ELECTRIC QUILT DESIGN SOFTWARE

Choosing the right program for you

Visit Alice in Stitches for Quilt Design Software

Are you ready to incorporate technology with quilting?  Perhaps you are baffled with the wide range of quilting design software on the market and wide price range)!  Electric Quilt Company offers a software package for every ability and every budget.  As a leader in the quilting software industry, Electric Quilt has come up with user friendly programs that will suit the needs of a beginner to an advanced, professional designer.  We'll sort through the offerings for you and give you a basis to choose the best program for you.

FULL DESIGN PROGRAMS

The cream of the crop, most advanced and fullest feature software is the Electric Quilt 6 or EQ6 at $149.95.  If you are already a user of EQ5, you would want the Electric Quilt 6 Upgrade at $74.95.  While EQ6 is the most advanced version of Electric Quilt software, it's also the most user-friendly. This incredibly full-featured quilt design and drawing program has been especially designed with beginners as well as advanced designers in mind. Use it to design quilts, draw blocks, scan in fabrics or select from over 20,000 blocks, fabrics, colors, embroidery, photos, threads, quilt layouts and borders included in EQ6. Use EQ6 simply to try out colors, or print patterns in any size. You can even use EQ6 to develop a quilting career, producing professional, high-resolution block and quilt images print-ready for books or magazines. This is software you'll never outgrow.

EQ6 requires Windows XP or Vista and will run on a Mac using parallels.  Please check the requirements fully before purchase.

To help you get the most out of the Electric Quilt Software, you'll be able to choose from a selection of EQ 6 Companion Books, including Simplified, Block Book, Pieced Drawing and Applique Drawing (with more to come).  The books range from $19.95 to $22.95.

ADD-ON SOFTWARE TO EQ6

Electric Quilt Company also offers "Add-On" software that you can purchase to broaden your EQ6 features.  These products will only work if you already have the EQ6 software installed.  The Add-Ons include such fun offering as Kaleidoscope Foundation Blocks and  Karen Stone Quilt Patterns.  You'll also be able to choose from Dream House, Dear Hannah, Quilted Diamonds, Classic Applique and more.  Add On's generally range in price from $24.95 to $29.95.

BASIC BEGINNER QUILT DESIGN PROGRAM

A more basic, good beginner software package is Quilt Design Wizard, at $29.95.  Quilt Design Wizard is a great way to try out computer quilting software at an inexpensive price.  It is recommended for beginner quilters and new computer users.  If you only need simple pieced blocks, straight/horizontal layouts, on-point layouts, and want to play with color, then Quilt Design Wizard may be for you. Quilt Wizard comes with a printable user manual, requiring Adobe to open.

STAND ALONE SOFTWARE

Stand Alone software means that you can install it on your computer without having the EQ5 or EQ6 previously installed.  These smaller software packages generally feature a particular technique, theme, designer or feature.  The stand alone packages generally can be found in the $20 to $30 price range.

A few popular stand alone packages that we carry include:

• Quiltmaker Quilting Designs - Quiltmaker features printable and sizeable quilting designs taken from Quiltmaker Magazine.  A new volume generally comes out once or twice a year.  Collect them all for some great quilting designs!
• Stash Fabric Software - The Stash software is usually released in the spring and fall and features fabric collections from all the major fabric manufacturers.  This software can be used on its own or incorporated into your EQ6 library.  Stash provides a fun way to look through fabric choices, save to a shopping bag and create a printable list.
• Sew Precise Foundation Block Software - This software is available in three volumes and features foundation pieced blocks from different designers.  Print the blocks onto foundation paper and sew right onto the paper.
• Sue Spargo Folk Art Quilt Software - Sue Spargo lends her own special brand of folk art quilting to this delightful software.  If you are a folk art fan, you'll love this one!

PRINTABLES

You'll find you can create patterns, photos for memory quilts, templates and more using the companion printable paper and fabrics that are offered by Electric Quilt Company.  Print everything you need right from your own printer!  Check out our selection of Printables to make your computer quilt design process a breeze!

ELECTRIC QUILT BOOKS

Electric Quilt offers many options for learning how to incorporate computer design into your quilting process.  Check out the book available to learn new computer quilt design techniques.

• EQ 6 Companion Books - This series of books will help you get the most out of your Electric Quilt 6 software.
• Digital Essentials - This one will not only help you create your digital images for quilt work but also for web use and beyond.  This is a great digital computer guide!
• Blending Photos with Fabric II - Create a memory quilt with flair and creativity.  Learn how to incorporate images with fabric in an artistic way.

In summary, if you are ready to jump into the computer quilt design process, you can't go wrong with the Electric Quilt Company.  Their quilting software is top of the line and they stand behind their products with wonderful support and tech assistance. 

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