First of all, Welcome and thank you so much for visiting!
Creating an account is very easy. Click on the 'My Account' link at the top right of the page. Then click the 'Create here to create your account' link.

First make sure you are entering your Username and Password correctly. Capitals don't matter but spaces and other special characters will cause an error.
If you forgot your Password enter your email address in the form provided on the Sign In page and your UserName and Password will be emailed to you immediately.
Important: If you are certain you have created an account but your email address is not located it means your account information has been deleted. This occurs if an email to the address you provided is returned as undeliverable for any reason. This is to make certain we are in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
Please create your account again using the email address provided to you by your ISP.
If you still cannot sign the problem may be with a missing or corrupted cookie on your computer. Click here to learn how to solve the problem by deleting cookies. Don't worry. It's easy and harmless.

Shopping for machine embroidery designs is easy, fun and secure.
First sign in to your account or create an account by clicking the 'My Account' link at the top of the page.

Then begin shopping by making a selection from the design categories on the menu bar to the left,
OR
enter a keyword(s) into the search box located on every page.

Once you have opened a category or your search results are displayed you can browse thumbnail information of the designs. Click on a thumbnail to open the design's detail page.

The detail page has a larger picture of the design, some interesting information and the design's size, stitch count, colors and price.
Select your desired format and available options (if any) and click the 'Add this Item to Your Cart' button to place it in your shopping cart.

Because you are signed in you are already at the final step of the secure checkout process: 'Checkout: Step 2 of 2'. Here you can review your information and your purchases. You can also remove items if you want.
When you are finished shopping enter your credit card information and click the 'Place My Secure Order' button. Your information is instantly transmitted to Authorize.net for processing and is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology.
Note: We do not store nor have access to your credit card information.

That's all there is to it!
Once your order is successfully processed you will directed to the download page where you can instantly download your designs.

Do not download your designs. Contact us immediately and we may be able to cancel your order so you can start over.
Because we never see nor have access to your credit card number we cannot issue partial or full credit.

If you are unsure which format to order for your machine there are four things you can do.

1. Check your owner's manual.
2. Call your dealer.
3. Download our free design in the offered formats and see which one is compatible with your system.
4. Visit the web site of your machine's manufacturer.

We offer our designs in Brother (PES), Tajima (DST), Melo (EXP), Husqvarna/Viking (HUS), Janome (JEF), Pfaff (PCS) and Singer (XXX) formats.

At this time the only way to convert a design to ART format is with Bernina software. We do not own that software and to be honest the demand for ART format is not large enough to justify the expenditure or the time required to convert and process 1000's of designs.
However, if you own the Artista program or just about any Bernina software, you can convert a design yourself. Simply open a design in another format, a PES design for instance, and save it as an ART file.

Yes. Every zipped design folder includes a thread chart or color change sheet. It is a pdf-formatted file so you will need the Adobe Reader, a free program, to open, read and print it.

After your purchase you will be directed to the download page where you will be able to instantly download your designs to your computer and/or have them emailed to you. Embroidery design files are delivered in zipped folders, each folder contains the design and its pdf-formatted thread chart.
If you opt to have them emailed to you please ensure that your email program accepts mail with zipped attachments from WindstarEmbroidery.com.
There is no charge and designs are shipped worldwide.
Click here for more information on our Instant Download process.

Yes. After your purchase you will be directed to the downloading page where you will be able to instantly download your designs to your computer and/or have them emailed to you.
Embroidery design files are delivered in zipped folders. You will need to unzip the folders before you move, view or use your embroidery designs.
Click here for more information on our Instant Download process.

Yes, you can!
Click the "My Account" link at the top right of any page. Sign in if prompted. Click the "Your Order History" link. Then click the "View Details" link for the order. If download is still available, try again. If download is not available, please contact us with the order number.

Place an order online. It's really that simple. As soon as you place a design order you are automatically enrolled in our Customer Rewards program and are eligible for discounts based upon your previous design purchases. It's a great program! Read all about it here.

No, not at this time.

You sure can!
Click the "My Account" link at the top right of any page, sign in if prompted. Click the "Your Order History" link. Then click the "View Details" link for the order. If download is still available, try again. If download is not available, please contact us with the order number.

Once you click the download button all control passes to you. It is impossible for us to know what file or folder you specified for your download.
Here are a couple of things you can do:

• Search your system for all files and folders ending with a zipped extension (.zip).
• Download your order again but this time have the folder downloaded to your desktop for temporary storage.
  It's very easy to find that way.
• Contact us if you have reached your download limit.

If you choose to have your designs sent via email they will arrive as attachments to your email address.
The attachments will be zipped (.zip) folders containing your designs in the format you specified and a pdf-formatted thread chart.
You will need to save those files to your computer and unzip them before you can view, print or work with your designs.
Click here to learn how to save email attachments to your computer.

Zipping is way to reduce the size of the package being downloaded or sent to your email address. Though the files inside a zipped folder are compressed, no data is lost or compromised.
Zipping programs add the .zip extension to the zipped file. For instance design folder 777PES.zip means it is design number 777 in PES format zipped up. That zipped folder or file will contain the design and the pdf-formatted thread chart or color change sheet.

All zipped folders or files need to be unzipped before you can view them, move them or do anything at all with them. Fortunately, unzipping is fast and easy and any number of programs will do the job quickly and easily.
If your operating system is Windows XP or Vista, click here.
If you have an unzipping program such as WinZip®, click here.
If you don't have WinZip®, click here to get a free evaluation version.
If you have BuzzXplore, click here.

Every design order includes a color chart in pdf format. It contains a great deal of information about the design but the most important is the color change list. All you have to do is follow the color order as you embroider your design.
Here's how:

• Load the design into your machine and verify that the color changes it displays matches with the color chart.
• Thread your machine with the first color and begin stitching.
• When the machine stops for a color change, thread the next color and continue embroidering.
• Continue this process until the design is complete.

The code number of the thread in the color chart corresponds to the thread brand I specified when I digitized the design, usually Robison-Anton (RA) rayon or polyester embroidery thread. Of course you are free to use any thread you wish.
If you need to convert or compare the code numbers in the color chart to your brand of thread, check our machine embroidery thread charts.

Please don't. Our designs are digitized for optimal results. Resizing will likely produce a poor embroidery due to changes in density, fills, etc. If you wish to attempt resizing make a copy of the original design for experimentation and be sure to test stitch before embroidering the final piece. Please be aware we offer no support for any designs you tamper with.

This error occurs with PES files and, depending upon the software you are using to open the design, you get a message saying the file is either corrupt or not an embroidery file. Your program does not recognize it as an embroidery file it can open. Here's why it happens:
We create all our designs with APS-Ethos and then use BuzzXplore to convert them to common machine formats. We convert most of the PES files to Version 4. If you see those errors it means you are still using software purchased years ago and have not upgraded it. Your software only recognizes PES versions earlier than Version 4 and is now years out of date.
You have a couple of options.
1. Check with the company that created your software to see if there are updates available. Most updates are free downloads that install easily and quickly. If there are no updates it is probably time for you to purchase a new version or a new program entirely.
2. Download our free design in all the available formats to see which one works best with your system. You may even be able to do your own file conversions to create PES files compatible with your software.

This usually happens because the designs are still zipped up. Check to make sure your order is unzipped before attempting to open it with your embroidery software or transferring it to your machine.

Sometimes the colors of a design on your machine's display screen look pretty weird when compared to the pictures displayed on the web site or to the pdf-formatted color chart included with your order. Here's why:
Every embroidery machine has a palette of colors to use and it varies considerably from machine to machine. When you load a design into your machine its little electronic brain looks at the colors in the design. Then it looks at the colors it has in its inventory and comes as close as it can to match them up. Sometimes the result is pretty close, sometimes it's way off. But your machine is proud of its work so don't be too hard on it. Pat it on the head, if you can figure out where the head is, and don't worry.
Ignore the colors on your display screen and follow thread colors on your color change sheet. Thread your machine with the first color on the sheet and begin stitching. When the machine stops for a color change, thread the next color and continue embroidering. Continue this process until the design is complete.

Here are a few things to check:

1. Look in your junk or bulk mail folder for an email from us. If it is there please set your email filter to accept email from WindstarEmbroidery.com.
2. Make sure your mail box has sufficient free space. If your box is full your mail server may reject or delay the delivery of your order.
3. Does your email account accept messages with zipped attachments? Many free .gov, .mil and .edu accounts won't reliably accept zipped attachments. If this is the case click the "My Account" link at the top right of every page, sign in if prompted. Click the "Update Your Account" link. There you can change your email address.
4. Click the "My Account" link at the top right of every page, sign in if prompted. Click the "Your Order History" link. Then click the "View Details" link for the order. If download is still available, try again.
5. Important! Over the years we have experienced problems with Gmail and Comcast accounts. GMail does not reliably accept mail with zipped attachments and the Comcast servers are often offline causing mail to be undelivered.
   We have no control over these problems.
   The only solution is to sign in to your account and either try having them emailed again or choose to download your designs to your computer instead.

If none of those work, please contact us with the Order ID.

Click the "My Account" link at the top right of every page and sign in if prompted. Click the "Your Order History" link and your order history is immediately available to you. Then click "View Details" to see the details of an individual order.

Due to the electronic nature of embroidery design files (software) there is no refund or exchange. Machine embroidery design files are also non-returnable.

Under no circumstances is the original or altered design file to be sold, traded or shared in any form. Buying, selling, trading, sharing or transferring copies of our design files is a violation of copyright law.
Windstar Embroidery Designs (WindstarEmbroidery.com) retains the copyright to the original design files. This policy also applies to free designs.

When you purchase our embroidery designs you acquire the right to sew the designs out for personal use. You also have the right to embroidery a design on 50 units for profit or charity. To produce more than 50 units using any design a Commercial Use License is required. Please click the following link for more information: Copyright & Commercial Licensing Information.

Please click this link to read our privacy and security policy.
This link is also on the footer of every page in the site.

Please click this link to read our terms and conditions.

Yes, we do. Free designs are available to anyone on our email newsletter list.
We offer free designs for two reasons:

1. for you to stitch out to see the quality of the designs
2. for you to download in the various machine formats to see which format is compatible with your embroidery system

The link to the free design page is on the footer of any page in the site.
Please back up your files. We do not offer support for free designs.

There is a link at the top right of every page that says 'My Account'. Click it and it will take you to the sign in page where you can sign out, update your account information and view your order history.
By the way, if you have items in your cart and cannot continue shopping signing out does not empty your cart. When you sign in again your cart contents will still be there so you won't have to start all over.