Image to SVG for Embroidery

Preparing artwork for embroidery

1. Drop your logo or drawing above. Logo / colour mode is pre-selected with 5 colours.
2. Set the number of colours to the number of threads you’ll use, and tick Remove background colour so the fabric shows through.
3. Smooth and clean. Raise Smoothing for flowing satin-stitch shapes and Remove small specks to drop details too small to stitch.
4. Download SVG and open it in your digitizing software.

Designing for thread, not pixels

Embroidery is a physical process: needles, thread and fabric that moves. Details that look fine on screen can disappear or bunch up when stitched.

• Minimum sizes. Satin columns generally work between about 1 mm and 7–8 mm wide. Small text under about 5 mm tall rarely reads well.
• Fewer colours. Merge similar shades. Thread colours are limited, and every change costs time.
• Simplify outlines. Smoothing reduces the number of nodes, giving digitizing software cleaner shapes to fill.
• Think about fabric. Stretchy knits and fleece need simpler, bolder designs than stable twill or denim.

Digitizing with Ink/Stitch (free)

Open the SVG in Inkscape with the Ink/Stitch extension installed. Each colour group from the tracer becomes a set of shapes. Select shapes and assign fill stitches for large areas and satin columns for borders and lettering, then export to your machine’s format. Commercial programs like Hatch and Embrilliance follow a similar workflow.

Free and private

No upload, no watermark, no account — and client logos never leave your computer.

Choosing colours that match your threads

Thread manufacturers like Madeira, Isacord and Robison-Anton publish colour charts, and most digitizing software can map SVG fills to the nearest thread. You’ll get the cleanest mapping if the traced colours are already distinct. If two areas of your logo are similar shades of blue, reduce the colour count until they merge — two nearly identical threads add a colour change without adding anything visible.

A typical workflow

1. Convert the logo here with 4–6 colours and the background removed.
2. Open the SVG in Ink/Stitch, Hatch or Embrilliance.
3. Assign fills, satin borders and running stitches, and set underlay for the fabric.
4. Sew a test on scrap fabric of the same type, then adjust density and pull compensation.

Starting from clean vector shapes means far less manual node editing, and much faster digitizing, than tracing by hand.