Having a good understanding of the embroidery process will help you figure out what embroidery software features will be useful to you. If you need more information on how to do hand or machine embroidery, here are some places to look:
General Embroidery Resources
The Internet is a great resource for learning about all types of embroidery.
Yahoo, Google and Facebook all have embroidery-related groups. These groups are a great resource when you what to learn how to do something or want to see how people feel about the software you’re thinking of purchasing. All of these groups will let you choose to read group messages on the group site or have them delivered to your inbox. Each site has a search filter to help you find the information you want.
Yahoo Groups will allow you to search for groups without having a Yahoo account, although you’ll need one to join groups that interest you.
You can also search Google Groups without creating an account, however you will not be shown private groups unless you are signed in.
You must have a Facebook account to see anything on Facebook, which you will need to be logged into to use.
YouTube is exclusively a video site, but it has videos on a wide variety of subjects. Videos are really helpful if you learn better from seeing how something is done instead of reading about it. You do not have to have an account to see the videos. Like the groups, YouTube has a search option so you can find videos on the topics you’re interested in. The videos have a comments section, so you can ask questions if you need more help. You can choose to subscribe to YouTube channels if you have a Google account, but you cannot download the videos or have them emailed to you.
Blogs offer a wealth of information on techniques and materials, most of it free. There is no central blog listing – the best thing to do is use Google or another search engine to find blogs with tutorials. A search for hand embroidery blogs or machine embroidery blogs should give you plenty of choices to start with.
Pinterest is good for finding resources (especially blogs) you might not find otherwise. Pinterest can be overwhelming, but because it’s image-based it can be easier to tell if a link will be helpful or not. It also has less advertising than most search engines, so the links (called “Pins”) you find are more likely to have useful information. You have to create an account and be logged into it to use Pinterest. Pinterest also has a search feature, which makes it easier to limit your results to what you need.
Books and Magazines
Your local library is a great resource for free information. It is more likely to have books and magazines about hand embroidery than machine embroidery. Many libraries offer inter-library loans, so if you find a book that looks useful but your library doesn’t have it, you may be able to borrow through inter-library loan.
Bookstores, especially those that specialize in remaindered books (books that have been sold to a retailer at a greatly reduced price to quickly reduce inventory), are a good place to look for books on embroidery. Craft books get remaindered fairly frequently, so you can not only find books that you might not find elsewhere, but they are usually greatly discounted, too.
Fabric stores often have a wide selection of craft books and magazines. They are often the only place to find machine embroidery magazines without buying a subscription. Sometimes they carry foreign magazines, too, which can be difficult to get otherwise. It’s also nice to be able to look at a book all the way through to see if it’s worth adding to your collection, which is something that you can’t do when you shop online.
Amazon.com has a huge selection of books on all subjects, so there’s a good chance that if it’s in print, you can find it at Amazon. Their review feature lets you see what others think about books that interest you. If you create an account, you can save titles to a wish list so that you can find them again later.
Machine Embroidery-specific Resources
Machine embroidery is a bit more complicated to learn than hand embroidery. It requires specialized equipment and software, and because of this fewer people do machine embroidery than hand embroidery. This means that tools for learning about machine embroidery are more limited too, and can be harder to find. Finding these tools is a matter of knowing where to look.
The Machine Embroidery Process page on this site gives an overview of machine embroidery from beginning to end.
This site’s Glossary has definitions of machine embroidery terms. Machine embroidery has a language all its own, so becoming familiar with the vocabulary can make the learning process easier.
Sewing machine dealers often are very knowledgeable about machine embroidery if they sell embroidery machines. Dealers often include free classes in the price of machines you purchase from them.
Online dealers and general merchandise stores usually do not offer classes, but your local machine dealer may be willing to allow you to take a class if you pay a fee.