Embroidery software is new to me…

In preparation for my upcoming ‘crafty tech’ purchase… yes, I know it’s a embroidery sewing machine, but since it’s computerized I think it’s safe to say it classifies as ‘tech equipment’, right?

I’ve started checking out embroidery software. It made no sense to do it before, since the software packages I’ve been looking at also offer free trials and how could I test the software without the machine? My top priority is looking for a program that converts regular photos such as *.jpg, *bmp, *.png,  *.gif, *.wmf, *.emf, and other unsupported formats into a ‘workspace’.

From there I could convert it to *.pes which is the file format for Brother sewing machines. And while I looked at a few programs that did this, I wasn’t about to pay $400+if it’s something I don’t want to invest a lot of time with. I’m choosing Sew Art Embroidery Auto Digitiser. It does what I’m looking for and it only costs $75.

Features of SewArt (an auto-digitizer for embroidery files)

  • Reads raster or vector format images (supported input formats include *.bmp, *.png, *.jpg, *.gif, *.wmf, and *.emf)
  • Allows images in other (unsupported) file formats to be pasted into the SewArt workspace
  • Converts images to high-quality embroidery files for sewing
  • Supports output embroidery file formats including Brother (c) *.pes, Janome (c) *.jef, and Singer (c) *.xxx (these may be converted by SewWhat-Pro, or other embroidery editors, to a  much larger variety of embroidery file formats compatible with most home and commercial machines)
  • Contains tools for converting images into color-reduced, smoothed images suitable for digitizing
  • Includes a variety of pattern fills which can be applied to sew individual regions of the image
  • Supports both auto-digitizing and manual digitizing options to give substantial user control over the digitizing process
World of Warcraft Aggra
World of Warcraft: Aggra

 

How cool is that? Now that means I can (hopefully) convert my favorite World of Warcraft played character into an embroidery file. Well, I don’t actually play Aggra in WoW but I do (mainly play) female Orcs. Of course there are many other reasons I’d love to convert pictures to an embroidery file format…

I’ll definitely play around with it, before purchasing the full version and who knows as I advance with machine embroidery my needs might require that I purchase something more pricey.  At that time, I’ll start looking at other choices.

Guess what? My sewing machine is already in Maryland! It arrived yesterday the day I placed the order. Which means the warehouse where some of Amazon’s products are kept is close.  Although it’s here in Maryland, UPS has my package arriving to me on Monday so I’ll have to wait a bit longer. Unfortunately I won’t have time to play with it on Monday since I have a board meeting to attend that evening.

I’ve been frequenting machine embroidery forums, reading lots of information and I think I’m a well educated newb, hopefully that will be extremely helpful when my embroidery sewing machine arrives.