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Create a machine embroidery design
Do you use an embroidery machine and dream of creating a machine embroidery design? And would you like to see your drawings stitched on fabric? Follow this guide! Even without being an experienced artist, you can create your digital embroidery pattern and let your machine stitch it on a garment or accessory.
What a pleasure to proudly wear your creation or gift it to someone you love! Follow the steps and create your first machine embroidery pattern!
Finding inspiration
First of all, you need an idea. If you’re already full of inspiration, great! If not, don’t panic. When you’re lacking ideas, I suggest a method to find inspiration. You can use this method to generate ideas for creating your machine embroidery pattern but also for any creative project!
First, gather a bunch of magazines, browse through them quietly and cut out all the images that attract you, surprise you, or inspire you.
Assemble the images you’ve cut out and paste them carefully on a page. You can group them by theme, color, texture, or season. Make sure to have a neat, harmonious page that especially pleases you.
Create several inspiration pages following this method. I’m sure the process will already give you a lot of satisfaction! Once your collages are finished, choose the one that inspires you the most to create a machine embroidery design.
Of course, you can follow this method on a computer by creating your inspiration board on Pinterest for example.
Sketching your machine embroidery design
Get a sheet of paper and a pencil and/or colored markers. Then, choose the collage page you like the most. Carefully observe your inspiration sheet and start sketching shapes and ideas.
At this stage, it’s essential to avoid judging your work, feel free to create! Make at least 10 different sketches to explore all your ideas.
Once your sketches are finished, choose the one that you like the most and that is fairly simple. Redraw it on a new sheet. Simplify the lines as much as possible and limit yourself to one or two colors for an easy-to-make first embroidery pattern.
Scanning the drawing
When your drawing is ready, make sure the lines are clean and well-defined. This will make the following transformation steps easier. Scan the drawing using a smartphone or a scanner. Medium resolution is sufficient. Then transfer the image to your computer.
For optimal organization, create a dedicated folder for each pattern and name it clearly and meaningfully. This method will help you easily find your creations.
Converting the drawing to vector format
To convert your drawing into a format compatible with embroidery machines, you need to first create a vector image. Unlike raster images (made up of dots or pixels), vector images are defined by coordinates. This allows them to be enlarged or modified without loss of quality.
To work with vector images, I recommend the open source software Inkscape. Free and comprehensive, it’s perfect for this step. Here’s how to proceed:
- Create a new file in Inkscape.
- Import your scanned drawing onto a layer.
- Add a new layer on top and draw the vectors corresponding to your pattern.
Once finished, save your file in SVG or EMF format.
If you’re new to vector drawing software and therefore to Inkscape, you’ll find many explanations and videos on the Internet to learn how to use the software.
Converting the drawing to embroidery machine format
Is your vector file ready? It’s time to transform it into a format compatible with your embroidery machine. If you’re using Inkscape, the Ink/Stitch extension is ideal for this task. This Inkscape extension is also free and open source. You’ll find many tutorials online to learn how to use it.
There are many other software options for creating machine embroidery designs. These softwares are often offered by embroidery machine manufacturers.
Personally, I use Embird software to create all my machine embroidery designs, it’s simple to use and quite comprehensive.
Most embroidery pattern creation software works on the same principle. It involves creating a new file, then drawing or importing your vector image into it. In our case, you should import your vector drawing.
Then, for each object in the image, you need to decide whether that part will be embroidered as a filled area or just as an outline.
Choosing styles for stitches and filled areas
Now that you’ve defined which parts are outlines and which are fills, you can detail the specific parameters of the embroidery.
You can choose to stitch outlines with different styles: straight stitch, triple stitch, satin stitch, or even many fancy stitches.
As for filling, you can opt for a flat fill, a repetitive pattern, or even incorporate effects like carved designs.
Another crucial parameter is the stitch density. Softwares often offer default settings: use them and test your pattern on the embroidery machine. You can then adjust these parameters if necessary.
Optimizing jump stitches of your machine embroidery pattern
Now that you’ve defined the embroidery style of each object in your pattern, you can optimize the stitching process.
For a clean and efficient result, limit jump stitches. To do this, plan the order of objects and think about the start and end placement of each embroidery segment.
If jumps are unavoidable, you can replace them with sewn lines. In this case, make sure they will be covered by other embroidered areas.
Testing the design on the embroidery machine
Once your machine embroidery design is complete, save your file and export it in a compatible format for your embroidery machine.
Transfer the pattern to your machine (usually via USB drive). Stitch the embroidery on a test fabric with similar characteristics to your final project.
To start, favor fabrics that are easy to work with. Preferably non-stretchy and of medium thickness. Choose an appropriate stabilizer. After this test, adjust the parameters if necessary to enhance your pattern. It’s common to need several tests and modifications before achieving a really fine version of your machine embroidery design.
Conclusion
I hope this guide has inspired and motivated you! Creating your machine embroidery design takes some time and patience, but the result is incredibly rewarding. What a pride to see your ideas come to life on the fabric!
Feel free to share your creations with me on Instagram: @filafaire. I would love to see your tests, inspirations, and masterpieces!
Happy stitching! ✂️🧵
