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What is the Best Embroidery Digitizing Software for Me?
Looking to start embroidery digitizing to create or edit embroidery designs? As the world’s most awarded embroidery digitizer, two questions I always get asked are:
- “what is the best embroidery digitizing software?”
- “which embroidery digitizing software programs are easy to use?”
In my early years as an embroidery educator, I learned that while trying to remain unbiased and non-software specific, most of the mainstream embroidery digitizing programs do have the essential tools required to create an embroidery design. With these necessary tools, they can all accomplish (for the most part) the same result.
However, what does differ in different software programs is the advanced tools & features that make creating designs easier. Some software programs do require more leg work with the manual inputting of ‘stitch settings’ while others I would consider ‘more advanced’ as they help automate the process & speed things up for you. For this reason, please note that:
All digitizing software is not the same, and there are many angles to consider when you’re in the market of buying a program.
Things to Consider When Looking Into Digitizing Software:
Personal preference
As with anything in life, not everyone is going to like the same software brands. Some people swear by Floriani while others are in love with Hatch. Determining your background will probably, in some way, impact your decision more than anything else. If you have a production or machine background, some programs will make more sense in relating your artwork directly to stitches, and you’d probably feel more comfortable right off the get-go. Another type of software will be programmed leaning more towards the graphics industry, and if you have a graphic artist background, you will catch on quicker.
Do your research:
The beautiful thing about today’s day and age is that technology allows us to try before we buy. I would highly suggest downloading a free trial for any software brand that has your interest.
The trial phase will help you determine whether the software is a good fit for you or not. Please note, however, that you make sure you do this only through REPUTABLE online sources. If you’re looking for a starting point, I highly suggest you try the 30-day free trial of Hatch through us. As a bonus, we’ll provide you with our Embroidery Digitizing Made Easy Challenge so you can see if digitizing is something you’d enjoy pursuing.
Another great way of doing some research is to go online and ask what others think about a given software brand. There are many embroidery-based Facebook groups, blogs, and other useful tools online today where you can post questions and get honest customer feedback.
Reputable software brands & education:
Another big thing to consider is the reputation of the company and, more importantly, what level of support and training they offer. I’ve always said: “Any software program is only as good as the support & education that comes with it.”
The last thing you what to do is purchase software because the price point was cheap or on sale, and then all you get is this manual that wasn’t even correctly translated from its original language! When learning to digitize, the training you get after purchasing your software is crucial. The lack of training is one of the most significant issues I’ve found in the home embroidery industry (not so much the commercial). People often buy software and are left to figure it out on their own, or they take classes from an unqualified instructor who knows little more than they do and has never digitized professionally. This software knowledge “gap” is why my book Digitizing Made Easy has sold over 44,300 copies worldwide.
Now, if you do discover a software brand that you fall in love with but doesn’t have excellent education to help you master it, I highly suggest taking a look at our fan-favorite Digitizer’s Dream Course. Directly taught in 11 of the industry’s most popular software brands, this course will take you by the hand and teach you the age-old theory behind creating beautiful embroidery designs.
Should I buy through a dealer store or online?
To be honest, this depends on how much one on one assistance you think you’ll need with the basics. I do endorse supporting your local dealer if you think their level of support justifies the extra cost.
Remember that dealers are in business and often have to support staff and brick and mortor stores. The reason why their software can, at times, cost a couple of thousand dollars more isn’t necessarily because it’s better than another program.
Instead, it can be because there are more sales channels that software has to go through before it reaches your hands. The brick and mortar store, regional sales coordinator, and of course, software manufacturers all need to profit.
That said, paying your dealer for this service isn’t necessarily bad if you know you’ll need a lot of help grasping the basics. They deserve to get paid for their work and efforts. However, also keep in mind that most stores and store employees often only know the software essentials. If you’re looking to learn how to digitize and create more complex designs, you’ll want to learn from someone who used to digitize professionally. You know, someone who has digitized for Coca-Cola, Disney, the NFL, and the NBA and now offers software-specific digitizing lessons 😉
Do you need to buy software specific to your embroidery machine brand?
To put it bluntly, no, you do not. For example, just because you own a Janome or Brother machine, doesn’t mean you need to buy Janome or Brother software.
To be fair, although you don’t need it, sometimes some bells and whistles come from having both your machine and software in the same brand. Things like wireless connectivity can be significant incentives for some.
However, when it comes to creating designs and digitizing in particular, there aren’t any vast advantages of buying software specific to your machine brand. In fact, you usually just end up paying more.
Start where you need to start
The last thing I’ll suggest is that you try not to get up-sold on the highest levels of software unless you feel you can utilize the added features. If you’re brand new to embroidery, you may not yet need full-blown digitizing software or the highest level of digitizing software. With the modular-based programs available today like Hatch, you can always start small and upgrade to the next level if you feel the options are something you’ll use.
My Personal Suggestion? Try Hatch for Digitizing
Any brands which I teach lessons for on my website, I would consider a reputable brand. Although I’ve sold some of these brands in the past, if I had to pick a favorite, I’d pick Hatch. Why?
Because as the world leader in embroidery software, Wilcom has put three decades of innovation and experience into their new Hatch embroidery software. Hatch’s platform has an easy to use interface, which is powerful and available at a great price. It’s also modular so that you can add as you grow.
Most importantly, as I mentioned at the start of this article, although all software programs have the main tools required to create designs, some do make the process a lot easier. I personally love Hatch because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of creating designs. In most cases, the software steps in and does the grunt work for you.
I highly recommend you download the 30-day free trial of Hatch through us to compare it to the other programs available out there. But for now, here are a few things that set Hatch apart:
Hatch auto-assigns stitch properties:
The Hatch program is intelligent and automatically assigns stitch properties (such as stitch length, stitch count, density, underlay, and more) based on the dimensions of the objects you create in the software. Unlike some other software brands available, you don’t have to set these properties yourself (which can be very overwhelming for new digitizers)—having the correct settings chosen for you is kind of like driving an automatic car instead of a manual.
Auto Fabric Assist Tool:
This tool allows you to create, or even bring in a finished embroidery design and, at the click of a button, adjust all the stitch properties to be embroidered and get the best results on any fabric type you choose. This saves you from having to learn dozens of stitch recipes for different fabric types.
Auto-branching tools:
This tool automatically paths or “branches” a design for you so that it logically sews out in fluid sequence rather than having a ton of jumps and trims. This makes your stitch outs smoother and saves you a ton of time from mapping the design beforehand.
EMB File Format:
There are many different embroidery file formats out there. Hatch’s EMB file format allows you to adjust objects as if they were vector-based files with set nodes or points. This makes the editing process much quicker and easier.
Conclusion: Try Hatch & Compare it to Other Embroidery Digitizing Software Programs
There are a lot of factors to consider when looking into digitizing software. However, the main thing to keep in mind is to look for a reputable brand with quality education and support.
In our opinion, Hatch is the best embroidery digitizing software available. As an official Hatch reseller, I know anyone can claim that their product is the best. So, don’t just take my word for it. Instead, I invite you to download the free 30-day trial of Hatch through us and simply compare it to any, and all other software brands available.
The quality of the program speaks for itself.
As a bonus for downloading the free trial through us, you’ll also get access to our Embroidery Digitizing Made Easy Challenge.
This Challenge is a free way to challenge yourself to try embroidery digitizing if you never have before. It’ll take you by the hand and show you how easy it can be to create and edit your designs using Hatch. In this free Challenge, you’ll follow alongside me in 7 bite-sized video lessons and create 6 designs yourself from start to finish!
So, click here to learn more and download the free trial of Hatch through us now if you haven’t already. If you’re ready to start creating your own embroidery designs with digitizing software, the name of our site says it all: Digitizing Made Easy.
John – I have both PED10 and Hatch – I may have asked this before but wondering where I should start with your lessons – Most likely lesson 1? thanks. i have been digitizing for a while but don’t have my own website yet and would like to hone in on my skills – and perhaps sells some designs at some point. I see many free videos but am thinking the lessons are the way to go. thanks.
Hi Mary, the a great place to start is with Level 1 of the Digitizer’s Dream Course. It’s taught in both Hatch & PE Designs. Checkout the course here & let me know if you have any questions, always happy to help 🙂 https://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/e-classroom/digitizing/
So I am very new to embroidery! In fact, I JUST got my machine (Pe770) and have not been able to make anything as of yet. I called Brother Customer Service and only became MORE confused! I will give you my background and then ask a couple of questions. I can sea, but only straight lines! Lol! I do not make garments, but can make curtains, quilts, and other things. I also hand sew, crossstitch, and am good at garters, headbands, etc! I am a photographer, first! I have been photographing portraits for several years. I am well-versed in Photoshop and Lightroom to edit my portraits and add graphics. At Christmas, I received the PE770 and ALSO the Cricut Explore Air II. So I’ve been making my designs in Photoshop and then uploading them to Cricut and then making t-shirts and such. I am HOPING to do the same with Brother. I understand I need to be able to convert my jpeg, tiff, png, and svg’s to PES and I need a special program to do that! Question 1. What would be the best program for me considering my background and need? 2. What thoughts/ideas might you have for me so I can incorporate all of my talents into one project? TIA!
First off, congrats on your new machine! We love the Brother brand here at Embroidery Legacy.
You certainly do have a unique past & yes you’re correct. You would need a digitizing program to take jpeg or other image based files & convert them into stitch files (such as PES) to run on your embroidery machine. To answer your questions:
1. I would highly suggest you give Hatch a try, it is created by Wilcom the world leader in commercial embroidery software. It can change jpgs or other such image based files into the PES embroidery format easily. Plus if you download it through us, I include a bunch of free lessons that will help get you past the learning curve. Here’s a link to learn more: https://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/hatch-best-embroidery-software/
2. This is a tough one, you’re a creative person so I would think that the first step would be turning some of the pictures you’ve taken into embroidery designs with your embroidery software (give it a try with Hatch). You could then use these designs on your quilts or something similar… I’m sure you’ll find a new world of creative avenues to go after once you’ve mastered the basics of the software 🙂
Hope that helps & happy stitching!
Do you recommend Hatch for digitizing a logo? We own a franchise and our home office has requested that all embroidery be done to certain specs. We’re trying to save a few bucks in the long run by not having to purchase corporate shirts and other merchandise and instead embroidering it ourselves. I have a brother PE650. I have embroidered a wide variety of items, but never digitized on my own. I have a couple other small businesses that would like me to digitize their logo to do their embroidery as well.
Hi Amanda, yes I would certainly recommend Hatch for digitizing logos. Especially if you’ll be stitching it out on a wide variety of items. To be honest almost every software program out there could create a logo but what sets Hatch apart is it’s ease of use and how intelligent the software is. Being created by Wilcom, the world leader in commercial embroidery software, Hatch automatically adjusts things like density, underlay & stitch count for you based off the stitch type being used & the fabric type selected. This will take a lot of the guess work out of creating logos for you.
I would highly recommend you download the free 30 day trial & compare it to the other brands out there… You’ll see the difference first hand! Plus if you download the trial through us I’ll provide you with 4 video lessons to help get you started 🙂 https://dev.wilcomfont.com/hatch-best-embroidery-software/
I’ve several brothers machines and love embroidery sewing and quilting. 2 years ago I was determined to be able to do my own designs and bought the Embrid Embroidery/Digitizing packages. The software is impossible to just use. I have watched many videos but nothing seems to trigger the aha moment when the software makes sense to use. It was big expense that I believe to be a waste since I still can’t use it could you help me or should I try something else?
Hi Saundra, although we do teach our Digitizer’s Dream course in 11 of the industry’s leading software brands, unfortunately we don’t teach it directly in the Embird software. If we don’t teach in a specific software brand, it’s because we don’t feel comfortable putting our name behind it. Mind you, many others like that software & I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s just not one of the brands we support.
If you’d like to try something else, I would recommend downloading the free 30-day trial of Hatch through us & just comparing it what you’re currently using. It’s incredibly user friendly & takes a lot of the guess work out of digitizing. We also provide 4 bonus lessons when you download the trial through us: https://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/hatch-best-embroidery-software/
I used to have a babylock allure and using PED played with digitizing with marginal success. I just got an Aurora 440 that doesn’t have more than sizing software. My budget is limited and I don’t have time for major learning. I want a simple program that I can use to digitize simple clip art for Bernina .art . Suggestions?
Hi Linda,
Hi Linda, I would definitely try Hatch if you own a Bernina. Hatch is made by Wilcom (so is the Bernina software) but has considerably more tools built in (like ESA fonts) as it is not proprietary towards only 1 machine brand. Another perk is that although the software has more bells and whistles, it is more affordable as it is not sold primary through physical resellers. Hatch will export files into EXP format for your Bernina machine too.
I would highly suggest you try downloading the 30 day free trial through out site & compare it to any other free program trials out there (always try before you buy). We’ll also provide you with some introductory training videos to help get you started. Let me know if you have any questions & happy stitching! https://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/hatch-embroidery-free-trial/
What would you recommend for the ricoma em 1010 embroidery machine. I have bought the digitizing software dsc gold. It is very limited on fonts and the auto digitizing part of the software doesn’t always do the best job. What would you recommend?
Hi John,
I believe Ricoma now support & endorse Hatch just as we do. If you’re looking for additional fonts, ESA fonts technology is a game changer. They do things NO other fonts in the home embroidery industry can do. Regarding auto-digitizing, I’ll level with you: Manual digitizing will always be your best bet. Any program (even Hatch) has it’s limitations with auto-digitizing. Now this isn’t to say that Hatch will do a bad job, but rather that if you want the best results, you’re better off doing it by hand. Now if you are going to try Hatch, be sure to download the free trial or purchase it through our site as we’ll provide you with a ton of exclusive bonuses including extra ESA fonts 🙂 Hope that helps!
John- I have a Bernina E16 and use my Bernina software I used for my single needle machine. I haven’t been very happy with learning to actually digitize my own design and send most of my logos out. What do you think Hatch can offer me to enable me to better learn these skills? Thanks!
Hey Sandy,
Bernina is a great software program because it’s also created by Wilcom. However, there are a few major differences… Although I’m not 100% why, the Bernina software lacks some of the more advanced features presents in Hatch (such as ESA fonts and some of the automated tools that help make digitizing quicker & easier).
That being said, I would download the 30 day free trial of Hatch so you can play & see for yourself what sets it apart: https://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/hatch-best-embroidery-software/
The beautiful thing about Hatch is the incredible amount of support & education I’ll provide you with. This is what’ll allow you to truly excel past the learning curve. Even with the free trial, I’ll send you 4 training videos to help get you started & give you access to our Facebook group community to help answer any questions you may have. Hope that helps!
I have used the Janome Digitizer for many years and the last update I installed was Digitizer MBX V5.I understand this is no longer supported and has been changed but not sure to what. I am having to update my computer and may have to change my digitizing software. I have THOUSANDS of designs stored under this software. What do you recommend I do? I will say I have loved the Janome Digitizer but I don’t do my own digitizing very often. Thank you ;for your response.
Hey Linda,
Wilcom (the makers of Hatch) were the developer for the MBX 5 software so the Hatch platform is very similar. All your .JAN files will open in Hatch and can be edited with the same ease as your MBX. In my opinion, it would be an easy transition plus you’ll get some new features in the Hatch software. Try downloading the free trial of Hatch through our site first to be sure you like it. If you then do decide on Hatch, remember to purchase through us to receive our exclusive bonuses 🙂 http://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/what-sets-us-apart/
Awesome blog you have here but I was wondering if you
knew of any forums that cover the same topics discussed here?
I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get comments from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks!
Hey, sorry but I don’t know of any forums. We do however have a Facebook group that you might enjoy: http://www.facebook.com/groups/EmbroideryLegacy/
Tell me the best digitizing software in the market where i can make my own and in the future offer that services. Thanks
Hi Lisa,
We recommend Hatch given its advanced features and amazing support. You can learn more about it here and also download a 30-day free trial through us: https://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/hatch-best-embroidery-software/
Hope that helps and let us know if you have any further questions 🙂
I’m looking for a good digitizing class I can take online. Anyone know of one?
Hi Jamie, check out our Digitizer’s Dream Course 🙂 It’s taught in 10 of the industries most popular software brands and will teach you the old school rules & theory behind digitizing: https://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/e-classroom/digitizing/
I recently got pe design 10! The designs look nice on the program but once I put them into my machine they have weird gaps between the colors. Do you know what would cause this?
Hi Raegan, one of the very first things you’ll learn in digitizing is what you see on screen, isn’t what will embroider. Because we are dealing with a top thread and bobbin thread that both experience tension to create a flat stitch, we have a push and pull compensation effect that takes place. The best way to get past this learning curve is to implement quality education to help get you past the learning curve: Here’s a link to our Digitizer’s Dream Course which is taught in 10 of the industries most popular software brands (including PE design): http://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/e-classroom/digitizing/
It’ll help you better understand why these issues are happening with your designs, and how to fix/avoid them 🙂 Happy stitching!
Hello my name is Sheila, I am new at this. I would like to know what is a good embroidery machine and how can I learn how to digitize my own logo. I was going to buy a Melco machine, but is it very expensive. What inexpensive machine do you recommend and where my I purchase one or order one?
Hi Sheila, regarding an inexpensive machine that is a tough question to answer as in most cases you get what you pay for. We do recommend the ZSK, however it is not cheaper than a Melco. Our facebook group would be a great place to post this question and see what others are using/recommend.
If you do want to learn how to digitize your own logos we can certainly help you there! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our free Digitizing 101 Cheat Sheet PDF and Video Course: http://www.digitizingmadeeasy.com/embroidery-digitizing-beginner-cheat-sheet/
Enjoy!