What is Embroidery Digitizing? How to Easily Get Started

As the world’s most awarded embroidery digitizer, people constantly ask me: what is embroidery digitizing? Although the answer to this can be rather complex, in the simplest of forms:

Embroidery digitizing is the process of using embroidery software to transform artwork into an embroidery design file that can run on your embroidery machine to create stitches.

Although the explanation above is rather simple, I assure you that there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Embroidery digitizing is like painting with stitches, and just like painting, certain rules apply.

Digitizing is all about understanding how thread interacts with fabric and learning how to use software to get the results you want. Choosing the appropriate stitch type, settings, & direction is where the real learning curve is involved.

Learn to edit and make your own custom designs with our fan-favorite Free Embroidery Digitizing 101: Video Course & Cheat Sheet. It’ll give you a foundation of embroidery digitizing theory that EVERY embroiderer should know to help you get better results by understanding what’s really happening underneath your needle.

This is where the real fun is involved.

You can digitize just about any piece of artwork or image imaginable to turn it into your own custom machine embroidery design!

For example, you can digitize things like your kids’ drawings, a company’s logo, or an internet image.

Now keep in mind, there are some limitations in place. Unlike printing something, machine embroidery has more limitations in place because we’re dealing with physical mediums like thread and fabric. That said, you couldn’t digitize the Mona Lisa onto a 2-inch patch and expect the same level of detail.

As a general rule, the smaller the size of the design, the less detail you can put into it. For tiny designs and logos you must often adjust your artwork before digitizing to get good embroidered results.

No, you don’t have to be artistic to become a digitizer.

I can barely draw a stick figure, yet I’ve won 30 awards for digitizing in the commercial industry and have done work for thousands of large corporations. Although I’m not an artist, I would certainly consider myself ‘creative’.

You can be a very creative person and still not be an artist. Every machine embroidery hobbyist I’ve met I would consider to be creative. This means that you’re just as qualified to become a digitizer as anyone else!

This is a bit of a loaded question because the answer really depends on the type of embroidery you’re looking to create and how much time you’re willing to invest.

Like any hobby, having proper instruction & experiencing positive results will reflect the amount of interest you have in learning. Things like underlay stitches, understanding the three basic embroidery stitch types (running stitch, fill and satin stitches), push & pull compensation, and density are all key aspects that must be considered when learning how to transform artwork into an embroidery design.

I understand that some of these words (or all of them) might be new to you and seem foreign. The main thing to remember is that like painting, digitizing is an art form that simply requires patience and, of course, a guiding hand from the right instructor.

There are a few things you will need to start your digitizing journey.

Access to an embroidery machine is essential. Without stitching out your digitized designs, you will not see where your errors are. As I always say, what you see on your screen isn’t always the same as your stitched outcome. Trial and error will be your new motto!

If you went for a run, would you wear your flip-flops or your running shoes? Using a mouse in digitizing is like wearing flip-flops. You can still run, but you’ll likely take longer. Using a pen tablet not only helps with your creativity, but it makes digitizing faster and more fun!

So many pen tablets are available, but we’ve done some research and found certain digitizing products we recommend. Don’t forget to check they work with your computer before purchasing.

And, of course, you will need embroidery digitizing software. If you’re at this part of your embroidery journey, I  suggest you check out my other article “what is the best embroidery digitizing software”