylock and here is the link:

Babylock lingerie tote

The area you live in might dictate what your customer base is. I use to live in an area where the great majority of the population was young families with young children. I had a business that catered to children. It was not a sewing business. Later our family moved to an area that I did not investigate the population as much I should have. The majority of the population is older with many older retired couples. A child based business would have died a slow death so I opted to start an internet based sewing business that catered to active adults and older children.

The lack of local customers has not stopped me from starting and running my business. It has presented a challenge in advertising and marketing. I of course had to have a website. At first I tried the many free web hosting sites but I did not like the ads that they put on my site. If you are serious about having your business online you will need 3 things:

1. Your own domain name. Keep it short so you can put it on your business cards. The shorter the better so people can remember it.
2. Top quality website hosting. You want to look at price and a company that has very little down time. There is nothing worse than someone looking for your website only for them to find it is not available.
3. Some way to process payments to you. You can either have your own ecommerce account, that will handle credit card payments or use Google Checkout or PayPal.

As you know I have an embroidery machine that I use to decorate towels, t-shirts and baseball caps. I have also gotten requests to embroider on areas of clothing that would be difficult and time consuming to do. For example putting an embroidered item on a pocket. The pocket would have to be removed, the embroidery done and then re-sewn on the item again.

I have now found a way to make that all easier. I found a product at my local JoAnn Fabric store. It is called Patch Attach. I can now make (embroider) a patch on the fabric of my choice, cut it out and use the "Patch Attach" product, to attach my patch to any location on the item. That is not only going to save me time but it now opens up a whole new world of possible products I can make.

Don't fret if you can't find Patch Attach near you, JoAnn' s also sells it online. I have searched the other online websites that sell this stuff and JoAnn's seems to be the cheapest.

The title of this post should say it all. Do you know why your items are not selling? Are you making something that will not sell in your area? To give you a rough idea of what you need to think about here is a list of what will not sell no matter how hard you try to sell it.

• Slippers do not sell well in warmer climates. People tend to wear thongs or go barefoot.
• Baseball caps do not sell well in the winter.
• Warm winter clothes sell well from fall to mid-winter but will not sell well at other times of the year unless you are selling to people in another part of the world that is experiencing winter weather.
• T-shirts don't sell well in the winter unless they are part of a pajama set.
• Dark colored baseball caps are not well suited for outdoor wear in hot climates, they absorb heat.
• Light colored baseball caps are not suitable for professions that leave the wearers hands dirty. Fingerprints are noticeable on them, use a dark colored cap.

There is nothing better than joining a sewing club to find out new techniques for making an item. Sewing clubs often meet at local sewing machine stores. If you have a local fabric shop or sewing center you can find out from them about local sewing groups and when and where they meet. Joining a club is not only a great way to meet fellow hobbyists but also a great way to network your sewing business.

If you don't have anything local, joining or visiting a sewing forum or message board is the next best thing. I recently joined a sewing forum and found it to have lots of great links to free patterns, free products for sewing and advice given out to fellow members that are having problems with sewing or their machines. Here is the sewing forum:

Sewing Forum