How to use Stichii — from a picture to a stitch file

Stichii turns artwork into embroidery. The short version: open the editor, import an image, digitize it, check it, export it. Everything below walks through that in order. If you only read one line — the orange Import Image to Digitize button at the top of the editor is where almost every design starts.

1. Open the editor

The editor is the workspace where all the actual work happens. You can reach it from the Open Editor button in the site header, from New Design on your dashboard, or by going straight to stichii.com/editor. You need an account, and the free plan is enough to try the whole flow.

2. Bring in your artwork

The row of buttons across the top of the editor covers every way to get work in:

• Import Image to Digitize — a PNG, JPG or logo you want converted into stitches. This is the main path.
• Import Stitch File — an existing machine file (.dst, .pes, .jef, .exp, .vp3 and others) you want to edit or convert.
• Import SVG — vector shapes, converted directly into fill objects.
• Open — a Stichii project you saved earlier as a .sse file.

For the best results, start from clean artwork: bold shapes, few colours, and as little blur or gradient as possible. Photographs can be digitized, but flat illustrations and logos stitch far better.

3. Digitize it

After you import an image, Stichii walks you through preparing it — choosing how many colours to keep, which regions matter, and what thread each region maps to. It then generates real stitch objects: fills for solid areas, satin columns for borders and lettering, and runs for thin lines.

This is a starting point, not a finished design. Expect to adjust it.

4. Tidy the stitches

Select any object on the canvas and the properties panel on the right lets you change its stitch type, density, angle, underlay and pull compensation. A few habits that pay off:

• Delete tiny stray regions the auto-pass picked up — they become thread nests on the machine.
• Use satin, not fill, for anything narrower than about 8 mm.
• Keep underlay on for fills on stretchy fabric; it stops the stitches sinking in.
• Use Preview in the top bar to see the stitch path rather than the flat shapes.

5. Check it before you sew

The Issues and Machine panels flag the things that actually ruin a run: stitches longer than your machine allows, densities that will punch through the fabric, designs larger than your hoop, or too many colour changes. Set your machine and hoop first so those checks are meaningful.

6. Export for your machine

Use the Export button in the top bar, or the File menu for the full list of formats. Pick the one your machine reads:

• PES — Brother, Babylock, Bernina (newer)
• DST — Tajima and most commercial machines
• JEF — Janome
• EXP — Melco, Bernina
• VP3 — Pfaff, Husqvarna Viking

Copy the file to a USB stick, load it on the machine, and always run a test stitch on scrap fabric of the same type before you commit to the real garment.

Saving your work

Save writes a .sse project file that keeps every editable object — machine formats do not. Save the .sse if you ever want to come back and change the design. Your work also autosaves in the browser, and signed-in users get their designs on the dashboard.

Shortcuts worth learning

• Ctrl+K — command palette; searches every action by name
• Ctrl+S / Ctrl+E — save project / export
• Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z — undo / redo
• P — toggle stitch preview
• Ctrl+1 / Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- — zoom to 100% / in / out

Still stuck?

Stichii is built by one person, and questions genuinely help shape it. Send a message describing what you were trying to do and what happened instead.