The Deer’s Embroidery Legacy’s Story

Award Winning Embroidery – Since 1958

Award-Winning Embroidery
Since 1958

“Our mission is to advance the beautiful art of machine embroidery by providing top-quality products and proven education to embroiderers everywhere.”

“Our mission is to advance the beautiful art of machine embroidery by providing top-quality products and proven education to embroiderers everywhere.”

Founded in the 1950s by John Deer’s grandparents, Embroidery Legacy started as a Schiffli loom factory producing patches and lace for North America’s bridal industry. We created patches for hundreds of companies, including the NHL, MLB, Walt Disney World, the Boy Scouts, and Girl Guides (just to list a few).

Classic Walt Disney World Embroidery Patches
Freestanding Lace Embroidery Designs
NHLMLB embroidery patches

Over 40 years, we expanded to 2 large factories, operating 6 Schiffli Looms and 136 multi-head embroidery machines, employing 54 people, and becoming one of North America’s top embroidery manufacturers, producing over 10 million embroidered goods per year.

In the mid-1990s, as commercial embroidery moved overseas, we pivoted to a commercial digitizing production house, known as Punch Perfect, serving global corporations like Coca-Cola, the NFL, and ironically enough John Deere (the tractor company) with John Deer (our CEO) winning 30 awards for his work.

Adapting again in the mid-2000s, we shifted our focus towards home embroiderers as John Deer’s Adorable Ideas, creating nearly 30,000 quality designs and running numerous live embroidery events worldwide.

Today, as Embroidery Legacy, we honor our heritage by offering an extensive range of embroidery designs, software, online education, and live events. Our history reflects our commitment to excellence in embroidery.

Scroll the images below to see a few highlights throughout the years:

Embroidery Legacy Factory 1958
John’s grandparents in their first embroidery factory in 1958. Embroidery machines, like this Shiffli machine, weren’t as small and portable then as they are now.
Schiffli Master Puncer
John’s digitizing mentor - A true Schiffli master digitizer at work... This is how John learned how to digitize!
John Deer & Grandmother Embroidery Masterpieces
John & his grandmother (one of the founders of our company) both share their award-winning embroidered masterpieces.
Dress Crest Embroidery 1975 Tradeshow
In 1975, John's grandfather and aunt working hard to sell patches at trade shows - believe me, we know our patches.
Tajima embroidery factory
Our second factory in the late 1980s - We had over 136 multi-head machines running 6 days a week, 24 hours a day.
Embroidery Tradeshow Booth
Tradeshows were a big part of our business in 1990s when we offered professional digitizing services. Check out that first-place EMB Honors plaque!
Embroidery Grand Prize Winner
John has won 30 awards for his digitizing! Including this Dog cap that won him his first EMB Grand Prize in 1998. In this panel program, he was the first ever to use three 2mm layers of 3D Puffy Foam.
Spiderman Embroidery Jacket
In 1999 John took home a first-place prize for this Spiderman Jacket (it took first place for his kids as well).
Digitizing Made Easy Book
John wrote the book ‘Digitizing Made Easy’ which simplifies embroidery digitizing and has sold over 60,000 copies!
Embroidery Legacy Live Event
John has taught tens of thousands of people to digitize. Here he is at a sold-out event in 2018. If you couldn’t guess, teaching is his passion!
John Deer Digitizing
John celebrates over 40 years of digitizing experience - He’s had lots, and lots, of practice.
10,000,000 views on social media
Embroidery Legacy content has reached over 10 million views on social media platforms. We love to educate and inspire!

Meet Our Family

65 Years Later We’re Still Proudly a Small Family Run Business

John Deer Embroidery Portrait

John Deer – Owner & CEO

Winning 30 commercial digitizing awards, John Deer has been the most awarded embroidery digitizer in the world for over two decades now. As a 4th generation embroiderer, John has an incredibly unique history in the embroidery digitizing industry as he is the last remaining Schiffli Master Digitizer still alive and teaching in North America. John learned and apprenticed under Swiss Schiffli Master Digitizers (then known as “punchers”) over 30 years ago in his grandparents’ factory, before computers even entered the digitizing world.

John has run 2 commercial embroidery factories, owned one of the world’s largest production digitizing houses, wrote the book “Digitizing Made Easy” (which has sold over 51,000 copies), and coached 100,000+ home and commercial embroiderers globally.

Jesse Deer Portrait Image

Jesse Deer
Marketing Director

Bethany Deer Portrait Image

Bethany Deer
Operations Manager

James Deer Portrait Image

James Deer
Social Media Manager

Ken Kim Portrait Image

Ken Kim
Creative Director

Leanne Portrait Image

Leanne MacKinnon
Customer Support

Jennifer Deer Portrait Image

Jennifer Deer
The Real Boss

What is the Embroidery Legacy up to Today?

Explore Our Best-Selling Products Below:

Embroidery Legacy Design Club Stitch out Example
Learn More

Embroidery Legacy Design Club

Save up to 90% on 30,000 embroidery designs

Embroidery Legacy Digitizer's Dream Course
Learn More

Digitizer’s Dream Course

Learn how to create your own embroidery designs with proven results

Embroidery Legacy's Design Doodler Software
Learn More

Design Doodler Software

Easily draw, doodle, or trace custom designs without digitizing

Embroidery Legacy Embroidery Designs
Learn More

Machine Embroidery Designs

Browse 100+ categories with 30,000 beautiful quality designs

Embroidery Legacy Echidna Hooping Stations
Learn More

Echidna Hooping Stations

Stop the hooping frustration with the Echidna hooping station