Stitch File

A stitch file is the deliverable produced by digitizing. Unlike a JPG or vector graphic, a stitch file contains no pixels and no curves. It is a sequence of coordinates and machine commands: move to point X, drop the needle, jump to point Y, change to color two, trim the thread, and so on. Every commercial embroidery machine reads some version of this format.

Stitch files are format-specific to machine brands. DST is the universal Tajima format and is accepted by virtually every commercial machine. PES is Brother and Babylock, JEF is Janome, EXP is Melco and Bernina, and EMB is the native Wilcom working file. A good shop can export to any of these formats from their digitizing software.

The size of a stitch file is measured in stitch count rather than kilobytes. A small left-chest logo might run six thousand stitches. A large jacket back can exceed sixty thousand. Stitch count directly drives machine run time and per-piece pricing, since the machine is leased and operated by the minute.

Stitch files are not editable the way artwork is. To resize a stitch file by more than ten or fifteen percent, change a color, or modify a shape, the design generally has to be re-digitized from the original artwork. This is why shops ask for the source art whenever possible rather than working from a stitch file alone.