JPG to EXP converter

An embroidery machine cannot read a picture. It reads a list of needle positions — where to stab, in what order, in which colour. Turning artwork into that list is called digitizing, and it is normally done by hand in software costing hundreds or thousands.

This converter runs Stitchist's auto-digitizer on your image. It reduces the artwork to a workable palette, traces each colour region into a clean outline, decides whether each region should be a filled area or a satin column, works out the stitch angle, sequences the regions so the machine changes thread as little as possible, and adds the underlay and pull compensation that stop the design puckering.

Flat artwork with clear areas of colour converts best: logos, lettering, line art, simple illustrations. Photographs do not — there is no such thing as a photographic stitch, and any tool promising one is guessing.

JPG is lossy, and that matters here. Its compression softens edges and scatters halo pixels around them, which the tracer reads as extra colours and turns into ragged outlines. It still works — most logos arrive as JPGs — but if you can export the same artwork as a PNG, do; failing that, use the highest quality setting you have.

EXP is the Melco and Bernina format: a lean stitch-and-command file that leaves colour to the accompanying chart.

The EXP written here is a real machine file for Melco and Bernina machines. As with any digitized design, test-stitch on scrap with the same stabilizer before you commit to the final piece.