Ann The Gran Community

I have been thinking about all the freebies that are available all over the Internet for ME.  What are we really getting?  I want to hear your thoughts on this, if you want to share them.

Why would anyone give something away when they are in business to make money

• They want to bring clients to their Site
• They want to demonstrate their friendly client services via the freebies
• They want to sell other items you need, i.e., stabilizers and threads, etc.
• They want to be a community with you and you will feel obligated after downloading - say, a million of their freebies

What am I getting for my (money) download

• Am I getting their leftovers that did not make it to the 'big leagues?'
• Am I getting their intermediate digitizers' work that is not ready for prime time?
• Does it really refect their actual designs in quality of digitizing? 
• Are these from enthusiastic but newbie home digitizers?

What is the technical quality

• When I sew out my test design, does it look good or are there gaps and oddities?
• Is the digitizing all just running stitches or is there some variety in the field areas?
• Is it too thin or too thick for covering and creating a design?
• Do the jump stitches make sense or are they crossing themselves?
• Are the start and stop stitches secure and not likely to unravel upon repeated washing?

What am I getting from a visual standpoint

• Am I getting just stick figures and/or funky autos?
• If they are cartoonish, is there a quality to the figures?
• If they are for a baby, is it baby cute or sweet and in keeping with the theme?
• If it is floral, can you identify the flower, animals, other items?
• Would I put the design on my own jeans?

Well these are just a few of the items that you may want to ask yourself about freebies.  After all, most of us have a lot of them, and frankly, how often do I personally use them?  Well, not very often.

Personally I have over 2,000 (they grow so fast) designs.  Probably 35% are freebies, and in a lot of cases, they are just occupying space on my PC.  So, my excited newbies (and some of your experienced ME), be sure you want that freebie, it may or may not be worth your time.  Take all that you want, but like the all you can eat restaurant, use what you take. 

To keep all that stuff straight, I do use CatalogExpress, and I would not know what to do without it.  It's next job is going to help me rid myself of the excess I really will never use.  I am going to feel like I lost 10 pounds. . . .

Pat

I did not mention this, but, the reason for being selective on Freebies is just to keep designs that you are really in love with.

Please don't stop downloading the freebies, but try to be selective so you don't end up with a lot of stuff you might never use.

Pat

If I could just add to that, one reason to give freebies is to let customers try out a design so they know the quality. And along with that, be sure to do a test stitch, on a similiar fabric if possible, to see how the design stitches out before putting it on the important item.

Lynn

So True Lynn - You will have no surprises if you do that test sew out. 

"There are two types of embroiderers, ones who do test stitches, and those who wish they did."  I don't know who said it, but they said a lot in a few words!

Pat

Hi, Pat.

May I add to your list -

Download from companies and sites (like ATG) that you know you can trust.

The embroidery machine companies have free designs.  Brother has several that I like and have used.  DIME (Designs In Machine Embroidery) also has several.

Do not download a licensed design that is offered as free - this is usually from a foreign site (Russia, for example) and the design is counterfeit.   The offer may not be illegal as the site is outside of the US and not subject to US copyright law.  But it is illegal to use, sell or share in the US.

Rename the designs, if necessary, so you have some idea what they are.  A design entitled RR9302.pes may be a red rose.  But, I probably won't remember that next week, so I rename as I download and put it in a file - same goes for designs purchased.

I name my files - ATG, EL, AmzDzns, DIME or wherever the download came from.

Back-up your files.  Depending on the volume, you can use an external hard drive, flash drive or CD.  Most sites will keep a record of purchased downloads, but the free ones may be lost if your PC decides to throw a tantrum and destroy your files.

Thanks.

Pattiann

I so appreciate Pattiann and her input!  Your input is really good and I agree with all your points.

ME users, you have multiple embroidery enthusists with good information to help you on this great journey.  I just love talking ME and so do others. 

I did go into my files yesterday to start removing the designs that no longer meet my requirements.  When I started in ME, I bought designs like they were going to disappear.  I downloaded every freebie I could find.  Now, guess what, a lot of these are not high quality and great artistry, so I am deleting them.  In just 30 minutes, I deleted 60 designs that I will probably never use.  I plan to continue doing the 'kick them to the curb' exercise often so I will have designs that I really love and will use. 

Collecting designs can be addictive.  Do your best to be selective but enjoy the designs, that is part of the joy of ME.

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

Pat I know how much Cathy loves the Antartic but I do no have her addres to email her this site.  Would you please forward this to her if you can.  Thanks,

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/scenes_from_antarctica.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed4

Maureen

Hi, Maureen,

I passed the link on to Cathy and she was very pleased. She asked me to give you her direct e-mail address, but I wanted to let you know an easier way that you can use with any Community member. It is possible to contact any member of the Community without knowing her e-mail address. Just find where the person has posted something (a forum or blog post, a comment, a gallery picture) and click on that person's username. You'll then be taken to the person's profile page. For example, Cathy's is at:

http://www.annthegran.com/cs/members/TravelBug1237/default.aspx

Then, just click on 'Send [username] an e-mail' and a window will pop up that you can write a message in. It protects the person's e-mail address, but you can still contact that person.

Hope this helps.

BB

ScereneMachine - Those photos are so beautiful.  I could make a jigsaw puzzle out of each of them.  WOW!

Pat