Embroidery patterns used to be set up manually. You would draw the picture you wanted to embroider, poke little holes in the paper with a pin, and then you would use charcoal or chalk to mark the fabric through those little holes. This process was very time consuming and the result was never so perfect.
With the advent of computerized embroidery machines, a whole new world of digitized embroidery patterns has opened up. If your pattern isn’t already digitized, you have several choices. You can send it to any of a number of companies that specialize in digitizing embroidery, or you can digitize your own pattern.
Sending your artwork to a company that specializes in digitizing embroidery is the easiest way to go. However, you may decide that you want to learn to digitize your own embroidery patterns.
To digitize a pattern, you need your own artwork in either a vector based format or a bitmap, such as you would get with CorelDraw or Adobe Photoshop. For your first design, your best bet is to start with something simple. A good choice would be a monogram, or a two color design such as a football or baseball.
Once you have chosen what you want to...