What makes an embroidery file sew well.
Digitizing turns flat colour shapes into a stitch plan: a stitch type, a sewing order and an underlay for every region. Here is what that plan contains, so you know what you are looking at before you hoop fabric.
- Reading image
- Finding thread colours
- Planning stitches
- Building simulation
What goes into the file
Each colour region in your logo gets the stitch type a digitizer would choose: fill for open areas, satin columns for text and thin shapes, running stitch for outlines. Underlay goes in first so the top stitches sit flat instead of sinking into the fabric.
Pull compensation widens shapes slightly to counter how fabric draws in as stitches tighten, and density follows the fabric preset you pick, so cotton, knit jersey, fleece, cap twill and leather each sew at a density suited to that material.
The sewing order is chosen to keep jumps and trims short, and small text or hairline shapes are flagged before you sew, not after: lettering under about 6 mm tall rarely reads well on fabric.
The simulation on this page draws the exact needle path of the file you download: same stitches, same order, jumps and trims included. Fabric, stabilizer, tension and your machine still matter, so sew a test on a scrap before a production run.
How it works
Drop your logo
PNG, JPEG or WebP, or paste it. A clean logo with a few flat colours sews best.
Watch it stitch, fine-tune it
The simulation is the real file: every stitch in sewing order. Quality notes flag tiny text or hairlines, and you can click any part to change its thread, stitch, direction or density.
Download for your machine
Pick your machine and get the right format, hoop check and a printable production sheet.
Examples
Our sample logos and the stitches they become. Pick one to run it yourself.
Our promise
Preview, simulation and production sheet are always free, and re-running a design at another size or fabric costs nothing.
Downloads are free while Stitch is in beta. When paid downloads launch, every purchase is covered: if a file sews badly, send us a photo of the sew-out and we fix it for free or refund you in full.
Questions
Which file formats do you make?
PES (Brother, Baby Lock), DST (Tajima and most commercial machines), JEF (Janome, Elna), VP3 (Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff) and EXP (Bernina, Melco). Pick your machine in the download step and we suggest the right one.
Is it really free?
Yes. The preview, stitch simulation and production sheet are free, and while we are in beta so are the downloads. No account and no card.
Which images work best?
Logos with a few flat colours and clean edges, ideally a PNG with a transparent background, at least 500 px wide. Photos and soft gradients are reduced to a handful of thread colours, so they lose detail.
How close is the simulation to the real sew-out?
It draws the exact needle path of the file: same stitches, same order, jumps and trims included. Fabric, stabilizer, tension and machine still matter, so sew a test on a scrap before a production run.
Can I change how a part is sewn?
Yes. Turn on Edit regions and click a part: pick its thread colour (or merge it into another thread), sew a column as satin or fill, turn the fill direction, make it lighter or denser, or drop the underlay. The density map, X-ray (underlay only) and What changes views show the effect before you download.
How small can text be?
Lettering under about 6 mm tall does not read well on fabric. We flag it in the quality notes; make the design wider or shorten the text.
Which fabrics are supported?
Woven cotton, knit jersey, fleece or towel, cap twill and leather or vinyl. Each preset changes density, underlay and pull compensation.
What happens to my image?
It is kept only for a short time so you can download the files, then deleted as new designs come in. There are no accounts and no public gallery of uploads.