67271
25533Hello Bev,
When I have made a purchase, I always wait for sales. And I mean BIG sales.
I can't justify spending what some of these ladies fork out. Actually, I'd rather put the money away in my IRA account. :-) LOL
33574Bev, what a loaded question - I have spent more on a design or a set - because I wanted it - but I will not tell - lol.
211078Probably one of the best policies to go by is YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Usually digitizing goes by the stitch count and time spent to create the designs. If you pay a little more for a single design or a design pack, you are usually gettting a better design. The better digitized designs cost more, but they should sew out almost perfectly.
736$30.00/set. I know it's alot but there were many combinations to use, and because it was baby stuff and cross stitch, I'll use them over and over. OH--and those husqvarna viking design cards--WOW. I paid $81 for quilt designs, but never again, even tho they stitch out great.
12707Unless it is a licensed design, I wouldn't pay an outrageous amount of money for it. There are excellent digitizers at Oregon PatchWorks, Stitchery Mall, etc. and their sets usually run in the $25 range. BFC Creations has outstanding sets and windows for $30-$60. These are really good digitizers, as is Embroidery Library, and their sets are not too high a price. I think $55 for a set of butterflies is too much. Sometimes you'll find that with digitizers like John Deer, OESD, some of the bigger names, that while the digitizing is excellent, you're also paying for the 'name'. Less famous people can still do super digitizing for a more reasonable price. If you're talking Disney or NASCAR, you're going to have to pay the big bucks for those, because they're licensed designs. Good luck!! Hugs, Marji
33451Often, when I see something I would like, I go through
the process as if I were going to buy. Then, I print out the sheet listing all that I want, but I do not CLICK TO BUY. I keep these lists in a file envelope and wait a day or two. Nine times out of ten,I have moved on by the next day with other ideas. I also have a little song that keeps running through my head. "Use what you have...Use what you have..." My days often end with my being happy at how much I have saved. But the desire for items that I truly want or need stay with me for more than a day or two. These items I buy.
9945The quality of a lot of the freebies I DL when I first started were so poor I almost gave up the idea and sold my machine. Thank goodness I didn't!
I'm still quite new and on a budget too but I really liked and wanted some applique designs from Smart Needle so I bought them on a "buy 3 sets get one free" offer. I don't regret it for a minute. I had problems but they responded quickly to my email with loads of help and advice - even offering to re-digitise the design if I couldn't get it to stitch out to my satisfaction. For that type of service I'm more than happy to pay. I'm also a lot more choosy about freebies, I finally realised that I would have to stitch all day, every day for at least the next 50+ years if I was to use each design in my library!
5218Some sites, I just drool and hope they go on sale. If they only realized they could sell many more if they priced them more reasonably. A stitch out is most important. Sometimes I never go babk to a site if I had a bad experience. Should we tell the site or just avoid them? I use Art format, and some times it gets changed for the worse in the conversion. I love when I see the site offers Art format. I wish Embroidery Library would update their art format. I think we are all guilty of buying the expensive cards whem we bought our first machines, but I was dumb and I didn't even have internet. I admit I pay too much for licensed designs and then I have buyers remorse!!!!
85867When I first started to embroider I could not afford the cards to put in the Janome 9000. I had a few and just lost interest rather than pay for the cards. I got another machine a Singer that would let me download from the computer so I was interested again. I did not like that machine so I got a Janome 9700 where I can download to an SD card and put it in my machine. I went crazy collecting all the free designs. These gals are telling you right about some designs not being worth having them for free. I now pay for what I want and am so much more choosy in which designs to 'have'. I could never stitch them all out in a lifetime either but I like having them. Lots of choices when I want a design. I look for everything on sale. For adorable applique, I could not wait for Wednesday..adorable applique day. I would buy the .07 designs and have to add to them to make up the $5.00 minimum. I was running out of the designs I wanted so I decided not to purchase the .07 designs every week and save some of those designs to make up the $5 minimum another week. I just love them all. The cuties are just wonderful and I have learned a lot from them by being on this site. They won't steer us wrong.
Mona
896I am kinda new too. I have bought a few designs, had a bad experience with the first one I ever bought, it turned me away from applique it was so awful. I just received a freebie applique and it came out wonderful so now I am looking at more applique's in fact I have bought a couple sets that were on sale recently. so far the most I have spent on a set is $5. which I considered not bad. I am on a couple of different sites as a member and receive designs weekly. I also joined them while they were on sale too. I have seen designs that were $25 or more but can not spend that much even if the design is beautiful. Just not in my budget, I always buy everything on sale, I never pay full price for anything, I say I am cheap but others say no you are frugal. LOL
by meganne
22 Jun 2009
WOW! $5 for a whole set, I wouldn't digitise even ONE design for so little!!!
If I was charging for them that is. LOL!!!
hnr, M
PS. I've bought design set for $1.00 a set but only from reputable digitisers.
17461Oh, a word of advice for new embroiderers.
It is of great help to have a program that will show you a VIRTUAL STITCHOUT of designs before you actually stitch them. Doing this will show you how the design will proceed, whether it has underlay and depth, where there are (unnecessary) jump stitches and usually it will show you if there are any thin spots where stitches are missing or aren't dense enough.
It can save a lot of heartache, but if you still want to risk using a design you should ALWAYS do a test stitch first before ruining your valuable project.
hugs n roses, Meganne
122864Bev If it's a design I really want & I don't want to spend that mucfh money, then I usually write it down (keep a list) & when they go on sale, buy then. Sooner or later everything goes on sale. *
145789Please read the article at the link below as it may help you to understand the REAL COST of digitising designs.
Until you actually try digitising yourself, you really can't appreciate the value of a well digitised design. It certainly opened my eyes!
Now when I see a design, i think, "if i really want it i can digitise it (for) myself".....
then I look at the cost of the design and think "nah! I'd rather pay THAT than spend all my time digitising it!".....
especially if I know the digitiser has a good reputation for being a great digitiser.
The more you get into embroidery, the more you will learn to recognise the great designs from the mediocre and that should be your guide on how much you are willing to pay for a design.
Hugs n roses, Meganne, Melide Menschen Designs
122864I have 75 plus of the memory cards that I purchased when I first got my Singer XL and my Esante. Needless to say that the cheapest of them came in at about $125.00 on up to almost $200.00. I do not think I have purchased a memory card since I got my Ellageo. I have ordered some designs online and even purchased some from the dealer but they downloaded them from Cd's to CD's for me. They had their own equipment and a license to copy the Great Notions Amazing Designs. They all had $50.00 on them but I bought 2 Baby Locks from them and I would call them and tell them what I wanted and they would mail them to me or have them ready when I rolled into town. I got a very good price on those when I bought more than 1 or 2 and I never knew when to quit! I have more designs than I could sew in 10 lifetimes and I still keep copying! The bad thing about it is that I have no close friends or relatives that embroidery. Well I do have 1 close friend but she worked at Branums where I got my Baby Locks for years and her Hubby still works there. She has more of everything than I do! My DIL is not interested in learning how to use them. My son already knows but has no patience at all! He could not sit there and wait for a design to sew. If there was a flub, he would take it off the machine and throw it away. Gone forever, never to be seen again! I have 1 cousin that I am close to and my will is made out to her but she has no time to do anything else more than she does now. She is very active in the church, has 3 children and all of them have several children and she makes wedding/groom cakes for just about the whole town of Glennville, Ga. She does not want to do crafts anymore. She is 62 also. I was born in Dec of 46 and she was born in March of 47. My due date was Feb 14 of 47, but mama says I always got in a hurry to everything. I weighed 4 lbs. You ought to see me now. I made up for lost time, although I have lost so much weight that my clothes are falling off me.
by lildoll
23 Jun 2009
i am 66 and have no idea of stopping sewing ever, i have an esante also love it. if you die before me i would love to have your ellageo,if you have no one to will it too, happy sewing ,Lildoll
by lflanders
23 Jun 2009
I really do like the Ellageo better because you can download a design off the computer onto a floppy disc and pull it out and carry it straight to the sewing machine. I keep a generous supply of empty disc on hand to copy any free designs I find that I like and I just bought some from SICK while they were running the $1.00 a set sale. I downloaded each set twice just in case something happened to the disc. It took me 15 minutes to download them and I was ready to sew. When I download an alpha I copy a picture of the alpha and run it through the xyron, peel the backing off, put it on an envelope and put the disc in the envelope. I have seperate plastic containers for the alpha designs with the pictures on the outside of the envelope. No guesses as to what the alpha looks like.
24961Thank you for your input. What made me ask the question was a set of butterflys I liked for $55.00. I know I can get alot of designs for that amt of money. I decided in the end I didnt need them that bad. I always watch for the sales , the buy one get one free etc. And I used to download all the freebies, now I am more selective,There was so much i had that I know I will never use.
Thanks!
67271I am just a beginning embroiderer and don't feel ready or qualified to pay big bucks for designs I might ruin! I do have memberships in this site, Amazing designs and Designs by Sick. I like Embroidery Library and they are always having some type of special ( like buy $10 worth for 5, get 5 designs free with a certain amt. of purchase - that is when I choose my more expensive designs). I suppose there is no set answer - if you really like something and want it for a special person or event then it would certainly be worth the extra money. I hope I will feel more confident in my ability before too long so I could consider a nice, big project!
by meganne
21 Jun 2009
Just my opinion,,,, but you can't ruin a good design!
Quite the opposite, if you use a poorly digitised, cheap and nasty design, THAT is what causes the most project disasters.
Even designs that LOOK great can be disastrous because they lack underlay or are not dense enough and look skimpy, so you find you have to stitch over them a second time to get some substance and this can cause, "lack of definition".
Every Emblibrary design I have stitched has always turned out perfect, unlike some I have purchased from SICK, (created only by certain digisiters there).
Some embroiderers don't like the denseness of Emblibrary and/or SOME Sick designs.
It is a matter of personal opinion and a lot depends on your embroidery machine as to which designs it stitches out well, without problems.
(it also depends on your material-thread-needle-stabiliser-stitch speed, etc, etc.)
But in the end it all comes down to experience, learning which digitisers designs are WORTH what they are charging and which you would not even accept as a gift.
hugs n roses, M
by ginghamgoose
22 Jun 2009
I appreciate your input - maybe that is why I have had some bad experiences! I always think it is machine and lack of skill but maybe I need to try some different design sites!
485Hello,
It is going to depend on whether I want or need the set and who digitized it. If it is a Dakota set or a Disney card, I know that I am going to pay more those sets than I would for a set or design from an individual digitizer. One way to get the really nice sets you "want" from the internet is to sign up for the site's newsletter and watch for sales. That is what I do for the "want" sets. But, I try to check out their work before buying an expensive set. Often the digitizer will put out freebies to sample, I download it and sample their work and if I feel confident their work is good then I don't feel bad about paying more for a set if I really "need" it for a project. But, the bottom line is this, it is up to how much you can afford.
3002Hi Bev,
When considering the price I would pay, I keep in mind the quality, size, and type. (FSL, Filled, xstitch, etc.) I have paid as much as ninety dollars for a set of quilt blocks. It contained five sizes of twenty two designs. The flowers in these designs look real, so I felt it was worth it. The quilt was a wedding gift for my daughter so I also considered the occassion. My suggestion would be to try for the best quality your budget will allow. It doesn't matter how many designs you have if they do not stitch out well. Happy Stitching ~ Marjorie ***
by ksgram1
21 Jun 2009
P.S. ~ Licensed designs are always higher in price. Be sure to ALWAYS buy legal designs. The penalty for buying one illegal one can be as high as $30,000. That is definately too high a price to pay.
5751