6 Best Free Embroidery Software For Windows

Here is a list of best free embroidery software for Windows. These freeware come in handy to design and edit embroidery patterns. These will help you design embroidery pattern on PC before you start actual embroidery. You can use these software to add details to embroidery patterns and make them more attractive.

These software have color pallets to select thread and background color of embroidery design. You can also use these software to view and design minute thread patterns. In most of these software, the designing takes place on sheets with grid lines on them. Ruler and guide lines are also given in some software. Most of these freeware have preloaded embroidery design library.

To view embroidery, you will find many tools in these Embroidery software. These tools let you Zoom, Pan, Rotate, and Mirror embroidered patterns. Some of these software show minute stitch patterns in virtual design by slowly drawing each and every stitch. You will also find some software in this list, which let you view embroidered design in 3D.

You can use many of these listed software to convert embroidery file type between various supported embroidery machine file formats.

My Favorite Embroidery Software:

Wilcom TrueSizer and Bernina Artlink, both are my favorite embroidery software. They have lots of options to analyse and edit embroidery. Slow redraw and Skew embroidery pattern are some of the most interesting features of these software.

Thred is also a good embroidery software. It comes with preloaded shapes, that help to draw standard embroidery patterns in no time. It also lets you draw free hand embroidery patterns.

You can also checkout these free Cross Stitch Software and Knitting Software for Windows.

Wilcom TrueSizer

Wilcom TrueSizer is one of the best free embroidery software available for Windows. This embroidery software is basically meant for editing and viewing embroidery patterns. It also lets you convert embroidery design format among various supported embroidery file formats. The supported file formats are: EMX, INP, PEC, PES, EXP, PCS, and more. Apart from embroidery, it supports stitch formats too.

This software comes with some preloaded embroidery files in EMB format. You can open and use these files to test out various tools available. These tools let you carry out various operations. You can rotate designs in any angle. Mirror embroidered patterns horizontally, vertically, or across a customized reference line. You can even Skew patterns at a suitable angle. If you want to change color of specific threads, you can do that as well.

For better analysis of patterns, you can enable grid lines. You can make the design appear in Stitch view and/or Vectored graphic mode. It allows to view outlines, needle points, starting point, and ending point of the embroidery pattern. Apart from these, you can inspect a design using the slow redraw option. It slowly draws stitch pattern from a stitch point to another at adjustable speed. This redrawing can take place either in forward direction or in backward direction.

Other tools available in this software are Zoom, Pan, Undo, Redo, etc. You can save the final embroidered design in any suitable and supported file format, and even take its printout. To get more information about the designed pattern, you can look into the Design option available on the interface.

Bernina Artlink

Bernina Artlink is another free embroidery software for Windows. This software is good for viewing and analysis of embroidery patterns. One of the important features of this software is that, it lets you take measurement of designed embroidery pattern. You can convert embroidery patterns and also print them. The supported file formats to open and convert embroidery patterns are: ART, PES, PEC, DST, PCM, PCD, PCQ, HUS, VIP, etc.      

When you open an embroidery design, you can use various tools available to analyze it. You can rotate it to any desired angle and also mirror it vertically or horizontally. You can also skew the design pattern at any angle. Various hoops are given to analyse embroidery patterns. You can also scale up/down, pan, or zoom in/out the embroidery patterns.

One of the options available is Slow Redraw. It redraws the design pattern in slow speed, so that you get to know how exactly the embroidery flow is moving. You get various options which enable you to manage grid, ruler, and guide settings. You can choose to view needle points in designs or can select Artistic view to analyse patterns.

SophieSew

SophieSew is another free embroidery software for Windows. It basically lets you create embroidery designs on worksheet and lets you export them in various digital embroidery machine formats. There are many tools available that let you design embroidery patterns according to your choice. Coloring option is also available for the same. Some of the supported machine compatible file formats to export embroidery designs are PES, PEC, DST, etc.

On the left side of the interface, there is a quick access toolbar which has options to draw object outlines, curved column object, circular stitch object, etc. It also includes basic stitch types to design patterns with Running, Satin, or Zigzag stitches. The default worksheet has grid lines in it, which can be removed if required.

Sew option in SophieSew is similar to Movie View option of Thred. It lets you view the process of pattern design, with some additional features to change the background, thread color, stitches per seconds, etc. It supports Zoom and Pan feature to get detailed view of the embroidery pattern. You can also use the 3D option to get three dimensional view of the designed embroidery pattern.

It comes with some preloaded embroidery patterns that can be opened for editing or analysis.

Note: The software tends to crash at times, so be careful and keep saving your designs frequently if you decide to use it.

Embrilliance

Embrilliance is another good option in this list of free embroidery software for Windows. It is basically an embroidery software to add text patterns on your design.

You can create multiple lines or single line text in embroidery pattern. For the entered text, it has options to manage word and line spacing. Color and Inclination angle of text can also be set according to your choice. Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, and Paste options are available, making things easier for you while designing.

The embroidery viewing options available here let you view patterns easily. You can view designs in 3D view. The Zoom option lets you zoom into embroidery designs up to 1200%. Other viewing tools, such as Rotate, Pan, Flip, etc. are also available.

The supported file formats are: PES, PCS, DST, VIP, SEW, EXP, HUS, etc.

Note: Embrilliance Express is a freeware version of Embrilliance, which is a paid software.

my editor

my editor is another free Embroidery software for Windows. It mainly lets you analyze and edit embroidery patterns. Various tools are available that will let you modify designs according to your choice. You can also use it to convert embroidery files from one format to another. Supported file formats are: PCS, PES, SAS, PCM, etc. If you want to save an embroidery pattern as image or take a print out, you can do that as well.

Like some of the above mentioned software, you will find a Slow Redraw option here. It helps to show successive thread movements. You can adjust drawing speed by changing the value of RPM. A Sequence Viewer option is also available here, which lets you examine the stitch sequence of embroidery patterns. Another good option provided in this embroidery software is Array. It helps to draw multiple copies of an embroidery design pattern. You can decide how many number of rows and columns with similar design you want to render.

Another good option that you may like is the Fabric option. There are many fabric choices available. You can choose a fabric of your choice and render embroidery design on it.

Talking about the Edit section of this software, it lets you carry out standard operations to Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, etc. You can also set pattern starting and ending points. Another option lets you remove stitches of specific size. You can also rotate and scale embroidery patterns separately, according to your choice.

PhotoPad

PhotoPad  is a software that can convert images to embroidery design patterns. PhotoPad is basically an image editing software and provides Embroidery editing mode to do so. You can open an image and simply carry out conversion. Some of the image file formats supported are: JPEG, JP2, BMP, PNG, WBMP, GIF, DNG, etc.

To convert image into embroidery image, open PhotoPad in Embroidery mode. After that, you need to select a file and it will be automatically opened as an embroidery image with default settings. The default embroidery pattern contains only 30 colors and 50 stitches. You can use a maximum of 100 colors and 200 stitches in an image to convert in embroidery pattern.

You can save the converted image in supported image formats.

There are various features available in this software to edit images other than embroidery mode. For a home user, it is free, but to use it for commercial purpose, you will have to buy it.