Guide
How to digitize a logo for embroidery.
Digitizing turns a logo into the stitches an embroidery machine follows: a stitch type, angle and density for every part, underlay for the fabric, an order with few trims, saved in the machine’s own file. This is how a digitizer does it, step by step, with the numbers Qepe starts from.
Not released yet. From the first release: 7 days free, then €149 a year.
Launch offer: €99 for the first year, for the first 100 shops.
In short
- Start from the cleanest artwork you have: a vector, or a large PNG.
- Set the size and the place on the garment, in millimetres.
- Choose the garment: it sets underlay, density and pull compensation.
- Keep the colours few and the letters large enough to stitch.
- Choose satin or fill for each part, with underlay beneath it.
- Order the parts so the machine trims and changes colour as little as possible.
- Check the stitches against the artwork before the machine starts.
- Export the file your machine reads, and print the worksheet.
- Stitch a test on the real fabric.
01
Start from clean artwork
The edges of the artwork become the edges of the stitches. A vector logo (SVG, PDF or AI) gives the sharpest; a large PNG is next; a JPEG brings compression noise around its edges. A photo of a sign or a screenshot needs cropping to the logo, or the logo file itself.
- Qepe grades the file before it digitizes anything: Good file, OK file or Poor file, with the reason, or Can’t digitize.
- A photo is offered a crop to the logo. In our test, a screenshot, a storefront photo and a neon-sign photo were refused in under a second, each with the reason.
02
Set the size and the place
Stitches don’t scale like pixels: a logo for a left chest is built differently from the same logo across a full back. Decide where it goes and how big before you digitize.
- Qepe asks for the placement first: left chest, cap front, sleeve, full back, or your own width and height in millimetres.
- It recommends the smallest of your machine’s hoops that takes the design, and splits a design larger than every hoop into hoopings.
03
Choose the garment
Thread pulls fabric in as it stitches, and soft fabric moves under the needle. A knit needs more underlay and more pull compensation than twill; pile needs a heavier base so stitches don’t sink; leather is weakened by every needle hole. These are the values Qepe starts from.
| Garment | Satin limit | Pull compensation per side | Fill rows | Stabilizer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-shirt | 7 | 0.30–0.45 | 0.40 | Cutaway |
| Polo | 7 | 0.25–0.40 | 0.40 | Cutaway |
| Hoodie | 6 | 0.35–0.50 | 0.38 | Cutaway, water-soluble topping |
| Sport | 8 | 0.15–0.30 | 0.40 | Tearaway or light cutaway |
| Workwear | 8 | 0.15–0.25 | 0.40 | Tearaway |
| Denim | 8 | 0.15–0.25 | 0.40 | Tearaway |
| Cap | 7 | 0.25–0.35 | 0.40 | Cap backing (tearaway) |
| Towel | 6 | 0.40–0.50 | 0.37 | Tearaway, water-soluble topping |
| Jacket | 7 | 0.20–0.35 | 0.40 | Cutaway |
| Leather | 8 | 0.10–0.20 | 0.40 | Tearaway |
Millimetres. Starting values from the trade’s published standards, not yet confirmed by stitch-outs on every fabric: stitch a test on a new fabric first.
04
Keep colours few and letters large
Every colour is a thread change, and every thread change costs machine time. Merge colours a customer won’t miss, and leave the garment’s own colour as fabric: nothing white is stitched on a white shirt.
- On a knit, letters need at least 5 mm for a sans, 6 mm for a serif and 8 mm for a script; Qepe warns below that.
- Satin letters stay clear from 6 mm; under about 4 mm, lettering needs a digitizer’s eye on any fabric.
05
Choose satin or fill for each part
Satin columns give narrow shapes and lettering their shine; tatami fill covers large areas flat. A column too wide for satin snags, and a fill too narrow looks rough.
- Satin from 0.8 mm wide to the fabric’s limit, 6 to 8 mm; wider, Qepe splits its stitches and scatters the splits, and much wider it becomes tatami.
- Tatami rows 0.37 to 0.40 mm apart by fabric, with stitches up to 3.5 mm on knits, 4.0 mm on wovens and 5.0 mm on leather.
- Running stitch 1.5 mm long for details, and bean, a triple stitch, for a heavier line.
- Underlay under everything wider than a thread: a centre walk, an edge walk, a zigzag or tatami underlay, by width and fabric.
06
Order the stitches
The machine stitches in the order you give it. Background first, outlines after what they outline, lettering in reading order, as few colour changes and trims as possible, travel runs hidden under stitches still to come.
- Qepe orders the parts for you, and Optimise sequence finds the fewest trims; drag a part to change its place.
07
Check it before the machine does
A design that looks right on screen can still stitch out badly: bare fabric inside a fill, counters that close up, satin too narrow to hold. Lay the stitches over the original artwork and look for what a customer would see.
- Qepe’s Quality draws every stitch as 0.4 mm thread over the logo and scores the design out of 100 in six categories: Geometry, Settings, Density, Stitch order, Small details and Machine.
- Fix all safe problems changes stitch settings and stitch order, never shapes, and is one undo step.
08
Export the file your machine reads
DST for Tajima, Ricoma, SWF and Happy; PES for Brother PR; EXP for Melco and Bernina; JEF for Janome; VP3 for Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff; U01 or DSB for Barudan; XXX for Singer. Then print what the people need.
- Qepe reads every file back and compares each needle point with the screen; a file that doesn’t match is never saved.
- The approval sheet goes to the customer, the production worksheet to the operator: hoop, needles in stitch order, trims, run time and where to start.
09
Stitch a test
Fabric, stabilizer, thread and machine all play their part. For a new customer’s logo or a new fabric, stitch one out on a piece of the real garment before the run, and adjust what you see.
- Record stitch-out keeps how it came out, with photos, on your computer.
By hand, or with an auto digitizer
An auto digitizer does that first pass by itself. Qepe’s Auto Digitizer asks what a digitizer would ask (size, garment, colours, lettering), then traces the logo, picks satin or fill for each part, sets the underlay, density and pull compensation, orders the stitches and checks the result with Quality before the design opens. Every part stays editable, so a digitizer finishes what it can’t.
- 93/ 105real logos came out acceptable for a branding shop: 51 as they were, 42 after a small edit.
- 62/ 105were done in under 30 seconds, on a laptop busy with other work.
- 3photos and screenshots were refused in under a second, each with the reason.
Our test of 16 October 2026: 105 real logos at 90 mm on a white T-shirt, Fix all applied, no hand edits, each judged by eye from Qepe’s simulated stitches, not from stitch-outs.
What a digitized logo costs
A digitizing service charges per logo. EMBPUNCH, for one, starts at US$7.50 for designs up to 5,000 stitches, most left-chest logos cost US$7.50 to US$15, and they come back in 2 to 4 hours (its own page, read 21 October 2026). A Qepe licence is €149 a year, about €12 a month, for every logo of the year, digitized in your own shop.
€149 / year
Not released yet. From the first release: 7 days free, then €149 a year.
Launch offer: €99 for the first year, for the first 100 shops.
Questions
- How long does it take to digitize a logo?
- With Qepe’s Auto Digitizer, 62 of 105 real logos took under 30 seconds in our October 2026 test, on a laptop busy with other work; a heavy crest can take minutes. Add the time to answer its questions and look over the result.
- Can I digitize a logo from a JPG?
- Yes. Open the JPG, set the size, garment and colours, and digitize; Qepe cleans up the compression noise around the edges. A PNG or a vector logo gives sharper edges.
- What is the smallest text I can embroider?
- On a knit, Qepe starts at 5 mm tall for a sans-serif, 6 mm for a serif and 8 mm for a script. Satin letters stay clear from 6 mm; under about 4 mm, lettering is a risk on any fabric.
- Which file should I export for my machine?
- The one your machine reads: DST for most commercial machines, PES for Brother, EXP for Melco and Bernina, JEF for Janome, VP3 for Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff, U01 for Barudan, XXX for Singer. Pick the machine in Qepe and it chooses for you.
- Do I need to be a digitizer?
- No. The Auto Digitizer asks the questions a digitizer would, and Quality explains each problem in plain words. When you want control, satin, fill, block, running stitch, knife and segment are there for every part.
Your next logo, ready to embroider.
Turn the next logo your customer sends into a checked, machine-ready file, on your Mac or PC.
Not released yet. From the first release: 7 days free, then €149 a year