Plain-English guides to the things that decide whether a design sews clean: formats, stitch types, sizes, fabrics and pricing.
Your machine brand decides the file format. Here's what DST, PES, JEF, EXP, VP3, XXX, U01 and PEC are for, what each one stores, and the limits to know before you convert or resize.
Digitizing turns artwork into instructions an embroidery machine can follow. Here's what happens to a logo along the way, and where auto digitizing works well and where it doesn't.
Hand digitizing a logo typically costs somewhere around $10 to $75. Here's what pushes the price up or down, what to ask before you pay, and when paying per download makes more sense.
Typical sizes for left chest, caps, sleeves, backs and totes, plus how to measure where a left chest logo goes on small and large shirts.
Small lettering is the most common reason a logo sews badly. Here are the sizes that hold up, by font style and fabric, and what to do when the text has to be tiny.
What makes a font sew cleanly, which script and block fonts hold up at small sizes, and which ones only belong on big designs.
Caps are curved, stiff and seamed, so they need their own sizing, sewing order and backing. Here's how to get a cap logo to sew flat.
Running, satin and tatami fill each do a different job. Here's how they work, where satin hits its width limit, and how to choose.
Underlay is the layer you never see that decides whether a design sews crisp or sinks. Here's what each type does, when to use it, and how much each fabric needs.
Every stitch pulls the fabric a little. Here's how push and pull change your shapes, what pull compensation does about it, and how much to use on each fabric.
What drives stitch count, how to turn stitches into run time, and a simple method for pricing embroidery jobs, with a worked example.