Augmented chords GENERALLY aren't found in major progressions, because it doesn't naturally occur, but through use of secondary dominants and/or chord substitutions augmented chords have their place in major keys.
I just recently started playing around with augmented chords and have found only two uses for them (that sound good). I'm working on coming up with others.

Say you have a simple I, vi IV, V progression in C (C, Am, F, G). To get to the vi chord, Am, you can use it's secondary dominant, E Major, which reads as a III. Now, major chords are commonly substituted with Major Sixth chords. E Major sixth reads E, G#, B, C. This can be seen as C+/E, which can be simplified to C+. So, now your progression reads I - I+, vi, IV, V. Try this out... it has a cool feel for it. Perhaps sub the C augmented for a C augmented add nine (C+add9) which can be fingered as x, 3, 2, 1, 3, 0.

A second use of augmented chords is to use them as a substitution for a secondary dominant. Say you're playing in A Major, with chords A, F#m, Bm, E (I, vi, ii, V). That F#m is the fifth of Bm and can be substituted for an F# Major from B Harmonic Minor, which can be substituted for an F#7, which can be substitued for an F#7#5, which is F#+7. Now, try out your progression... Amaj7 (x, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0), F#+7 (2, x, 2, 3, 3, x), Bm7 (x, 2, 4, 2, 3, x), E7 (0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0)... for even more augmented chords, try substituting that E7 at the end for an E+7 (0, 2, 0, 1, 1, x), which would be altering the secondary dominant to the I chord.

Whew, I hope that made sense... if not, here are some simpler "rules" you can apply for using augmented chords.

1. Use an augmented chord with a root a minor third above the chord you are going to (ex. = C+ -> Am)

2. Use an augmented chord with a root a perfect fifth above/ perfect fourth below the chord you are going to (ex = F#+ -> Bm)