Image guidelines

What artwork works best

StitchConvert works best with solid shapes and flat colors. Think bold graphic prints, not fine pencil sketches.

Good fit

• Solid color regions with clean edges
• Bold shapes and flat colors (no gradients)
• Icons, mascots, monograms, patches, simple illustrations

Poor fit

• Photos, gradients, and realistic shading
• Line drawings, thin strokes, and hairline details
• Very small text or fine serif lettering
• Many tiny separate shapes (leaves, speckles, noise)

See full image guidelines

What to avoid

These patterns often produce messy stitch files: tiny regions, constant trims, or details that do not hold on fabric.

• Photos or realistic images: gradients and shading do not trace into clean stitch regions.
• Watercolor, airbrush, or soft shadow effects.
• Very fine lines or thin strokes (under about 3px in the source file).
• Thin serif lettering, hairline logos, or strokes under about 1 mm on the hoop.
• Very small text (under about 30px tall in the file).
• Lettering shorter than about 6 mm on the hoop.
• Noisy or busy backgrounds: the tracer turns every speckle into a path.
• Lots of tiny disconnected shapes (leaf fields, halos, fine texture): each becomes its own fill, trim, and jump.
• Soft or anti-aliased PNG edges: use hard edges or export SVG with flat colors.
• More than about 12 to 16 colors: extra thread stops and a busier trace.
• JPEG artifacts or lossy compression: false colors become fake stitch specks.
• High jump or trim counts in the stitch preview: simplify the art before you pay.

Full image guidelines

Prepare artwork for conversion

1. Use PNG or SVG with solid colors and clear edges.
2. A PNG under 300 pixels on the shortest side gets a warning. You can still convert. Export the original at a larger size, or upload an SVG. Enlarging a small PNG will not add stitch detail.
3. If you only have a JPG, convert it to PNG on FreeConvert (https://www.freeconvert.com/jpg-to-png). For logos, convert your PNG to SVG on FreeConvert (https://www.freeconvert.com/png-to-svg), then upload the SVG.
4. Limit color count to the threads you plan to use.
5. Export SVG with text converted to outlines.
6. If your SVG only embeds a picture, upload the original PNG or JPEG, or export PNG from your design app and upload that file instead.
7. Lettering shorter than about 6 mm on the hoop usually will not stitch clearly.
8. Avoid lots of tiny disconnected shapes. Each one becomes its own fill, trim, and jump.
9. Upload to StitchConvert, map thread colors, and preview stitches before paying.