• • Getting Started
    • How do I install the software?
    • Where can I find my activation code?
    • Where can I find the class tutorials?
    • How can I keep up to date with new lessons and announcements?
  • Software Basics
    • Is EL Digitizing Software beginner-friendly?
    • Is there a demo for the software?
    • What do I need to start using EL Digitizing Software?
    • What are the system requirements?
    • Do I need a tablet, or can I use a mouse?
    • Is it Mac compatible?
  • Features & Functions
    • What file formats can be imported and exported?
    • Does EL Digitizing Software have auto-digitizing?
    • Is there a multi-hooping function?
  • Updates & Support
    • What happens with updates and upgrades?
    • Do I get tech support and software updates?
    • How can I check if I have the latest version?
    • How do I download the most up-to-date version?
  • Learning & Education
    • Are there tutorials available for beginners?
    • Can I purchase masterclasses separately?
    • Will my lessons be available indefinitely if I buy them later?
    • Where can I find answers to common questions?
  • Pricing & Subscription
    • Is there a payment plan or financing option?
    • Is there a yearly subscription fee?

1. Getting Started

How do I install the software?

• Installing the software is easy! After your purchase, you’ll receive an email with a link to download the installer.
• Alternatively, you can log in to your account and go to the “Orders” tab. Next to your EL Software purchase, you’ll see a zip file. Simply click the zip link to download to your computer’s Downloads folder automatically.

Where can I find my activation code?

• It will be on your email sent after you purchased the software. Or if you login to your account, check your Orders and see the Embroidery Legacy Digitizing Software product. The serial number will be listed beside the EL Digitizer Software product.

Where can I find the class tutorials?

• Where can I find the class tutorials? Simply log in to your Digitizing Made Easy account and navigate to the Classroom tab. From there, select the EL Digitizer Software | Accelerated Learning Experience course and click Enter Course. Follow along with John and Ken as they guide you step by step through your embroidery journey—just start at the top of the list and work your way down! Take your time—it’s not a race! Learn at your own pace and enjoy the process.

How can I keep up to date with new lessons and announcements?

• To stay in the loop, join our exclusive Facebook group, Embroidery Legacy Digitizing Software | Inner Circle Experience. It’s a great place to find new lessons, helpful tips, and tricks and connect with our supportive community. Feel free to ask any software-related questions – we’re here to help!
• Not on Facebook? No problem! We also send out a weekly newsletter to our Inner Circle members, packed with the latest lessons, updates, and important announcements, so you’ll never miss out.

2. Software Basics

Is EL Digitizing Software beginner-friendly?

• Yes! EL Digitizing Software is designed to be user-friendly, even for beginners. Plenty of tutorials are available to guide you through the basics, from installing the software to creating your first design.

Is there a demo for the software?

• Not yet, but we’re working on it! A demo will be available in the near future, so stay tuned.

What do I need to start using EL Digitizing Software?

• You’ll need a compatible computer and software to get started with EL Digitizing Software. The system requirements may vary, so check the specifications before installation. A mouse works, but many find using a tablet helpful for precision.

What are the system requirements?

• Here are the recommended requirements: 
  • OS: Microsoft® Windows® 10, 11
  • CPU: Multicore Intel® or AMD processor, 2 GHz with 64-bit support
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Hard Disk Space: 1 GB
  • Display Resolution: 1366×768
  • Recommended for best performance RAM : 16GB 
  • Display Resolution:  1920×1080.

Do I need a tablet, or can I use a mouse?

• A mouse can work, but many users find a tablet or stylus much easier for detailed work, especially when creating intricate designs. Tablets help improve precision during the digitizing process. You can check out John’s recommended pen tablet monitor products here. 

Is it Mac compatible?

• The software is currently not natively compatible with Mac. However, if you have Parallels with Windows installed, you can run it on a Mac. If a native Mac version is released in the future, it will be included for those who have purchased the PC version.

3. Features & Functions

What file formats can be exported?

• Embroidery machine file formats include CSD, DST, EMD, EXP, HUS, JEF, PCS, PES, SEW, SHV, VIP, VP3, XXX
• Quilting machine file formats include CQP, DXF, HQF, IQP, PAT, PLT, SSD, TXT

Does EL Digitizing Software have auto-digitizing?

• Yes, it includes auto-digitizing features, which help streamline the digitizing process. However, it’s best for simple designs. For more detailed or complex embroidery, manual digitizing is often needed.

Is there a multi-hooping function?

• Multi-Hooping is on the future features list. It is not a focal point as every program we’ve seen produced mediocre results. Difficulty with lining up and visual quality issues where designs are split. Our multi hooping feature will be compatible to others in that they never produce the same results you get with not splitting a design.

4. Updates & Support

What happens with updates and upgrades?

• Regular software updates are completely free! However, major version upgrades that introduce new features will be optional and available as paid upgrades.

Do I get tech support and software updates?

• Yes, tech support and software updates are included with your purchase, ensuring you have ongoing assistance and access to new features and fixes.

How can I check if I have the latest version?

• Click the three dots at the top of the software, select the About tab, and look at the top line to see your build version.

How do I download the most up-to-date version?

• Simply log in to your account, navigate to the Downloads tab, find your EL Digitizing Software product, and click on the associated ZIP file to download the most up-to-date version.

5. Learning & Education

Are there tutorials available for beginners?

• Absolutely! There are lots of beginner-friendly tutorials to help you get started. You can find step-by-step tutorials in your Classroom on digitizing, creating designs, and using specific tools within the software.

Can I purchase masterclasses separately?

• Yes! If you want more in-depth training, you can purchase masterclasses (when they’re available at a future date) that cover advanced techniques and workflows for digitizing with EL Digitizing Software.

Will my lessons be available indefinitely if I buy them later?

• Once you purchase a course or tutorial, you’ll have ongoing access to the material, so you can review it whenever you need as you continue your embroidery journey.

Where can I find answers to common questions?

• You can check out the FAQ section or access the user support section for answers to common questions. Additionally, our Facebook group is a great place where users often share solutions.

6. Pricing & Subscription

Is there a payment plan or financing option?

• At this time there is no payment plan option, but we are currently looking into options – there will be a payment plan for the near future.

Is there a yearly subscription fee?

• No, the software is available for a one-time purchase—no annual subscription required.

When will I receive the bonuses included with my software purchase?

• All bonuses will be available in June 2025, when our new website launches.

• “What is the best embroidery digitizing software?” 
• “Which embroidery digitizing software programs are easy to use?”

Most embroidery digitizing software programs have the essential tools to create an embroidery design file. All embroidery software has the ability to use the three main stitch types; therefore, they can all accomplish (for the most part) the same result.

However, what does differ is the advanced digitizing tools and features that make creating designs easier. Some do require more leg work with manually inputting ‘stitch settings,’ while others are more advanced as they help automate the process and speed things up for you. For this reason, please note that:

Things to Consider When Looking Into Embroidery Digitizing Software:

Personal Preference

As with anything in life, people have different preferences. Your background and the type of embroidery work you plan to create will probably, in some way, impact your decision more than anything else.

Do Your Research

Reputable Embroidery Software Brands & Embroidery Education

Should I Buy Through A Dealer Store Or Online?

Honestly, this depends on how much one-on-one assistance you think you’ll need with the basics. I endorse supporting your local dealer if you think their support justifies the extra cost.

Instead, it can be because there are more sales channels that software has to go through before it reaches your hands. The brick-and-mortar store, regional sales coordinator, and of course, software manufacturers all need to profit.

Paying your dealer for help is okay if you need a lot of assistance with the basics. They deserve to get paid for their work and efforts.

Do You Need To Buy Software Specific To Your Embroidery Machine Brand?

To be fair, although you don’t need it, sometimes some bells and whistles come from having the same brand of machine and software. Things like wireless connection can be significant motivating factors for some.

However, when it comes to creating embroidery projects and digitizing in particular, there aren’t any huge advantages to buying software specific to your machine brand. In fact, you usually just end up paying more.

Where Can You Get Embroidery Software Support/Help?

There’s always a slight learning curve when it comes to learning anything new.

Education is key! Our lessons help an incredible amount when learning how to digitize, but sometimes you have questions about how to do something or where to find a tool. Although Google is an awesome resource, sometimes it’s easiest just to post your question online, where live humans can answer.

See if Embroidery Digitizing is Something You’re Really Interested In First

Now, I realize that some embroiderers don’t fully understand what digitizing is or if it’s something you’ll really want to invest your time into. For this reason, I created a Free Embroidery Digitizing 101 Video Course with a Cheat Sheet PDF.

It’s the perfect starting point to teach you the basic digitizing principles that EVERY embroiderer should know, like stitch types, underlay, pull compensation, and more. Trust me, whether you want to digitize or not, the theory you’ll learn here will help you achieve better-embroidered results.

My Suggestion? Check Out Embroidery Legacy Digitizing Software for Simplified Design Creation

If you’re searching for a powerful yet easy-to-use digitizing solution, Embroidery Legacy Digitizing Software is the perfect choice. It streamlines the digitizing process, allowing you to focus on creativity rather than complexity.

Unlike traditional software that may feel overly complicated, EL Digitizer features a modern, intuitive interface and smart automation tools that make embroidery design creation effortless—just like switching from a manual to an automatic car! ??

With EL Digitizer, you can:

• Work smarter, not harder with innovative, next-generation features
• Skip the frustration with a non-cluttered, user-friendly workspace
• Turn ideas into stunning embroidery designs—quickly and easily

Whether you’re new to digitizing or a seasoned pro, this software simplifies the digitizing process and helps you create with confidence.

Ready to upgrade your embroidery experience? Discover how simple digitizing can be with EL Digitizer Software!

Conclusion: Discover if Digitizing is Right for You—Then Make an Informed Choice!

As you know, you need to consider many factors when looking into digitizing software. However, the main thing to remember is to look for a reputable brand with quality education and support.

If you’re ready to create stunning embroidery designs and want our top recommendation, explore our revolutionary new Embroidery Legacy Digitizing Software. With its modern, clutter-free interface and next-generation tools, designing has never been easier—or faster!

I hope this helps you narrow your search for embroidery digitizing software. If you have any questions, we’re always happy to help.

This is not because the software itself is flawed, but sometimes it needs the help of an expert – you. For those looking to expand their skills and knowledge of digitizing and take your embroidery to the next level, this article is for you. 

We’ll explain auto digitizing vs. manual digitizing, when it is appropriate to use them, and what you can do to improve your use of both. First, let’s cover the basics.

What Is Auto Digitizing with Embroidery Software?

Embroidery auto digitizing software uses computing to capture graphics/design images and translate them into machine embroidery design files. The software will decide on the appropriate layers, stitch counts, colors, and more, based on the algorithms it uses to digitize a logo or graphic.

Auto digitizing is used to save time and effort, but in doing so, it can cause structural problems with your designs. This is especially true when auto digitizing more complex designs (we’ll get to this shortly).

What Is Manual Digitizing with Embroidery Software?

Manual digitizing is when the embroiderer uses embroidery software to manually translate an image or design into embroidery. The embroiderer gets to choose how the design will stitch out, in what order the layers will come together, stitch angles, and which colors to use.

Embroidery auto digitizing software can be great if used correctly and perhaps on simpler graphics, supplemented by manual digitizing skills. Manual digitizing skills always go a long way to help you get the quality results you want.

Does Auto Digitizing Embroidery Software Work?

Yes and no. It depends on the complexity of the logo and graphic used and the operator’s skill. In the hands of a novice who doesn’t know better, embroidery auto digitizing software will seem to work wonders, but in the eyes of an experienced digitizer, the problems with some auto digitizing work couldn’t be more obvious.

Auto digitizing software does what it’s meant to do, but sometimes it doesn’t do things in a logical order or in a way that will translate well to embroidery. The software takes what it sees in the order it was presented, and digitizes it. It’s not capable of distinguishing the best angles or fills for a cleaner design. That’s your job.

Check out our YouTube video below as CEO of Embroidery Legacy John Deer goes further into detail comparing auto digitizing to manual digitizing. Watch as John corrects an auto digitized design:

What if I use High-Quality Images with my Auto Digitizing Embroidery Software?

Good images will usually yield better results when hitting “auto-digitize,” but that’s not always the case. Even if you use a vector file format – a file that contains proper nodes, formatting, and resolution – it’s not always optimized for machine embroidery. 

When an artist creates a design in CorelDraw or Adobe Photoshop, they don’t consider that the design needs to be embroidered in a specific order or sequence that only a machine embroiderer would understand.

Remember, embroidery is a physical medium whereas print is flat and doesn’t need to take into account layering.

The embroidery software will auto-digitize the design based on the layers the artist created in their graphic software, which might cause excessive stitch counts, incorrect push and pull compensation, too many jumps and trims, and image distortion.

Manual digitizing is a great skill to have when working with images you’d like to turn into stitches. It allows you to adjust, improve, and correct your designs. You’ll ultimately create a better piece, with less time spent fixing mistakes.

Should I Learn How To Digitize Embroidery Designs?

The answer is yes. You don’t need to become the best digitizer in the world. You just need enough skills to make your job easier and your work better. You’ll find plenty of ways to use manual digitizing skills to save you time and hassle. 

If hitting “auto-digitize” isn’t getting you the result you want, and most of the time it won’t without tweaking, there’s a good chance that digitizing it yourself or at least knowing how to fix the auto-digitized design with manual digitizing knowledge will help you achieve the results you want. 

However, correcting auto-digitized work can take hours. Complex designs that are auto-digitized will require lots of editing to get a good result with your machine. You’ll have to adjust the image node by node, stitch by stitch, to not make it production friendly. The alternative is to digitize it yourself, using your image as a template. Believe it or not, in most cases, this is a much faster way to generate quality results. 

Which Graphics Software Should I Learn?

There’s no need to learn graphics software to then import the image into a digitizing software and adjust it or re-digitize it all over again. It’ll save you stress from learning good digitizing software and creating your designs at the source, where any other graphic or file would ultimately end up.

Take Your Embroidery Skills To The Next Level

The Digitizers Dream Course

We are offering a course to supplement our excellent free resources. Imagine being able to digitize your own designs in minutes and with confidence. You can take graphics or designs, and instead of settling for “auto-digitize,” you can do it yourself.

it’s taught in the major reputable digitizing brands. Having taught tens of thousands of embroiderers how to digitze, we even have a money-back guarantee!

Conclusion: Auto Digitizing Embroidery Software Works… If You Work It

Although auto-digitizing may seem like a clean solution to getting your designs digitized quick, most of the time, it isn’t. Any software brand does the best it can to digitize the designs automatically, but they all require some human assistance, and in most cases, manual digitization. 

That’s why we wanted to shed light on the situation. Even with high-quality vector files, auto-digitizing might not generate the best results. Having the skills to digitize designs and images manually, to at least edit & optimize the design you auto-digitize, is a must. 

Remember, there is no need to learn to use a graphics software if you’ll be bringing images into a digitizing software anyways. You’d basically be creating the same design twice and wasting your valuable time.

If you decide to add digitizing to your arsenal of machine embroidery skills, we think you’ve made the right choice. It will push you to become a better embroiderer. Get started today with our Free Embroidery Digitizing 101 Cheat Sheet & Video Course. It’ll equip you with the essential with the knowledge and theory to start creating your own beautiful machine embroidery designs.

The post Auto Digitizing Embroidery Software: How to Get Best Results first appeared on Embroidery Legacy.]]>

These super easy embroidered kids’ bath mitts can be made from new or old towels or other fun fabric scraps. With some simple materials and creative soft and supple embroidery designs, you’ll hit that bathtub or shower and be the hero of the night. 

Supplies Needed For These Easy Kids Embroidered Bath Mitt

• Embroidery software
• New or old towel pieces or other fluffy material like fun fur or sherpa
• Water soluble stabilizer (you can use medium cutaway if you want more stability)
• Polyester embroidery thread
• Embroidery scissors
• Embroidery designs. For this project, we used:
  • Elephant bathing applique
  • Goose applique

Kids Embroidered Bath Mitt Tutorial

To create this easy project, you can trace your child’s hand to create the mitt outline. Make the mitt approximately an inch larger to allow room for your kid’s hand and make the soap surface greater. You will hoop the stabilizer and stitch, then add the back. No need to finish the edges- we will clip those into strips for more soapy fun. Here are the steps you will want to follow:

Digitizing Your Bath Mitt

1. Draw your child’s hand by having them lay it down with their fingers slightly apart. Leave an inch of a border.

2. Scan or photograph your mitt outline and save it as .png or .pdf.

3. Insert the artwork into your  embroidery digitizing software.

4. Digitize a running stitch line around the mitt outline.

5. Copy and paste the outline in place and convert this second outline into a satin stitch 4-5 mm wide.

6. Change the satin outline to the color of your choice (make sure the first line is a different color, as this will produce a stop on the machine to allow you to place your fabric).

7. Insert your embroidery design.

8. If you have chosen a design that has detail, it will not show in the loft of the terry towel. You will need to insert a type of underlay stitch used to flatten the nap or pile of fabrics. These are low density fills placed under the main design. This smashes down the terry loops and allows the top stitching to show!

9. Copy your first running stitch and paste it in place.

10. Convert this last running stitch into a triple stitch. This will stitch the back to the front of the mitt, which has the design.

11. Create the opening for the mitt by selecting this last outline and using the knife tool to slice off the bottom of the mitt at the wrist.

12. Select the bottom portion you cut off and delete it.

Embroidering Your Bath Mitt

To Stitch out your mitt

1. Hoop wash away stabilizer (will depend on your fabric type).

2. With a light embroidery adhesive spray, lay down a piece of terry cloth that measures 2 inches wider and two inches taller than the outline of the mitt.

3. Stitch all of the design but the last triple-stitch outline.

4. Remove the hoop from the machine

5. Turn the hoop over with the back side up and lightly spray the second piece of towel with temporary embroidery spray,

6. Lay down the fabric and pin the corners (you will be attaching this to the WRONG side).

7. Carefully return to the machine and stitch the last partial outline.

8. Remove from the machine and trim with a 1-inch border,

9. Carefully using scissors, clip every inch or so up to the satin border to create small flaps. Do not cut through the satin border.

10. Shake out the mitt and wash before use.

Conclusion: Kids Embroidered Bath Mitts Are Quick & Easy

These make fun and functional gifts for any child (or adult) and can be used over and over. The beauty of this project is that you can recycle towels and small pieces of fur or soft material and make bath time more fun! The design choices are endless, be sure to use high-quality embroidery designs to ensure your new project gets lots of use!  

Here are a few takeaways to remember:

• Use new or old terry towels or other sherpa, fuzzy or fluffy fabrics that are soft on tender skin.
• Make sure to use a wash away medium stabilizer (fabric type) so that the inside and the outside of the mitt are soft and porous.
• Wash before use and toss in the laundry whenever you want them clean and fresh!

We have so much fun sharing these easy projects with you! Let us know how you like them, and be sure to post your stitch-outs in our Machine Embroidery and Digitizing Made Easy Facebook group.

P.S. Check out other high-quality embroidery designs to perfectly embellish your next embroidery project!

But what happens to that design before it gets to the machine? How do you figure out what to digitize and where to source your art? Let’s discuss how to create or find artwork for digitizing and the different formats you can use.

Why Do We Need Artwork for Machine Embroidery?

All machine embroidery starts with some type of artwork, well, almost all. While there are rare designers and digitizers who can dream up designs without the benefit of a sketch, most of us need to plan out and put to paper the designs we want to create.  

Creating a paper and pencil or digital design is an excellent step in creating well-thought-out embroidery. It gives us an idea of scale, colors, and overall look, but this drawing creates a roadmap of how we plan to digitize our work. Skipping this step results in hundreds of trims, dense bullet-proof designs, pucker problems and more.

How Do I Create Artwork for Machine Embroidery?

You have your idea- you have pen and paper or a great illustrating program, but how do we proceed? Here are some steps to take when mapping out your embroidery masterpiece.

1. Create a quick sketch or outline of your design. This will help with scale. Don’t worry about color right now- we’re looking for shape, movement, character, etc. Working in black and white will free you from thinking of too many things. Remember, there are graphics available on the internet.

2. Map out some color. Once you have your black and white sketch, you can lock in some color. Don’t worry about fine details. We are simply looking for the overall color background which holds your design together. Remember that large areas of color with shading on top rather than many smaller pieces fit together will produce a softer embroidery. So, for example, if you are making a bunny, you might start like this…

3. Add highlights and details last. Once you have your color-blocked out, you can add texture, highlights (like the glint in the eye, the very light tips of the ears), and finer details (nose, mouth etc.)

Once you develop your own “recipe” for creating your designs, they will become more consistent and even stitching. As you become more adept at creating your own designs, you will find that you can develop a recognizable signature of your own.

Types of Artwork for Machine Embroidery

There are many types of artwork you can use as the basis of your digitized design, and each produces a very different effect. Here are several, but the sky is the limit when thinking about art that inspires you. It depends on your goals- are you looking for realistic stitching or a cute cartoon?

• Line art – line art is similar to the bunny above. It is accurate and totally created from lines of varying widths (hint…. When digitizing, use varied line widths to give a wonderful lively effect). Line art can be found on the internet using an image search with a filter that shows only black and white.
• Cartoons– cartoon figures are SO perfect for embroidery. They are already set up in a way that works for the nature of layering color and lines. Like the line drawings above, they are simple, yet a good cartoonist will use exaggerated features, varied line, and other tricks to create a character that jumps off the screen. Spend some time looking at cartoons and how they are created. There are even free courses online in video form, which allow you to follow along and create your own unique characters.
• Photographs– Of course, some embroidery software have photo stitch, but there are other ways to use a photograph. You can digitize on top of a picture using it as an accurate roadmap. Here is an example:

• Graphic and letters – You can find so many graphic shapes (sun, moon, stars etc.) or letters that you can use to digitize a design. Now letters are a bit tricky- for alphabets, you will want to use an ESA (embroidery specific alphabet) created by a professional digitizer. But sometimes you want one letter, and there is a perfect one right in front of you! You can use that artwork to serve as a guideline for your digitizing project.

How To Digitize Artwork For Embroidery

• Less is more in embroidery detail. In our videos, you will always hear “your brain fills in the details.” Please don’t try to cram a ton of detail into your designs. You will end up with bulletproof embroidery, and many of the tiny details you inserted simply are not needed. Your brain will fill out the design.
• Start small. When creating a design- don’t start with the Sistine Chapel. Start with a postage stamp. Work on something manageable, easy, and interesting for you. Trying to work on too large a design will frustrate you quickly.
• Resizing artwork. ALWAYS work to scale! That means if your bunny is going to be 2×3 inches make your artwork that size. Trying to digitize in a very small or very large format and resize will create problems for you. A general rule of thumb for resizing is up or down 10%.

Artwork File Types for Embroidery Digitizing

Many different file types can be used for most software brands. Below are a few file types that can be imported into most digitizing software programs for you to use as a template:

• .jpg or jpeg – JPEG stands for “Joint Photographic Experts Group”. It’s an image format for compressed image data.
• .bmp – A bitmap is a digital image composed of a matrix of dots. When viewed at 100%, each dot corresponds to an individual pixel on display. In a standard bitmap image, each dot can be assigned a different color. Together, these dots can be used to represent any type of rectangular picture.
• PNG is short for Portable Network Graphic. It’s a particularly popular file type with web designers because it can handle graphics with transparent or semi-transparent backgrounds. The file format isn’t patented, so you can open a PNG using any image editing software without licensing.

How To Import Artwork Into Your Embroidery Software

Importing your artwork can be done in several ways. For artwork files (.pdf, .png, .gif etc) you can save those in an artwork file for your embroidery or as a stand alone file in your computer.

To import your artwork you can open the file, copy it and paste it directly into your workspace!

Conclusion

We have covered so many things but here are a few important points to keep in mind:

• When learning start small- try manageable projects with simple artwork
• Remember that no artwork is really ever perfect for embroidery and it’s ok to make certain adjustments
• Work with your artwork to scale
• Be mindful of your artwork sources
• Create your own “recipe” for working with your artwork; it will make your work consistent.

If you want to learn how to create your own beautiful embroidery designs, there really is no better place to start than our Digitizer’s Dream Course where we’ve taught tens of thousands of embroiderers how to digitize with proven results… What will you digitize?

This article will cover:

• What monograms and ciphers are, where they came from and where they can go
• Embroidery monogram fonts
• Some ideas to personalize your own monogram using embroidery software and ways to create monogram embroidery into something uniquely your own
• Tips when creating monograms
• And finally, how to digitize custom monogram designs

What Is A Monogram?

A monogram is a motif made by overlapping, intertwining, or combining two or more letters to form one new symbol. Monograms combine the initials of an individual or a company, and these can be used as recognizable symbols or logos. 

Want an easier way to think of it? When you combine letters, and each one depends on the other to contribute a portion, it is a Monogram (mono=one). It makes up one new symbol.

Want to make it a little more complicated?

Ciphers! They bring to mind ultimate spy movies and code-breaking but sorry, this kind of cipher is a bunch of letters on your gym duffle bag. A cipher also combines letters, but they don’t have to be layered or overlapped, and if you took one out of the set, it would be readable. A series of unconnected initials is properly referred to as a cipher and is not a monogram.

Need a visual?

A monogram looks like this: (2 or more letters intertwined to make a new symbol)

(Thomas Jefferson) Look carefully…

Need a bit more help?

Johann Sebastian Bach

Many monograms were letters from the owner’s name intertwined forward and backward.

A cipher (remember it is the opposite of what you have always thought) is two or more letters and are not woven together, however, they can overlap. Such as the image below. 

This image was made using our ESA font Diamond Monogram 50 mm .

Now that we know a bit about the differences between monograms and ciphers. Let’s look at the history.  You will probably know more than you think about them and might be surprised if you poke around in history books to see how many you already know!

Monograms first appeared on coins as early as 350BC. The earliest known examples are of the names of Greek cities which issued the coins, often the first two letters of the city’s name. Monograms have been used as signatures by artists and craftsmen on paintings, sculptures, and furniture, especially when guilds enforced measures against unauthorized participation in the trade.

What Are Monograms Used For?

Some companies and organizations adopt a monogram for a logo, usually with the letters of their acronym. So that we don’t overstep copyright, we will not name them here but let’s say that numerous sports teams and designer companies have monograms. Fashion is a heavy user of monograms. There are three major purse designers that all use ciphers for their logos (remember, a cipher is a grouping that allows you to read the individual letters). These have all become internationally known “logos” for these brands.

Problems With Monograms

I want to introduce you to my good friend Beauregard Pernicious Robespierre. (not his real name…) Let’s think about the letters BPR. Should we take these letters and stack them one on top of another, you end up with a B with a bit of tail on it.

Not really readable, right? So if this is a monogram (intertwined letters to form a new symbol), this just does not work. To have a monogram, you sometimes have to get creative with it! You could try this. 

Not super readable either, right? If you glance at it, you see B with a bit of tail. You can also turn letters around (a famous handbag and clothing designer comes immediately to mind).

Better but now reading as B and R. Sometimes the choices are not there, so you have to go a different direction. How about this?

Please note that in some embroidery softwares, these are called “monograms,” even though we call them ciphers in this article. The use of the word monogram is okay because that is in the English vernacular.

Embroidery Monogram Fonts

There are many different ways to embroider a monogram, but the most effective ones require some form of embroidery software.

Yes, you can purchase finished monogram embroidery designs, but most professional embroidered monograms are made with keyboard fonts whether they be ELF, ESA, BX or Truetype formats (click here to view a complete guide on the different embroidery font types).

How To Create A Monogram

You can create a Monogram (one set of intertwined letters) in several ways…

Choose 2 or 3 (or more if you are adventuresome) letters in a font you like. Remember not to choose a complicated font because the more details you add, the harder it will be to read the letters. Here is a simple one: KAK

Here is a monogram for Karen Kirkegaard Autumnbow (famous International jetsetter and international spy). Be inventive!! You will notice that together the Ks are symmetrical- if I turn one around, they can sit back to back and read well! The A is also symmetrical on its own, so it is perfect in the center.

Here are the two Ks together.

Here is the A added in.

Pretty cool, huh? The combinations for Monograms are endless!

Remember that you need to work with each of these letters separately so that each letter is an individual unit that you can move around and manipulate. If you enter them all three together, you will have a cipher; they will be locked together and not be as creative.

Fonts For Embroidery Monograms

The hardest part is choosing your font and the layout of how you want to stylize your letters. Each different font and single tweak to a design can greatly impact what your outcome will look like. This is fun because no matter what you change, it will look different! You’re able to personalize monograms more than you know.

Did you know at Embroidery Legacy we offer more than 1,000+ Embroidery fonts (including ELF, BX, ESA and Stitch File fonts)? We believe the more embroidery fonts equals more creative potential. Each of our fonts have been tested and inspected by John Deer, the world’s most awarded embroidery digitizer. We guarantee every one of our fonts will give professional results each time!

Now things can get interesting…

 We have a pretty cool arrangement; it looks interesting and flows well, but we can do a little more… and a little more is a good thing. Why not try adding an element- a branch, leaf flower, swirls, anything that expresses “you!” Here is the same monogram but with two simple elements added.

Simple, clean, and nice. It should be noted that when you start, start simple! Less is usually more, and you have to remember that these are generally not used in a large format like a full back piece on a jacket. Until you know what works be very simple. When using nature elements, keep in mind that natural things grow in natural ways. They do not have to be symmetrical or perfect.

Tips To Creating Monograms For Embroidery Machines

Now that we have looked at these basic ways of doing ciphers/monograms, let us look at the most challenging. Want to go crazy? Digitize your own! A monogram done by you is the most personal thing you can make. With a few simple guidelines, you can be up and running creating your own history. Start by deciding what letters you need and what characteristics they have (symmetrical, circles, triangles etc). Look at examples other artists have done throughout history. Ready?

When designing a monogram, you can take three letters (or so) and sketch them out. Here is a monogram for EBH in the sketch (on the back of an electric bill)) and how it ended up. There is an E and a B, and two H’s crisscrossed to make a nice framework. He was looking for a shape he liked and then fit the letters in.

Tips to creating the perfect monogram:

1. Start simple.  Use a simple font; if it is too complicated, you will be the only one who knows what it says. Start simple, learn what works for you and then develop your skill.
2. A little planning goes a long way! Plan a shape, a theme, a “skeleton” to build on.
3. Less is more when you have a working copy, print it out, and stand back. How does it look from 10 feet away? If I walk in the room and see linens, will it look good from farther away than a computer screen?
4. Add elements sparingly.  Too many small elements will give you bullet-proof embroidery.

 Here are some ideas from our very own, Linda Rayburn. She has brought so many beautiful and inventive uses of the historic monogram combined with the modern twist frames, borders, and fills. Besides being beautiful- her monograms are extremely stitch-friendly. They could have only a few trims which make for a soft and supple stitch out. It seems intimidating at first, but with practice, this becomes a sort of game to be the fewest trims possible.

Beautiful GA example.

MM This is a very inventive example, if you have two letters that are identical, why make them the same? Combining here gave a lovely example.

How To Digitize Monograms Designs

Here are a few great tips from our very own Linda Rayburn, known for providing great tips for your digitizing needs!

• Always print the artwork.
• Find the objects that are furthest back in the design and start there.
• Use a pencil or colored pencils to path the design and make notes of challenging areas.
• Properly path the underlapping and overlapping Satin objects with Run stitches for efficient stitching.
• Always test stitch your design and watch it sew out. Stop your machine when you see a section that could be changed or improved, and make a note of it on your artwork. Go back and revise the design
• Start with simple designs and have fun!
• Linda applies the theory of properly pathing designs and digitizing lettering she learned in John Deer’s Digitizer’s Dream Course whenever she creates Monograms and Ciphers.

Conclusion: Start Your Custom Monogram Embroidery Project Today

Okay, overloaded? Take a breath. Start simple and keep experimenting. Of course, we all want to do the most on our first try, but it will take patience and practice to develop your skill. I highly suggest using fonts and then add some small elements to develop your design gradually.

We would love to see your work in our Machine Embroidery & Digitizing Made Easy Facebook group! Until our next journey through the embroidery looking glass…. Happy Stitching!

 P.S. Don’t forget to check out our over +1,000 embroidery fonts. We have something for every project; why not broaden your creative potential!

What Are ESA Embroidery Fonts?

If you’re new to ESA font technology, it can be confusing knowing what they are and what sets them apart from traditional digitized letters. ESA stands for “Embroidery Specific Alphabets,” and to put it simply:

What software works with ESA fonts

ESA fonts are only compatible with Hatch, Wilcom E series & Janome V5 and can be loaded directly into your software. Wicom E series software for the commercial embroidery industry, while Hatch is made for home embroiderers

How To Install ESA Fonts

Please note that ESA fonts are downloaded as a zip file, meaning you’ll need to unzip them before you can install them into your embroidery software. For directions on how to install your ESA fonts into your embroidery software, click here.

ESA Fonts For Hatch

When creating your personalized embroidery creations, choosing the perfect font can help set the perfect tone for what you’re trying to say. Your font choice can ultimately tie a project together or break it apart. The more embroidery font options available, the more creative potential you possess. When it comes to ESA fonts, there is no shortage of fonts and possibilities. When choosing where to purchase your ESA embroidery fonts, ensure they’re from a reputable source.

Embroidery Legacy’s Collection of 1000 ESA Embroidery Fonts

We offer the world’s largest selection of ESA fonts at the industry’s most affordable prices. 

All of our ESA fonts available are carefully tested before listing and are created and inspected by John Deer, the world’s most awarded embroidery digitizer. We guarantee all of our fonts are digitized properly for perfect and professional results.  

We offer many different font categories, such as foam, applique, glyphs, fancy, monograms, to name a few.

You might have noticed numbers beside each font name. These numbers indicate the letter size measurement to help you indicate what your minimum design sizing is. Which, as you learned above, is essential when resizing!

Modifying ESA letters

A common question I get asked is can you modify ESA letters? Yes, you can! 

ESA fonts are object-based. You may wonder what that means. Think of it like vector art. You can easily change certain parts of an image when using CorelDraw. Modifying ESA fonts is similar. Say you wanted to stitch out the word “Free,” but you want to adjust the letter “r” to make the font flow better. You would be able to change this as you can modify the original shape or “objects” it was created using nodes.

Nodes are little “points” in the design that you can click and drag to adjust the outline/shape of a specific letter. No fancy programming or computer knowledge needed. Just click, drag and adjust any letter to the shape you want it!

“Free” letters using ESA font.

“Free” ESA font letters modified.

With ESA fonts, you have the versatility to change many factors such as properties, stitch types, and density. Within Hatch, you can break apart every object within your letters, and you can alter or add certain elements to your letters to create the look you desire. To decrease your trims and nodes, you can also rearrange your sequence to allow particular objects to be digitized first. You can then branch and remove unneeded jumps and trims to allow your object to flow.  

Check out our Youtube video below as I go into more detail regarding how to modify your ESA letters to get the exact look you want to achieve. 

Subscribe to our Embroidery Legacy Youtube channel above, for everything you need to know about ESA fonts.

Conclusion: ESA Fonts Give Great Results Because They’re a Native File Font Format

If you own Hatch or Wilcom E series software, ESA fonts are a great solution to getting great stitched-out results. Although ESA fonts may have previously seemed confusing, you now know they’re much easier than you think. With many font options available, ESA fonts provide you with countless creative possibilities. Happy stitching!

We will help explain what each of these fonts are, the advantages and disadvantages of using them, and give you some recommendations on getting clean, crisp embroidery lettering every time.

Why Embroidery Fonts Matter

It’s hard for me to believe that I started my digitizing (punching) journey 37 years ago. When my first mentor taught me the rules of manually creating embroidery designs, his goal was always two-fold:

1. Achieve the best visible results possible.
2. The design must be machine-friendly to optimize production.

Concerning visual quality, he told me repeatedly during my training that the lettering within any design is just as, or even more, important than the actual logo. That statement is so true, you can have the most beautiful logo in the world, but if the text/font within the design looks sloppy, the entire design is ruined.

Back in those days, we had to punch every stitch within a design manually. I have to admit, doing lettering all day every day was tedious and boring. After you’ve digitized the letter 100,000 times, the excitement is gone.

Given my experience, let me be clear that all fonts available for embroidery these days are NOT created equal. 

Understanding why some fonts look good and why others lack quality and appearance can contribute to a few factors. Let me explain…

Stitch File Fonts

The first type of fonts we’ll cover is what I like to call Stitch File Fonts. These are single letter embroidery designs. These fonts/letters have been digitized and converted to embroidery machine formats (such as PES, JEF, XXX, etc.) and are not what we could consider being “keyboard fonts” (that you can type out using your keyboard).

Stitch file fonts have been digitized at a specific size, which means that they’ll run best at the size they were created. 

 Resizing stitch file fonts often leaves the embroiderer unsatisfied with the finished stitch results when sizing adjustments are required. Unless you’re an experienced digitizer, other edits are usually not recommended for these files either as they are finished embroidery designs.

Although some of these fonts can be beautiful, the real downside of using stitch file fonts is that they are not keyboard-based. When using the font to write a text, the letters need to be inputted individually into a software program and arranged manually. This is a very tedious process and a big factor in why embroidery lettering is rarely done this way anymore.

Fonts within Embroidery Software Programs and Machines

A far better option is to use the fonts included within various software programs or built within the embroidery machine. They usually stitch out nicely but work best within the software and machine developers’ suggested sizes. 

Plus, creating layouts that include designs and text makes it much more effective and a less time-consuming process.

Often, the fonts that come included within your software are proprietary to that software brand. For example, the built-in fonts that come with Floriani will perform and stitch out well but are exclusive to the specific Floriani software brand. It’s kind of like the native file formats I mentioned in the Understanding Machine Embroidery File Formats article (click here to read more): meaning any embroidery machine can’t read them. 

How To Add New Fonts to Your Embroidery Software

Although the proprietary fonts that come with your software usually work well, adding new fonts to your software can often lead to issues. 

Instead, to add new fonts to your software, you usually need to purchase TrueType, BX, or ESA fonts (these are the primary 3). However, none of these fonts are proprietary, but some do work much better than others. Depending on which brand you own, here is the type of font you could add to your software (alongside possible proprietary fonts the brand itself may sell):

Please note: If your software brand is missing from this list or you have more up to date information, please comment it below & we’ll adjust our chart. Thanks in advance!

What are Converted TrueType Embroidery Fonts (TTF)?

TrueType fonts (or TTF for short) are fonts installed in your embroidery software and automatically converted to embroidery designs when used. It’s kind of like your software auto-digitizing lettering files you select.

Many programs, including Hatch and Floriani, will automatically convert a TrueType font to stitches. 

The first problem that arises is that letters may not path logically for embroidery. An example would be the letter “t”. Usually, when manually Digitizing the letter “t” you would path it the same way you would write it: the vertical stroke first and then the horizontal. When software programs convert TTFs automatically, they don’t take that into account, and it ends up looking like a telephone pole. The more complex the letter, the more margin for error. Generally speaking, with TTFs, the quality of the lettering depends on the shapes used. Often more narrow serif type fonts will give you better results than block fonts.

In most cases, TTFs were not created with the intent of being used for embroidery. Many fonts are unfriendly in their original form as widths/keystrokes don’t consider the rules of stitches.

I’d venture to say that I can usually manually digitize the letters quicker than going in after the fact and cleaning up the “auto-digitized” mess.

What are BX Embroidery Fonts?

BX fonts have essentially allowed digitizers to take their created stitch file fonts (or finished embroidery designs) and assign a keystroke (key on the keyboard) to each letter so they can be easily typed out within a proprietary software program.

To give credit where credit is due, the innovation of BX fonts was a good idea. 

Many digitizers have used this service, and to be honest, I think that’s the primary problem with this type of embroidery font. Regardless of their experience, anyone can generate and sell a BX Font, which has flooded the market with poorly digitized & auto-digitized BX Fonts. 

To be fair, many digitizers do great work who have converted their fonts to BX, but at the same time, the number of mediocre digitizers who have created BX fonts far outnumbers the good ones. The reality is, regardless of who digitized them, BX fonts are all just stitch files (or finished embroidery designs) that have been assigned a keystroke.

I’ve been asked numerous times if we at the Embroidery Legacy provide the BX format for our fonts? Years ago, I had a developer even ask me to convert my work to the BX format. The answer was and still is no. I don’t provide the BX format; the reason is quite simple:

Any font is only as good as the digitizer who created it; putting my work into a pool of both good and bad digitizers no longer differentiates me and the quality we’ve worked very hard to build our reputation on.

I know the BX format developers recently released a “simulation” of Wilcom’s world-leading object-based ESA font technology within the highest level of their software’s digitizing module… But like I said before, any font is only as good as the digitizer who created them.

What are ESA Embroidery Fonts?

ESA fonts (Embroidery Specific Alphabets) are the most advanced and customizable type of embroidery fonts. 

Now for the irony, ESA Embroidery Fonts have been around for a very long time and is one reason why Wilcom has been the world leader in the commercial embroidery industry for decades.

I remember creating ESA fonts 27 years ago when I ran our two multi-head factories where we output over 10,000,000 pieces of embroidered goods per year. There were two reasons why I created these fonts back in the commercial days.

1. I really didn’t want to digitize the same letters repeatedly (as I mentioned earlier, it gets very boring). I also wanted to make sure the fonts I was using would meet the customers and my own expectations; if they didn’t work I could only blame myself.
2. ESA Fonts have all the same features as Wilcom’s EMB format. This not only means that all the letters are engineered to join the closest point, but they also include Wilcom’s incredible Fabric Assist features & more.

Here’s a quick video explaining ESA embroidery font technology:

https://youtu.be/b_WNXPQB0OQ

Key Features of ESA Embroidery Fonts

Here are some features of ESA fonts that make them stand out from other fonts.

ESA Fonts Join Closest Point

Fonts that “join the closest point” mean that the files will not generate trims between each letter when running on the machine. This is very important from a production standpoint because it saves you a ton of time. Every unnecessary trim command within a text layout is lost production time, to the extent of 120 stitches for every trim generated on a machine, to be exact. I know that may sound excessive, but if you consider that a machine is going full speed for every trim, then it has to slow down, tie-out, and activate the trimmer. Then the needle moves to the next position, ties-in, and has to ramp back up to full speed. Make sense?

That’s why the stitch counts we see within a design are not always accurate regarding the actual time it takes to run on the machine. For example: If a few text lines consisting of 50 letters and 10 words have a stitch count of 5000 and the machine is running at 500 stitches per minute, you’d assume the designs would take 10 minutes to run. BUT if that design has a trim at every letter, you need to add an additional 6000 stitches (50 x 120 stitches) of run time! That 5000-stitch design has a run time of 11000 stitches, a whopping 22 minutes of run time compared to the original 10!

When you’re running your embroidery as a business, every unnecessary trim has a significant impact on production and the output of units embroidered.

ESA Fonts Can Be Used with Fabric Assist

Now aside from joining the closest point, the fact that ESA Fonts include Wilcom’s Fabric Assist capabilities differentiates them from all the competition. In the same way that EMB files work (Wilcom’s native file format),

ESA fonts allow you to choose the specific fabric type that the design is running on and automatically alter the underlay, density, and pull compensation for best results. This is literally every embroiderer’s dream come true… Better quality at the click of a button!

ESA Fonts are Easy to Resize

ESA fonts are truly object-based. Because of this, they’re very friendly when it comes to resizing, especially with increasing size. Although the fonts can be decreased marginally, they can be increased in size almost without limitation.

One of the innovative (but simple) features I implemented when creating my own ESA fonts is that I always put the specific font’s minimum suggested size beside its name, for example, Bones25mm. The number in mm highlights the size that I originally digitized the font in, meaning it is the minimum size at which it would best run. Keep in mind fonts differ depending on the style, complexity, and stroke weights. By including the minimum size in the font name, the user automatically knows how to get the best possible results when embroidering.

Increasing the font size is the fun part! Because they are objects, you can make changes at the click of a button that will change effects as the fonts’ size increases.

You can automatically split stitches when widths go past 7mm.

You can change the stitch types from satins to other stitch types.

ESA Fonts are Easy to Edit: 100% Node Based

ESA Fonts are completely object-based in regards to editing. All the original node inputs used when creating the font can be adjusted within the Hatch software.

You can move, add, & change nodes. Plus, change and add stitch angles.

Watch the video below as I show you in this Hatch software tutorial how to successfully master the use of ESA fonts. You’ll pick up some useful tips and tricks and see how easy it is.

Want to try ESA fonts Free?

Now I know I’ve built up ESA fonts a lot… But that’s because they really are a game-changer in the home embroidery industry! In the commercial embroidery industry, ESA fonts are the gold standard. I could go on about ESA fonts all day, but I think you should try them for yourself.

Click here to download a free 30-day free trial of Hatch and see for yourself what makes ESA fonts so special. This full-featured demo has no limits (you can stitch out your creations) and will give you access to over 100 ESA fonts. If you do a lot of embroidery lettering or monogramming, ESA fonts will save you hours of frustration… What do you have to lose?

Embroidery Fonts for Monogramming

Monograms are letters that are combined and stitched close together. They often reflect someone’s initials and are a great way to personalize a gift or embellish your clothing.

Most embroidery font types, such as Stitch Types, BX, converted True Type, and ESA, can be inserted within a monogram border embroidery design. This is one of the simplest ways to create a monogram.

However, to really make monograms pop, it is best when letters are specially adjusted in look or size for whether they are placed in the middle, right or left side of the monogram. This requires each letter to be digitized 3 times for center, left, and right placement.

For best results, we recommend using embroidery software with a monogramming module such as Hatch (click here for a free 30-day trial). Depending on your software, you can also have automatic designs, and borders added to your monograms.

ESA Embroidery Fonts For Monogramming

Hatch software makes it extremely easy to create custom monograms using its monogramming tool. Every font you have loaded into your Hatch software can be used in the software’s monogram feature. You can type any letters you want, select the style, size, and crop to your preference. Any look you want to achieve with your monograms can be made or changed at the click of a button. Your options are limitless.

Where Do I Find Quality Fonts?

TrueType (TTF) Fonts

These files can be found almost anywhere online. Keep in mind that the fonts are later converted to stitch files, and because of this, the results greatly depend on the specific font you’re trying to convert.

BX Fonts

These fonts can also be found on many websites. The key to remember with these fonts is that the font’s quality will vary vastly depending on who digitized them.

Here’s a tip for you: Just because you bought a BX font from one website and it stitched out well doesn’t mean that others from that site always will too. I’ve seen many online companies use multiple digitizers or source through various companies when listing fonts or designs on their site. For this reason, the quality may not be consistent. Look for the name of the person who digitized a specific BX font that worked well for you, and try to stick with them or other digitizers who you know are reputable.

With both of the options above, it’s often kind of like playing embroidery roulette… You might get a winner, or well… a lemon.

ESA Machine Fonts

These fonts are harder to come by than the other two font types listed above but are a lot more consistent in quality.

Why? Because of how advanced they are, creating true object-based ESA fonts takes a very experienced digitizer to be accomplished correctly. They can’t merely be auto digitized or thrown together and assigned a keystroke like some other fonts.

For this reason, the old proverb, necessity is the mother of invention rings true once again!

A couple of years ago, when I was invited to become an official Hatch Reseller, I was excited to share a true Wilcom platform with the home embroidery market. Then I remembered how I used to create ESA files in the old days and realized the opportunity to share ESA technology within the home market.

So, I’ve been very busy over the last two years creating the embroidery industry’s largest independent database of professionally digitized ESA Fonts (we now offer close to 1,000 different fonts). Each one of these fonts has a 100% quality guarantee. If you’d like to see the ESA fonts we offer at Embroidery Legacy, simply click here now.

Conclusion: ESA Embroidery Fonts Are A Game-Changer

There are many different types of embroidery fonts out there. Generally speaking, unless you’re using a software brand that can run ESA fonts, the fonts that come pre-loaded in your embroidery software or machine will give you better results over buying additional fonts to add to your software (especially if these additional fonts are TrueType or BX fonts).

Now, if you’re a “fonty” person, do a lot of monogramming, or want cleaner, crisper lettering, ESA font technology is a real game-changer. ESA fonts are extremely customizable and go far beyond the limitations of other font types available.

The best part is if you’ve never tried ESA fonts, YOU GET A CHANCE TO PLAY! Not only can you try a free full featured 30-day Hatch trial (click here), but you can also play with the 101 ESA fonts that’ll come built into the software with your free trial!

If you want to browse through the world’s largest selection of ESA embroidery fonts with the most affordable prices, check out our almost 1,000 different Embroidery Legacy ESA Machine Fonts here.

Remember…regarding anything embroidery related, the proof is always in the stitching. 

I’m always amazed at the range of answers I hear. Some will say, “you shouldn’t resize at all,” some preach safely 10% up or down, others 20%, or 30%. Some resize to the point that there is no limit…

The home industry has been trained that one design should run well on various fabric types. The truth is that underlay, density, and pull compensation properties should change based on what the design is applied to. Leather and pique knit should not have the same recipes if you expect both to run well…

Not All Embroidery Designs Are Created Equal

To answer the question “how much can I resize an embroidery design,” we must first establish a solid foundation of the rules that govern machine embroidery. Personally, I think it would be in every embroiderer’s best interest to learn some basic theory about how designs are created and the foundational rules before they even get behind the seat and start driving.

For this reason, if you haven’t already, I highly suggest you check out our free Embroidery Digitizing 101: Cheat Sheet video course. Those of you more experienced with embroidery will agree that there is a bit of a learning curve when you first get your machine.

I sometimes feel sympathetic for sewing machine dealers when customers leave with their first machine in hand. Many of them go online and download all kinds of free designs, load them into their brand new machine, and quickly find out first hand that all designs are not created equal. The problem is that they’re so new to embroidery that they don’t understand that it’s the designs that are causing their machine to run poorly, thread breaks, and create bird nests every 10 seconds.

All the customer thinks is that “this machine they sold me is a piece of garbage”. It’s important to understand that a machine is much like our own bodies, puts garbage in, and gets garbage out! Put good stuff in, get the good stuff out!

Not all designs are created equal, which is why I always suggest embroiderers find and stick with design companies that know what they’re doing or learn to digitize and do it themselves—less aggravation, and more importantly, better results. Now, if you’re looking for quality designs, we have close to 30,000 on this site! Click here to browse our design categories now.

The most important thing embroiderers should learn first is the rules for working with the primary stitch types. All designs are essentially made up of these three foundation stitch types:

1. Running stitch
2. Satin stitch
3. Fill stitch

Each of these stitch types has specific rules that apply to them. Just so this doesn’t become a long drawn lesson on theory, we’ll look specifically at the running stitch for now.

More of a visual learner? Check out the video below

Want more great embroidery tips and tricks? Subscribe to our Youtube channel now

Running Stitch Rules:

Minimums:

There is really only one thing you can control regarding settings/properties within a running stitch, which is the stitch length. How far the needle travels between each stitch penetration. There is a minimum and a maximum. Please keep in mind that even these rules can change depending on the fabric type used. The absolute minimum would be .5mm, which means the machine would stitch every half a millimeter, which is pretty small.

We need to remember that embroidery machines like movement within the frame. If a needle stitches in the same place repeatedly, you are pretty much guaranteed to get thread breaks. Also, small stitches will assist in creating stitch intensive (or “bulletproof”) designs. This is one of the biggest culprits of poorly digitized designs, way too many stitch penetrations too close together!

I know a 1.5mm stitch will always embroider smoothly on my machine without creating any hard stitches. Now that we’ve covered the minimum, let’s look at the maximum.

Maximums:

Maximum stitch lengths of a running stitch is a double-edged sword as there are two sets of rules to consider: Is it wearable or a non-wearable item?

Wearable items are laundered frequently, meaning that if the stitch length used is too long, the embroidery will eventually lose its integrity and start to look worn and loopy. That maximum stitch length you’d want to use on a wearable item is 7mm. You can go longer, but it’s asking for trouble.

You can embroider a stitch longer than 7mm, but I’d suggest only embroidering very long stitches on non-wearable items that wouldn’t be laundered repeatedly. Most machines that have trimmers will automatically force a trim command when a stitch goes over 12.1mm in length. Your machine will actually make a single stitch and trim, stitch and trim, stitch and trim, creating an effect called invisible embroidery. This is where the machine is going through all the motions with no end result ?

How To Resize Embroidery Designs

You can see that by being armed with just the foundational rules of a running stitch, we can already assess how limitations within designs can vary. Because every design is uniquely different in how it was digitized (or created), the amount to which you can resize it up or down depends on the design itself.

If a design has been digitized with very small details or very small text, the resizing odds are minimal. All you’ll do is create hard stitches and poor quality results. If an object that consists of running stitches already has a .5mm stitch length, then decreasing the overall size will cause hard stitches and potential thread breaks. As I said before, the machine will almost be stitching in the same position over and over again.

The same can be said if you have a larger design that already has many stitches at the 7mm stitch length (which is safe for a wearable item). Increase the size by just 20-30 percent, and you’ve created stitch lengths that are no longer suitable for garments. Blow the design up to double the size, and those 7mm stitches become 14mm stitches, and you now created a design that might have sections with invisible embroidery because they’ve gone past 12.1mm and forced trim commands on the machine.

So if you want to learn how to assess how much a design can be increased or decreased, you just need to learn the fundamental rules of embroidery stitches. It is well worth the time and effort to help you get past the learning curve and eliminate frustration. Over the years, I’ve developed numerous educational resources covering basic theory and explaining embroidery terminology in a way that is easy to understand. One great resource is the book I wrote almost 15 years ago called Digitizing Made Easy. It has actually sold almost 45,000 copies and is still relevant and in print. To this day, this book is used in universities across the United States to teach students studying textiles. Like many things these days, Amazon is the go-to place to order it if you’re interested.

Now, if you’re looking for faster results, I highly suggest you click here to check out our premium digitizing lessons. This fan-favorite course is taught in 10 of the industry’s most popular software brands. It will get you past the learning curve both quickly and easily using proven interactive video lessons.

The Curveball: Native and Machine Formats

Now that I’ve gotten you to a place where you might be saying, ahh, I get it! I’m going to throw you a bit of a curveball.

If you’re not familiar with the differences between embroidery formats, click here, to read our blog explaining it all.

A machine format like PES, for example, brought into an embroidery program, will have some limitations with regards to changing properties and stitch types within a design. You can edit a machine file within any software program and make changes to achieve good results. However, you do have to know your stuff, and many times you can spend more time editing a file than it would take to redo the design in the first place. Expanded and machine file formats will always have more limitations when resizing and editing your designs than native file formats do.

Now the other side of the coin is that if you have a native file format that you can load into the program, you actually own, then making changes, editing, and resizing a design becomes much easier because the software will create much smoother results. If you purchase most of the designs you run on your machine, the odds of purchasing a native file native to your own software will rarely happen. If you digitize your own designs, you must save your master files in the format that is native to your software. You will always get much better results.

Over the years, I’ve also changed the old-school digitizing technique I was taught when I first began to evolve with today’s embroidery software progression.

Here is a Terrier design I digitized that ended up being 4 in height and 22,427 stitches. Then I did the unthinkable, I increased the design 250%, making it over 10 in height and 96,705 stitches! The results speak for themselves.

This once again backs up that having a solid foundation of digitizing theory and the right software is the difference between having successful results or frustration on your embroidery machine.

Conclusion: You Need Digitizing Theory to Properly Resize Embroidery Designs

Running Stitch Length Rules for Smooth Embroidery:

• Minimum Stitch Length: .5mm
• Safe: 1mm
• What I personally aim for when I’m creating designs: 1.5mm
• Maximum Stitch Length: 7mm on wearable items
• Most machines will automatically trim when a stitch goes over 12.1mm.

Hopefully, now you better understand why learning the theory behind machine embroidery is so important. I’ve always told my students that although the software has undoubtedly evolved and changed throughout the years, the age-old theory and rules behind working with thread and different fabric types haven’t. If you’d like to continue to learn this theory, I highly suggest you click here to check out our premium digitizing lessons now. Even if you don’t want to fully digitize and create your own designs, learning the rules behind it will help you resize, edit, and better pick out quality designs. Truly understanding what’s happening beneath your needle will help improve EVERY aspect of your machine embroidery.

The one big issue of course, is that learning your new embroidery software can be tough & confusing. There are so many options, so many buttons, & for a lot of you, so many new terms. Not familiar with density, underlay & other settings? Don’t worry! You’ll get there with the right help.

Every Software Program Has a Different User Interface

Now please understand that there are many different software brands out there. In fact, new software brands are popping up left right and center & they can be hard to keep up with. For this reason, it’s hard to write one article that covers all aspects of every software brand. Different brands place tools in different places which creates a totally unique user experience depending on which brand you’ve purchased. Although the program layout may be different, majority of the time the different programs have the same tools.

What Do You Need Training On?

With the above being said, there are often two main areas people want to be ‘trained on’ for their software, & they should be taken in the following order:

1. How to navigate the software & learn where tools are located:

If you’re brand new to your software, the first step towards mastering it would be to learn how to navigate it. Learning the rules behind using certain tools will do very little for you if you don’t know where these tools are in the first place. In other words, you’ve got to learn how to crawl before you can walk. Now a very important thing to keep in mind during this stage is that you DO NOT need to pay for education on this. There are various Youtube channels, Facebook groups & websites dedicated towards guiding you through the interfaces of almost every software brand. Want something a bit more physical? Check out your software programs manual. If you’ve lost it, there’s often a free printable PDF version which can download from the software itself or find on the internet.

2. How to properly use the tools in your software:

Here’s where things get fun. Once you’ve learned where the tools are in your software, the next logical step is learning how to use them properly. Some basic tools like ‘view or manage designs’ don’t require much explanation, whiles others like ‘Digitize Blocks’ do. As soon as you start getting into editing embroidery designs, or even digitizing (i.e creating) your own, this is where getting proper education & training makes a HUGE difference. In the simplest of terms: Using majority of the tools in your software requires an understanding of the age-old theory behind creating & editing embroidery designs. You may not know this, but before embroidery software those who digitized embroidery designs apprenticed for 10 years to learn and master their trade (in those days it was called punching). Why so long? Because certain rules govern the different stitch types & change based on the different fabrics they’re embroidered onto. This means that the tools in your software must be used in a specific way to produce production friendly results for your machine.

Where Can I Find Quality Training & Resources on Embroidery Theory?

Thankfully learning the beautiful art of manipulating stitches to create custom embroidery designs no longer takes anywhere close to 10 years given how advanced today’s embroidery software is. But, you’ll still want to start on the right foot by learning from an experience & reputable instructor. Learning to master your software won’t take long if you’re set up for success from the beginning. For this reason, I highly recommend you check out some of our interactive embroidery software training taught by John Deer, the world’s most awarded embroidery digitizing.

Not only will they show you where buttons are located in your software, but these lessons differ from any other as they’ll teach you the old school rules & theory John learned over 3 decades ago when he first apprenticed to become a master digitizer (John is 1 of 2 Schiffli master punchers still alive & teaching in North America). With over 10,000 course students worldwide, our training will get you past the learning curve with ease & improve every aspect of your machine embroidery.