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Stitch & Spool

SVG to PES converter

Turn a vector drawing into a PES embroidery file for your Brother or Baby Lock machine. Set the size, choose fill or outlines, and download a checked PES file. It all happens in your browser.

Drop a design file here

or

  • SVG
  • PES
  • DST
  • JEF
  • VP3
  • ZIP

Over 40 formats, or a ZIP of designs.

Files stay on your device

Convert to

Pick one or more formats.

SVG drawings

SVG files are stitched automatically: filled shapes get a fill stitch and an outline, lines a running stitch, in the drawing’s colors.

mm

How to convert SVG to PES

  1. Drop your SVG file on the converter above, or try the sample daisy.
  2. Set the design width in millimetres. The height follows the drawing’s proportions. Measure your hoop first: a 4 × 4 in hoop sews about 100 × 100 mm.
  3. Choose “Fill shapes and outline them” for solid logos, or “Outlines only” for line art.
  4. Keep PES ticked (add JEF or DST if you need them too) and press Convert.
  5. Download the PES file, open it in the PES viewer to check the stitches and colors, and stitch a test on scrap fabric.

What your SVG needs: paths, shapes and colors

The converter stitches the shapes in your SVG: paths, rectangles, circles, ellipses, polygons and lines, including any inside groups and transforms. Each shape needs a solid fill color, a stroke color, or both. A few things don’t become stitches:

  • Text. Convert it to paths first: Type › Create Outlines in Illustrator, or Path › Object to Path in Inkscape.
  • Placed photos and pictures, and anything hidden or fully transparent.
  • Clones and symbols (“use” elements). Unlink or expand them into ordinary shapes.
  • Clipping and masks: the full shape underneath is stitched. Apply or release them before saving.

Holes work as you’d expect: a letter O or a ring keeps its middle open, following the shape’s fill rule. Gradients use their first color. Very small details, under about a millimetre at the finished size, are too small to stitch well, so simplify them or make the design bigger.

Thread colors in the PES file

Every different color in your drawing becomes a thread in the PES file, in the order the shapes are drawn (bottom to top). Shapes of the same color that come one after another share a thread, so arranging your drawing by color before saving means fewer thread changes on the machine.

The PES file stores the exact colors from your SVG. Newer Brother and Baby Lock machines show them; older ones show the nearest color from Brother’s thread palette. Either way the color order stays right. To pick real spools, find each color in the thread color converter, which lists the closest Brother palette colors and Janome and Husqvarna Viking threads. Find the thread colors

Getting it onto your Brother machine

Brother machines hide designs that are bigger than their largest hoop, so set the width with your hoop in mind and check the result in the viewer’s hoop check. Copy the PES file to the top level of a USB stick, or send it the way your machine usually receives designs. The converter writes PES version 6, which current Brother machines read. Check the PES file

What to expect from automatic stitching

This is basic automatic digitizing. Filled shapes get rows of fill stitches 0.4 mm apart with a running-stitch outline; lines get a running stitch; parts further apart than 2 mm are trimmed. There’s no underlay, no satin columns and no pull compensation, which a digitizer would add by hand. That suits logos, simple shapes, outlines and appliqué placement lines. For detailed artwork or photos, a digitized design will sew better. Always stitch a test first.

Questions

Is the SVG to PES converter free?

Yes. There is no account and no limit, and nothing to install. It runs in your browser.

Is my SVG uploaded?

No. The drawing is read and stitched on your device. Nothing is uploaded or stored, so client logos stay private.

Why is my text missing from the PES file?

Text in an SVG is a font reference, not a shape. Convert it to outlines or paths in your drawing program, save the SVG again and convert that.

Can I convert a PNG or JPG to PES?

Not directly. A picture has to be traced into vector shapes first (with your drawing program’s trace tool), or digitized by hand. Clean, simple shapes trace and stitch best.

How big can the design be?

You can choose 10 to 400 mm wide. The practical limit is your hoop: check the size in the PES viewer before stitching. Very large filled designs can exceed 200,000 stitches; choose outlines only or a smaller size then.