Hello! I have an embroidery machine (Brother LB5000S) which I love. But I’d really like to design my own files and I’m struggling with where to start. Does anyone have a recommendation for a design software? I’m pretty savvy at learning a software package, but am not sure which to choose.
Thanks!
Pinging @AudiobookLover
I use Embrilliance software (but I don’t do any full on digitizing). The way their software platform works is that rather than buy the entire software suite, you can buy it bit by bit as needed. So, for example, if you have just basic needs (ie. adding text or resizing a design), then you can purchase their Essentials program and as your skills or needs increase, you can upgrade the software to have more editing capabilities.
Their StitchArtist program allows you to create machine embroidery designs from scratch and comes in 3 different levels (the link above provides an overview of the varying levels), but it does not do much in the way of modifying existing designs.
I am currently using Essentials and StitchArtist 2. My biggest complaint is that I wish I had a better idea on what exactly StitchArtist 2 is capable of (but part of that is that I don’t use the software often enough to know all of its abilities).
StitchArtist 3 is Embrilliance’s top level design creation software and while I cannot provide any opinion on it as I don’t have it yet, I can say that overall I’ve been very happy with Embrilliance. If you don’t already have it, I would highly suggest downloading their free Express Mode, which allows you the ability to access .bx fonts so that you can type words out rather than having to place each letter individually as a .pes file (I won’t even buy an embroidery font if it doesn’t have a .bx option). It also gives you a very basic idea on how Embrilliance works.
ooh, and they support both major OS options! (the last time I looked at embroidery software there was very little out there that was Mac compatible)