How to turn your child's drawing into a machine embroidery design

A child's drawing is one of the best things you can stitch. The thick marker lines, simple shapes and a few bold colours are exactly what thread does well, and the wobbles are the whole point. Stitched on a tea towel, an ornament or a sweatshirt, it becomes a Christmas gift that grandparents keep for years.

Why children's drawings stitch so well

• Bold outlines. A marker line becomes a satin or a running stitch that reads clearly from across the room.
• Flat colours. Each coloured area becomes one fill in one thread, with no shading to fake.
• Simple shapes. Fewer, larger pieces mean fewer trims and a quicker stitch-out.

A good digitizer keeps the drawing as it is: the lopsided hat, the arms that don't match, the sun with too many rays. Don't redraw it neater before you send it.

1. Photograph or scan the drawing

1. Lay it flat in daylight, near a window, with no lamp shadows across the paper.
2. Hold the phone straight above it, not at an angle, and fill the frame with the drawing.
3. Turn off the flash, which leaves a bright spot in the middle.
4. Or scan it at 300 dpi. A scan is always the cleanest.

Faint pencil or crayon is fine: we boost the contrast. Lined or coloured paper is fine too, because the paper isn't stitched.

2. Choose the size and the item

A stitch file is made for one size, so decide before you send it. A drawing with lots of small detail looks best a little larger.

3. What changes when a drawing becomes thread

• Crayon texture becomes solid colour. Thread can't do the grain of a crayon, so each area is filled smoothly, and every colour is matched to a thread colour on the production sheet.
• Tiny details merge. Thread is about 0.4 mm wide, so dots and lines smaller than about 1 mm are joined or left out.
• Writing needs room. Your child's handwriting can be stitched if the letters are at least about 1/4 in (6 mm) tall. Smaller writing, like a signature in a corner, is better added as a separate name in a stitch font.
• The paper isn't stitched. Only the drawing is, so the fabric shows around it.

4. Fabric and stabilizer

• Sweatshirts and knits: a medium cut-away stabilizer, so the design doesn't stretch out of shape when it's worn and washed.
• Tea towels, canvas and linen: a firm tear-away.
• Towels and fleece: add a water-soluble topping so the stitches don't sink into the pile.
• Felt ornaments: hoop a tear-away, float the felt on top, then trim around the design.

Sew a test on scrap fabric first: it costs ten minutes and catches a wrong thread colour or a puckering fabric before the real gift. How to read a test swatch.

5. Get the stitch file made, free

Send the photo on our free trial page. We digitize your first design free, up to 4 in, and you get it in every format (DST, PES, JEF, EXP, VP3 and XXX) with a production sheet of thread codes, within 48 hours. No card, no catch.

More than one child, or more than one drawing? After the free one, every custom design is $10 at any size: order it here.

Christmas gift ideas

• An ornament for each grandparent, with the child's name and the year stitched under the drawing.
• Matching family sweatshirts, each with a drawing by a different child.
• A set of tea towels, one drawing on each.
• A stocking cuff with the drawing on the front.

Pair it with something from the library: the free glass ornament is a 4 × 4 that stitches in minutes, and the wreath frame leaves room for a name in the middle.

• Free

  

  Heirloom Glass Ornament

  Embroidery file · 103×172 mm

  Free
• Heirloom

  

  Heirloom Christmas Wreath Monogram Frame

  Embroidery file · 148×189 mm

  $2.99