Free embroidery digitizing: how to get your first design digitized free (DST, PES and more)

Search for free embroidery digitizing and you'll find three very different things: apps that turn a picture into stitches automatically, digitizing software with a free trial, and digitizers who make your first design free so you can test their work. They're not the same quality, and they don't suit the same jobs.

The three kinds of "free"

• Auto-digitizing (one click). You upload a picture and the app guesses the stitches. It can work for big, bold shapes in a few flat colours. It struggles with small text, thin lines, gradients and photos, and the files often need fixing: too dense, no underlay, trims in the wrong places.
• A free software trial. Full digitizing software for a limited time. The results can be excellent, but you do the digitizing yourself, and learning it takes a while. How to make custom machine embroidery designs compares the options.
• A free first design from a digitizer. A person digitizes your art for your size and fabric, and you sew it out before you spend anything. This is the only kind that gives you a production-ready file without any digitizing on your side.

What our free design includes

• Your first design free, up to 4 in (102 mm): left chest logos, cap fronts, sleeves, patches and ornaments.
• Every format: DST, PES, JEF, EXP, VP3 and XXX, with a production sheet that lists the thread codes, colour order, stitch count and run time.
• Within 48 hours, and no card needed.
• Tweaks are free. Sew it out and tell us how it ran.

It's one free design per customer. After that, every custom design is $10 flat, at any size, with the same formats and production sheet.

What to send

• The sharpest file you have: PNG, JPG, PDF, AI, EPS or SVG. A sharp, straight-on phone photo of a printed logo works too.
• The finished size and the fabric. A cap front, a towel and a T-shirt each need different density and underlay.
• A child's drawing? Lay it flat in daylight and photograph it from straight above. We keep the wobbles on purpose; see how to turn a child's drawing into an embroidery design.

How it compares with paid digitizing

Most digitizing services charge per design, commonly somewhere around $10 to $50 for a logo depending on size and detail, and contract digitizers often price by stitch count instead. What embroidery digitizing costs explains what makes one design cost more than another and what you should get for the price.

Questions

Is the free file good enough to use on products?

It's the same file a paying customer gets: digitized by hand for your size and fabric, then checked stitch by stitch. As with any new file, sew a test swatch first on the fabric you'll use.

Can you digitize any picture?

Logos, lettering, clip art and children's drawings work best. Photos and pictures with soft shading have to be simplified into flat areas of colour first, so they look different in thread. We'll tell you before we start if your art needs that.

Why is it free?

So you can see how our files stitch on your own machine before you pay for anything. If you like the result, your next designs are $10 each, at any size.

Claim your free design: upload your art, and your files arrive within 48 hours.