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Welcome to Urban Threads! So you've got some questions, eh? Click on a topic below to jump to the answer. If you don't see your question addressed here,
contact us and we'll help you out.
Registration, Ordering, Downloading
Using the Designs
Miscellany
Registration, Ordering, Downloading
Who are you? What exactly are you selling here?
Urban Threads is the brainchild of illustrator
Niamh O’Connor, and grew out of her internship and eventual employment with the rather more mainstream
Embroidery Library to bring fresh, high-quality alternatives to the world of machine embroidery. All together, we’re an employee-owned company of 24 people in Minneapolis, Minnesota – artists, digitizers, writers, designers, and computer geeks. You can meet some of the creative folks behind Urban Threads on the
About Us page.
Urban Threads sells
digital designs for machine embroidery (in 11 formats)
and hand embroidery (as PDFs). Everything for sale on Urban Threads is a digital download; we don’t send anything via snail mail.
How do I register? What happens when I do?
Fill out this form to register with Urban Threads. You’ll be signed up for the weekly newsletter with announcements of new designs, sales, freebies, and other exciting things. You can always unsubscribe if you want. Once you’re registered, you can use this account to purchase designs and access designs you’ve purchased in the past.
How can I get your awesome weekly newsletter?
So glad you asked! Register with Urban Threads and you’ll be signed up for the weekly newsletter. You can always opt out later if you choose.
I can’t log in. Help!
Forgot your password?
Click here to get it.
If you try too many times to log in with an incorrect password, the site may
lock you out temporarily as a security measure. Give it a few minutes and try
again. You can
request your password if you need help remembering it.
Still need help?
Contact us and we’ll sort you out.
I'm using Internet Explorer, and the Urban Threads site
is displaying very strangely. Help!
A few users of the Internet Explorer web browser are seeing display issues
with the site. Here's what you can do to get around the problem, depending on
which version of IE you're using:
IE6 or IE7:
Update to a newer version of the Internet Explorer browser.
IE8 or IE9: Turn off Compatibility View.
Here's
how to turn off compatibility view in IE8 and
how to turn off compatibility view in IE9.
Or you can use a different web browser, such as Firefox
or Chrome.
Questions? Drop us a
note and we'll be glad to help.
How do I place an order?
Firstly, make sure you’re
signed in to the site. When you find a design you like, click the pink “Add to Basket” button to add it to your shopping basket.
Ready to check out? Go to your
shopping basket.
If you have any gift certificates or promotional codes to use, enter them in the
box at the bottom of the shopping basket page and click "apply." Click the “check
out!” button at the bottom of the shopping basket page – this will take you to
the checkout page.
You have your choice of two ways to pay for your designs – PayPal or a credit card. If you want to use PayPal, click the yellow “Check
out with PayPal” button and complete the transaction on PayPal’s site. If you want to use a credit card, fill out the credit card information and click the pink “Complete
Order” button.
Voila – you’ve ordered your designs!
What forms of payment do you accept?
PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. If none of these is an option for you,
contact us and we’ll arrange for you to pay by check or money order.
Which machine embroidery format should I order?
The table below will help you figure out which format to order. If you’re not sure, or your embroidery machine works with several formats but you want to see which one you like the best, you can
download a free design to experiment with in any format(s) you like. Check your machine’s manual and your dealer for their input on the matter, too.
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Consumer Brand
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Recommended Format
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| BabyLock |
PES |
| Bernina |
ART for Artista 440 and below; EXP for Artista 630 and up, and Deco 340. EXP or ART for Artista 730; ART or PES for Deco 330. |
| Brother |
PES (Innovis, ULT, and PR-600 models also take DST) |
| Elna |
SEW or JEF |
| Husqvarna Viking |
VIP for Platinum and SE; HUS for Rose, Iris, and Designer II; VIP, HUS, or DST for Diamond. SHV for Desiger I; VP3 for Topaz. Urban Threads doesn’t offer SHV or VP3, but you can convert from another format such as VIP using Embird (tutorial) or Husqvarna Viking’s software. For the Designer 1, files will also need to be written to your floppy disk or USB drive in a certain way (tutorial). |
| Janome |
JEF for 12000, 11000, 10001, 10000, 9700, 9500, 350, 300. JEF or DST for MB4. SEW for 9000 and below. |
| Kenmore |
SEW |
| New Home |
SEW |
| Pfaff |
PCS for older machines, VIP for newer machines such as the Creative Vision |
| Singer |
XXX for most models; FHE for Futura. Urban Threads doesn't offer FHE, but you can use the Futura software to convert from many formats including DST, HUS, PES, and JEF. |
| White |
PES |
I ordered the wrong machine embroidery format. Can I get a different format?
Sure thing! Just find the order in your
order history and select your desired format from the drop-down menu to the right of the design. Then click the appropriate button to either download the design or email it to yourself in the new format.
I ordered some designs. When and how do I get them?
Thanks for your order -- glad you like 'em! Your designs are in your order history, waiting for you to download. Here's how to get them: Log in to the Urban Threads site, click “orders” in the upper right-hand corner of the page (or just
click right here if you’re logged in). Click on the order number and you'll see buttons to either download the designs, or email them to yourself and download them from there.
I paid for an order via PayPal, but I can’t download my designs. What’s up with that?
Ah, the mysterious case of “PayPal limbo.” Once in a great while an order will get stuck on PayPal’s end. If this happens, do the following: 1)
Find the order under “orders,” click the “PayPal – Click Here to Pay” button, and make sure you see a receipt that says you have in fact paid for the order. Yes? Good. Then 2)
Contact us and let us know what’s up. We’ll send in the fanged craft bunny to sort things out.
How do I unzip designs?
Most mainstream computer operating systems these days automatically come with unzipping software. If you need a program, there are plenty free programs out there that you can download –
Google “free unzip” to find them.
Here's a nifty tutorial on how to unzip zipped files. Still need help?
Drop us a note
and we can email you the unzipped file.
AOL email sometimes zips email attachments automatically. To get around this, try
downloading the designs directly to your computer instead of emailing them to yourself.
I lost a design I purchased. Can I download it again?
Sure thing! Once you’ve purchased a design, it stays in your
order history, so you can go back and re-download it at any time. No charge, no worries.
Can I get a refund/return/exchange?
If you accidentally purchase the same product twice,
contact us and we’ll give you a refund or a credit for the site.
If you accidentally ordered the wrong type of design (say, machine embroidery instead of hand embroidery), or you ordered a design that’s too large for your machine’s embroidery area,
contact us and we’ll switch it for you at no charge.
Everything for sale on Urban Threads is instantly downloadable, which means you can’t return the designs. Once you download a file, it’s on your computer, and there’s no real way to “give it back” – so no refunds are available for cases other than duplicate purchases. All machine embroidery designs are stitched out and checked for quality before they’re posted on the site (and we’re picky!). If you’re having trouble with a design,
contact us and we’ll work with you to help you find the source of the problem. When you contact us, please send your order number, type of machine you have, type of fabric and stabilizer, as well as a detailed description of the problem.
Using the Designs
May I sell stuff
I stitch with your designs? What’s your licensing policy?
The short answer: absolutely! You may sell items you embroider with Urban
Threads designs -- just keep the design files to yourself. Check out Urban
Threads' licensing policy
for the riveting details.
May I
use your images of your stitchouts in my online shop?
Sure! You're welcome to use the images of the stitchouts from our site to
show what designs you have available to stitch on things for people. Just credit them "Image courtesy of http://www.urbanthreads.com."
May I sell stuff made using your tutorials?
Sure! You may make and sell items using instructions provided on this site (see also:
licensing policy for designs). You may use a
tutorial from this site to teach a class, but please attribute the tutorial to Urban Threads. You may not republish the tutorials as your own.
Where’s the color change sheet for my machine embroidery design?
Before you purchase a design, you can view the thread list by going to the page for that individual design, then clicking the “thread list” link at the lower left corner of the image.
Once you’ve purchased a design, you can get the color change sheet (aka thread list) by finding the design in your
order history, then clicking on the "thread list" link next to it.
On the thread list page for each design or pack, you will see links to get a PDF version of the color change sheet (good for printing), and to download a .txt version of the color change sheet for each design (useful for
importing color information into Embird or really bare-bones printing).
My machine is telling me to stitch a design in odd colors. What do I do?
This happens more often than not. No need to worry. When you use designs from a company other than the one that made your embroidery machine, often the machine has to guess at what colors to put where. Sometimes these guesses aren’t very good. Just follow the
color change sheet for each design on the website, and completely ignore the colors your machine tells you to use.
Can I resize the designs?
Officially, we don’t recommend resizing the designs. That said, people often have success making them about 10 percent larger or smaller, maybe just a touch more. Halving or doubling the size of a design is likely to result in stitching that’s too dense, too thin, or just plain wonky. We just can’t be responsible for how a design stitches out at a size other than the ones for sale on the site. Too many variables beyond our control.
Need a different size of a design?
Drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do for ya! If we can create a new size from the original files, we’ll put it up on the site as soon as we can. If it’s too much of a size leap for things to turn out well, we’ll gladly take a request for a similar but differently sized design.
I love a certain design, but my embroidery machine has a 4”x4” hoop, and it’s only available in sizes bigger than that. Can you make a smaller version?
Maybe.
Contact us and ask. We try to make as many designs as possible available in a 4”x4” size. If there’s one you’d like to see as a 4”x4”, let us know. If we can resize it for you, we’ll do it up right quick and put it on the site so everybody else can use it too. If there’s too much detail to fit well in a design that small, we’ll gladly
take a request for a similar-but-4”x4”-friendly design.
You could also try splitting the design and stitching it in multiple parts. We don’t split designs, but you can do it yourself if you have the software and the know-how, or hire people for this purpose. One person who splits a lot of designs by request is
Marian Ecker.
Miscellany
How do I contact you?
Drop us a note via
this form. We’d love to hear from you!
Do you take requests?
Absolutely! Some of our best designs have been requests from UT stitchers.
Drop us a note and let us know what you’d like to see!
Do you do custom digitizing?
At this time, no. If you’re looking for someone to digitize a custom design, try
searching Etsy, or check out
Embroidery Mall. Digitizing quality can vary a lot, so it's worth your while to check out the digitizer's other work to make sure it pleases you before you place your order.
What can you give me for free?
Free machine embroidery and hand embroidery designs are
right here. For machine embroiderers, this is a great way to check out our splendid digitizing quality before you buy, and make sure you know which
format works with your machine. If you’re a hand embroiderer, you may find it helpful to use a freebie to run through the ordering process and see exactly what you’ll be getting when you order from Urban Threads. You order freebies
just like you would regular designs, except you can breeze through the checkout without forking over any money. You’re more than welcome to use freebies just like you would any other design.
There are a few variations on the Urban Threads skull-and-cross-needles logo that are always free; there are also other freebies that change periodically. Watch the
free page or the
newsletter for those.
Which embroidery machine do you recommend? Where should I buy one?
We can't give you a quick and definite answer to that question. It really depends on what features you're looking for.
A lot of people say to get the biggest hoop size you can possibly afford. Keep in mind that many machines come with a "mega hoop" or "giga hoop" or the like ... but the machine's biggest *single position* hoop size is the one to be concerned about. The mega/giga stuff just means you can split a larger design into parts and stitch the parts without re-hooping.
Another thing to look at is how to transfer designs to the machine .... some use a little USB thumb drive, others take special embroidery cards, etc. Some machines need to be hooked up to a computer to run, and some can stand alone.
There’s a good
thread on Craftster about the "Which embroidery machine should I buy?" question -- check it out!
As far as where to get a machine, think about whether you want to order online or buy from a local dealer. A dealership may or may not charge a wee bit more than your online retailer du jour or big box mega-mart, what you get back in support and education is probably worth the extra charge (especially for newbies). Many sewing machine shops have classes you can take, and staff who can give you one-on-one advice. Plus, when you go to a dealer you can test-drive a bunch of machines so you know exactly what you’re getting before you take it home. Looking for a bargain? Ask if your dealer has any discounted floor models available.
I love that fanged bunny you always have around. Where can I get one of my own?
Right here. He’s the killer rabbit with big pointy teeth from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
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