
There are many different machine embroidery digitizing applications that range in price from less than $100 to over $1000, all with varying features. In order to make an embroidery design, you need digitizing software and know how to use it. If you are new to machine embroidery, it’s likely that the “make it yourself” route will be one you will not want to take right away. There are three ways to obtain a machine embroidery file: Where do you get machine embroidery files? Check out this recent post where I created an embroidery file from a JPG using Sewart. Graphic files can, however, be a great starting point to make an embroidery file. These file formats hold no information about color stops and stitch patterns. Knowing all of the data that a machine embroidery file stores, it should be self-evident why machine embroidery files are different from graphic files like JPGs, PDFs and SVGs. For each thread color, it knows the area to be stitched, the pattern of stitching and the length and density of the stitches. First of all, it tells the embroidery machine the number of different colors of thread to use, what these colors are, and when to change colors. Therefore, they contain a lot of different bits of information. A machine embroidery file contains a set of instructions for the embroidery machine to follow in order for it to successfully stitch out a design.
