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Machine embroidery guides

Straight answers to machine embroidery questions, tested in our own engine. Every number comes from a file we made, a setting we use or a linked source.

Basics

Can AI digitize embroidery?Yes, for clean logos and flat artwork: software can turn them into a stitch file in seconds. It still gets smooth gradients, very fine lines and tiny letters wrong, and no automatic tool, ours included, fixes that on its own.Updated

Sizes and limits

3D puff embroidery: what a machine can really sewA machine sews 3D puff by stitching dense satin over foam, which stays inside and lifts the thread. That gives bold, rounded, raised shapes. It cannot sew the twisted-rope shading and glossy depth many AI mockups show.Updated How big can a cap embroidery design be?In our settings a cap front takes up to about 100 mm wide and 55 mm tall, and a beanie about 75 by 45 mm. Height is the limit most designs hit first, so wide designs fit caps better than tall ones.Updated How small can embroidered text be?In our tests, block letters pass our checks from 6 mm tall; at 5 mm and below the engine warns they are hard to sew. Script cannot go as small: our script font stops at about 5.7 mm.Updated

Fabric and stabilizer

Which embroidery stabilizer for which fabric?Use cut-away under anything that stretches, like t-shirts, polos, hoodies and beanies, and tear-away under stable wovens like canvas and denim. On fluffy fabric such as a towel, add a water-soluble topping so the stitches stay on top.Updated

Troubleshooting

Why does machine embroidery pucker?Embroidery puckers when the stitches pull the fabric tighter than the fabric around them can follow. The fixes are a firmer stabilizer, hooping smooth but not stretched, a lighter design, and pull compensation in the file.Updated Will this embroidery design sew well?Check the file for three faults before you sew: stitches too long to hold, stitches too short to sew cleanly, and long jumps with no trim. Our free checker finds all three and writes a fixed copy.Updated

How-to

How to convert a PNG to DST with Ink/StitchTrace the PNG into shapes in Inkscape, give the shapes fill stitches with the free Ink/Stitch extension, and save a copy as a Tajima DST.Updated Ink/Stitch for beginnersInk/Stitch is a free, open-source extension that turns Inkscape drawings into embroidery files. Learn four things first: fill for areas, satin for narrow shapes, running stitch for lines, and the Params window that sets them.Updated

File formats

What a PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3 or EMB file holds, which machines read it, and how to open and convert one.

All embroidery file formats