Okay, I know my question is going to put me in the "dumb to dumber" category, but I'll admit, I know nil about embroidery nor the machines.

I was just looking on Ebay at all the embroidery designs. Even on Ebay, they are really expensive (to me anyway).

Why can't you use designs from coloring books/pages? There are tons of these pages free on the internet.

do you want embroirdery designs or designs machine applique designs? You can use anythingnyou want ofr mqachine applique that your choice!

It takes specialized, expensive software to digitize artwork to make it usable with your embroidery machine. Good embroidery designs are done artistically and digitized optimally for pretty, smooth, efficient stitching. I can say it because I've digitized designs that ended up sloppy and looking very ragged. You also have to worry about encroaching on copyrights and could/would be sued. I'm not artistic either so I appreciate nice designs I buy. I buy if I know they're well designs and will use them many times.

EvelynB explained about the digitizer. However, I don't purchase expensive designs...the Internet is full of resources for free designs. I get most of mine from www.annthegran.com .

There are a lot of good deals throughout the year at Embroidery Library. I get emails from them with sales, and promos. It sure beats me trying to figure out how to get something to look good.

Martha Pullen also has an embroidery club. I joined for 59 and was able to download 24 old testament redwork designs that I'm using for a daughter's baby quilt. There are others that I can get from her also because of the joining fee.

Some of the designs for sale have multiple sizes and coordinating patterns. Also, some of the freebies can be too dense or not dense enough. That said, I get most of mine from Ann the Gran.

Not all designs are created equally. If there's not enough underlayment or there's too much, the design won't stitch right. It's a complicated thing....I buy only if I can't find it for free or can't digitize it myself.

Janice

I'm sure many of you already know this, but if you go to the web site of your machine manufacturer you can usually download quite a few design for free...I've got a Brother and they have many free designs which are in addition to those already built into my machine.
If I have been told correctly, you just need to be sure the "format" is the correct onbe for your machine.

Lilly

I feel that I have a pretty good assortment now for my general use up until I get some grandkids. However sometimes a apecial event-like a Retreat or something comes up and I need a "specific" design-but in that case a person can opt to buy JUST ONE design from most companies. Those can range from $3.00-$8.00.