You may be new to machine embroidery or been embroidering for a while and asked yourself “Why do I need embroidery software?”  In fact, it is a question that has been asked many times on Eileen’s Machine Embroidery Blog ran by embroidery expert, Eileen Roche. 

When machine embroidery first took off for the home embroiderer embroidery software did not exist. Digitizing was a mysterious process to consumers and honestly, no one gave it much thought. The embroidery design companies offered dozens of embroidery design cards that seemed to suit the needs of most. As embroiderers became more passionate and braver about stitching, reality set in. In experimenting with different projects, the need to tweak designs was realized and it was going to take more than a simple mirror image and copy command to achieve the perfect embroidery look. 

Embroiderers wanted to change the size of the designs, add or delete underlay, morph the shapes, remove colors, merge elements from one design into another and more. These were editing abilities outside the scope of current machines. Maybe everyone doesn’t need to digitize but everyone certainly needed to manipulate designs. 

Today the need for embroidery software is greater than ever. While the majority of embroiderers who own digitizing software do not digitize, they still want to create or find the perfect artwork and figure out how to transform it into beautiful embroidery. They want to buy designs and make them work on the project they are stitching today. They want to open the design in software and inspect it. They want to review the color sequence, watch the design in slow redraw so they know what to expect before they stitch. They want to look at the underlay and see if there’s enough coverage for a terrycloth towel or too much for a sheer scarf. Then they make adjustments to make their design their own – perfect for the project they are stitching next.

So, what is the best embroidery software for your needs? To determine that you need to ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish with your software.

  1. Do you need to manipulate or edit your designs? Resize designs, change colors, remove parts, merge parts etc.
  2. Do you need to add lettering to your designs or want to create lettering only designs such as monograms?
  3. Are you a quilter? Do you want to create and layout quilt blocks?
  4. Do you want the ability to catalog your designs so they are accessible visually while using your software?
  5. And finally, what is your budget?

Designs in Machine Embroidery offers software in the following categories. 

Editing Software
Perfect Embroidery Pro

Lettering Software
Word Art in Stitches

Cataloging Designs
Perfect Stitch Viewer

Digitizing Software
Perfect Embroidery Pro

Quilting Software
My Quilt Embellisher
My Block Piecer
My Quilt Planner
My Fabric Designer