Guides
Embroidery files, explained with numbers.
Written by people who digitise and run machines. Each guide states its sources, and the tools on this site use the same constants.
Lettering
Embroidery font sizes that actually stitch: minimums per style, per fabric and per font weight
The smallest cap height each lettering style survives, why stroke width decides it rather than letter height, what the bundled fonts measure, and a test to run before a batch.
4 min read · updated Oct 22, 2026
Embroidery lettering: satin vs fill, what size each works at, and how the columns are built
When letters should be satin columns and when a fill, the stroke widths that decide it, what underlay and pull compensation do to small text, and the sizes to avoid.
4 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
File formats
JEF file format explained: the Janome colour chart, hoop codes and what JEF+ adds
How a Janome JEF file stores its header, colours as indices into the 79-colour Janome chart, the hoop code every machine checks, and why a design gets refused for hoop size.
4 min read · updated Oct 15, 2026
Jumps, trims and colour changes: what the commands in an embroidery file do on the machine
What a jump, a trim, a stop and a colour change make the machine do, how each format encodes them, why untrimmed jumps leave loose thread, and how to cut the costly ones.
4 min read · updated Sep 17, 2026
Barudan U01 and Tajima TBF: the commercial formats that carry needle numbers
What U01 and TBF add over DST: needle-addressed colour changes, fast and slow flags, thread colours in TBF, and when a shop should ask for them instead of a DST.
4 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
DST file format explained: what Tajima files store, and what they leave out
How a DST is built: the 512-byte header, three-byte stitch records, the 12.1 mm limit, trims as three jumps, and why there are no colours. What to send with one.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
EMB, ART, BE, CND, PXF: why native embroidery formats cannot be converted online
Object formats store shapes and settings, not stitches. Why no converter opens EMB or ART, what to ask the designer for, and how to export a stitch file from each.
3 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Embroidery file formats explained: PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3, XXX, HUS, U01 and what each one stores
What is inside PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3, XXX, HUS, U01 and TBF: colours, trims, stitch limits, which machines read which, and which conversions lose data.
7 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
How to convert embroidery files without losing anything you needed
How to convert PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3 and the rest: check the file, choose the target, know what it drops, convert in the browser, verify the result. Traps per pair.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
PES file format explained: versions, the PEC block, the 64-colour palette and hoop limits
How a Brother PES file is built: the version header, the PEC stitch block every machine reads, why colours snap to a 64-entry palette, and what changes between v1 and v10.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Tajima DST for commercial machines: preparing a file that runs clean on Tajima, Barudan, SWF, Ricoma and Happy
What a commercial machine expects from a DST: trims as jumps, needle order set from the colour sheet, stops as colour changes, the 12.1 mm record, and the pre-run checks.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Which embroidery file format does my machine use? Brand and model table
The file format each machine brand reads: Brother, Baby Lock, Janome, Bernina, Viking, Pfaff, Singer, Tajima, Barudan, Ricoma, Melco, Happy, ZSK, SWF, plus hoop codes.
4 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Thread and colour
Embroidery thread brands compared: Isacord, Madeira, Sulky, Robison-Anton, Floriani, Hemingworth and more
Polyester versus rayon, what Isacord, Madeira, Sulky, Robison-Anton, Floriani and Hemingworth are known for, and stocking one brand while sewing designs made for another.
3 min read · updated Oct 8, 2026
Embroidery thread conversion: matching Isacord, Madeira, Sulky, Robison-Anton and Brother colours
How thread conversion charts are made, why two charts disagree, what ΔE means, how to convert a whole design at once, and when to stop trusting the chart and check the cone.
4 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Running a shop
Embroidery run time: how to estimate it from stitch count, speed, colour changes and hooping
Machine time from stitch count, real versus rated speed, the cost of colour changes, trims and hooping, multi-head maths, and how to time your own machine once.
3 min read · updated Oct 1, 2026
Batch name embroidery for shops: one lettering setup, one file per name, no re-digitising
Run a list of names through one lettering setup and get a stitch file per name: what to check first, how to sequence hooping and colour, and where the time goes on 40 names.
4 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Colour sheets and run sheets: what to print before a design goes on the machine
What a colour sheet must contain, how to make one from any stitch file, the run sheet an operator needs for a batch, and the mistakes a printed sheet prevents.
4 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
How to price embroidery: per 1,000 stitches, minimums, setup and the numbers that actually drive it
A working method for quoting embroidery: per-1,000-stitch rates in 2026, minimums, digitising and setup fees, quantity breaks, run time and thread, with a worked example.
4 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Before you stitch
Short stitches and thread breaks: why a file breaks thread in the same place every time
How stitches under 0.3 mm shred thread, where they come from (scaling, auto-digitising, conversion), how to find them before stitching, and machine causes to rule out.
4 min read · updated Sep 24, 2026
Embroidery stitch density explained: what the numbers mean and where designs go wrong
Satin spacing, fill density and penetrations per mm² with the values commercial designs use, what too dense and too thin do, and how to read a density heatmap.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Resizing embroidery designs safely: the 20 % rule, density correction, and when to re-digitise
What happens when a stitch file is scaled, why plain scaling breaks past about 20 %, how density correction re-spaces satin, fill and running stitches, and its limits.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Why embroidery puckers, and how to see it in the file before you stitch
Density, pull compensation, stabiliser and hooping: the four causes of puckering, which ones live in the stitch file, how the pre-flight check finds them, and what to change.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Digitising
Auto-digitising or a human digitiser: what each does well, and when to pay
An honest comparison of automatic embroidery digitising and manual digitising: what software decides, what a person decides, typical prices, and which jobs need which.
6 min read · updated Sep 21, 2026
How an image becomes an embroidery file: the digitising pipeline, step by step
From pixels to stitches: background removal, colour reduction, stitch type by measured width, underlay, pull compensation, underlap, sequencing and trims, with the values.
7 min read · updated Sep 21, 2026
Which images auto-digitise well for embroidery, and which do not
What makes a picture easy or impossible for automatic digitising: file type, resolution, colours, line width and text size, with the numbers a needle and thread impose.
6 min read · updated Sep 21, 2026
Getting started
Embroidery hoop size chart: every common hoop in mm and inches, and how to check a design fits
Sewing-field sizes for Brother, Baby Lock, Janome, Bernina, Viking, Pfaff, Singer and commercial hoops, why the stated size is larger than the field, and the 3 mm rule.
5 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
How to open embroidery files (PES, DST, JEF, VP3, EXP and more) on any computer or phone
Open and preview embroidery files without buying software: in the browser, with free viewers on Windows and Mac, on iPhone and Android, and what each one shows you.
3 min read · updated Sep 10, 2026
Publishing next
One new guide each Thursday.
- Cap and left-chest placement, and when to mirror a design · Oct 29
- Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff formats: VP3, VIP, HUS and VP4, and which one your machine wants · Nov 5