This collection from Lindee G Embroidery was digitized in Generations and can be downloaded as MNG (building block format), GEN (“normal” Generations format, plus popular machine formats. If you do have Generations, be sure to download one of the native files for ultimate control over the designs.

Why Applique?

These designs are digitized as applique. Why? Because by hooping a water soluble stabilizer and appliqueing directly to the stabilizer, you can create “free standing applique.” which is no different from a patch or badge. Of course, just because you have an applique design doesn’t mean you have to treat it as such. Skip the fabric placement and you have a frame or border.

How to Use

These designs are intended to be combined with other designs and/or lettering. You can use them to create name tags, luggage tags, gift tags, or patches that can be heat fused to otherwise non-embroiderable items.

Use a suitable program—Generations or other program that permits customizing—and add your other elements. DO NOT COLOR SORT! You want the applique portion to sew first.

How to Sew

Load the design into your machine. The first color change is the placement and shows where you need to place your applique fabric. You can either precut your pieces (templates not included) or place a piece of fabric slightly larger than the placement lines. Sew color #2, which will tack down the fabric. If necessary, trim any excess fabric back to the tackdown line. Finally the satin stitch will sew. Although these are each 3 separate colors, just sew them in one color. Separate colors are needed to force your machine to stop.

The final part of the badge that sews is the inner outline. If you’ve resized or reshaped your badge and you find the outline is not matching up well, just skip this step.

Download Yours Now

You can see all the designs and their size here. All but 1 design fit 4×4″ (100mm x 100mm) sewing fields.

These videos are a condensed version of a recent hands-on workshop project

1. Auto-Digitize & Basic Changes

Remove outlines, gaps, and change stitch attribute.

2. Divide Leaves for Interest

Divide with a curve and changing stitch angles.

3. Pathing Considerations

Basics on sequencing a design, including adding manual travel paths.

4. Shading the Leaves

Easy shading techniques with Adjust with New Points.

5. Petals and Center

Radial fills, feathering and fill patterns.

Of course, if you have Generations, you’ll have more control and more capabilities because you’ll be ale to manipulate them as if you had digitized them yourself.

To see how to recreate this design, just watch this video:

Building Blocks are a special MNG format and, as such, are not directly openable in Generations. Instead they must be installed in a special locations. Installing and accessing Building Blocks is covered in this video.

I believe in supporting your local dealer. However, Generations dealers seem to be far and few,  so here are two great places to purchase Generations.

Both offer excellent service and support, plus they have nearly everything an embroiderer could possibly want. I recommend each highly. Please tell them I sent you!

Two Recommended Sources:

• Australia and surrounding areas: Echidna Sewing Products
• Elsewhere: embroidery.com. This link will take you to the Generations workshop webinars page. Scroll down in the right hand column to Related Products and you’ll find a link for Generations software.

If you already have digitizing software that you find too difficult to use, check about trading in your old dongle. While I can’t guarantee that this option may be available, it’s worth asking about!

Was I Insane?!?!?!

I think if I’d known those numbers to start with, I never would have written the first page. I find it hard to believe myself.

In the process, I learned an entirely new program (Generations) in a foreign operating system (Windows). Generations is an auto-digitizing program—something I never thought I’d use as a veteran professional digitizer.

What Did I Find?

What I found was a program that makes it easy for anyone to create a design with absolutely no experience. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that it can give the beginner an immediate sense of accomplishment and hopefully a desire to progress. Unfortunately, it can also give a false sense of mastery. Just because the software can instantly turn an image into embroidery doesn’t mean it’s great embroidery.

Just like having Photoshop doesn’t turn you into an artist, owning a digitizing program does not turn you into a digitizer. You need to understand something about how embroidery designs are constructed.

You can get the basics of that in Anatomy of a Design: How to Think Like Digitizer and Become a Better Embroiderer. Here you’ll begin to learn about how stitch length, density, and type affects fabric. The reason I say “begin” is that you also need to experiment with different designs on different fabrics with different backings (stabilizers). You need to experience this yourself to know how stitches affect fabric so that you know how to optimize settings in your software.

Making Your Own Designs

If you’re ready to move beyond auto-digitizing and really take control of your designs, where do you start? Your dealer? An educator who knows how to push some buttons to create a specific design but not why you should make certain selections? Someone who is just leading you through lessons supplied by the vendor? You might learn some program functions but you won’t really learn to digitize.

What you need is a structured course that starts at the beginning and teaches you theory while learning the program. With Learn to Digitize you get a comprehensive course with exercises and projects to really learn to digitize and create the designs you want—not just designs you can find projects for! When you complete this course, you’ll know Generations and you’ll also know how to digitize. Once you get to that point, you’ll be able to apply those skills to any other digitizing program. You’ll know enough to make intelligent decisions on a new program if you so choose rather than being influenced by a razzle-dazzle demo that when done by a pro can make any program look amazing.

Is Generations the Best Program?

Every program has its pluses and minuses. Most every program has some quirky thing that doesn’t work right. Programmers do their best but they aren’t digitizers. Once a program gets into the hands of the users, the real testing begins. I haven’t seen a perfect digitizing program yet—one that does everything the way I want it and does it flawlessly (and on a Mac!). If you want to really learn to digitize and you’re finding your software too confusing, give Generations a try.

While you can get the course here, you’ll need to get Generations elsewhere. Iif your dealer doesn’t carry Generations, I recommend the following:

• In Australia and surrounding areas: EchidnaClub.com
• Elsewhere: Generations at embroidery.com

More Benefits

Rarely do you find designs available in your software’s native format. In the process of learning Generations and writing the course, I also digitized in Generations and the result is around 300 designs that I’ve made available in Generations format. That means you have full control over changing stitch types and attributes. Where else will you find that? You’ll find all the designs in the Building Blocks category to be MNG files (native Generations Building Block format). You also find regular collections that include standard GEN format and many of the freebies are also GEN files.

Want to Learn More About Generations Before You Buy?

Check out my free webinars hosted at embroidery.com. Watch recorded sessions or catch one live on the 2nd Thursday of the month. While you do have to pre-register, the session is free and you don’t need to have Generations to attend.

Want to Learn More About the Course?

That, my friend is only a click or two away:

• Blog home page
• Course Contents
• Download Unit Tables of Contents
• See what others are saying

This group features some novelty techniques such as fringing, 3D flowers, and buttonholes. While I’ve stitched the daisies in blue—they show up better that way!—you can stitch them in colors of your choice.

There are 21 designs in the group and 18 will fit a 4×4 hoop. One design was digitized for continuous or “endless” hoops to create a border. The baskets are intended to be used as a background for the 3D daisy and would great companions for other  3D flower designs in your stash.

21 Designs Generations & Multiformat Instant download!

This exquisite group of designs was manually digitized in Generations and features all the rich details and shading you’ve come to love from the designs I did with Cactus Punch. Now you can have them as native Generations files!

These designs are sized for 4×4 hoops. Details on color counts, design size, and stitch counts can be found here.

If you’re a student of Generations, you’ll want this collection to study how to achieve shading and realism in your digitizing. If you aren’t a Generations owner, then you’ll want this collection for its sheer beauty and classic styling.

10 Designs Generations & Multiformat Instant download!