Embroidery design guide

An embroidery machine does not read a picture. It follows a stitch file that says where every stitch goes, in what direction and in which color. Turning your artwork into that file is called digitizing.

You do not have to do it yourself. Upload your artwork in the design studio, and it is prepared for stitching. Clean artwork makes that step work better.

• Keep shapes solid and simple. Bold shapes with clear edges stitch cleanest.
• Limit your colors. Each color is a separate thread, so a handful of flat colors works better than a rainbow.
• Avoid gradients and photographs. Thread cannot blend like ink. Shading turns into banding.
• Keep text big and bold. Thin lines and small letters close up when stitched. As a rule of thumb, letters should be at least about a quarter inch tall.
• Leave breathing room. Tiny gaps between shapes fill in with thread.

• The studio accepts PNG, JPG, WebP and SVG files up to 8 MB.
• A PNG with a transparent background is the best choice, because there is no box to remove around your design.
• Use a large, sharp image. Blurry or low-resolution art digitizes poorly.

Small spots, such as the left chest, sleeves and wrists, use a small embroidery area, so designs there are kept compact. Larger front placements give you more room. The studio shows where each placement sits and keeps your design inside it.

Before an order goes to production, we look it over by hand. If something will not stitch well, we will contact you instead of sending it through.