What artwork file do you need for a custom patch?

“What file format do you need?” is the most common question we get before an order, and the honest answer is: less than you think.

The short answer

We accept PNG, JPG, SVG, AI, EPS and PDF. A phone photo of something drawn on the back of a training schedule also works.

That is not a courtesy. Every patch gets redrawn before it is made, so the file you send is a reference rather than a blueprint. What changes with file quality is how much interpretation we have to do, and therefore how likely the first proof is to be what you pictured.

Why we redraw everything

An embroidery machine does not read images. It reads stitch paths — the order, direction and density of every run of thread. Turning artwork into those paths is called digitising, and it is a manual job done by a person deciding where thread should change direction.

This is why there is no “just send us the logo and we’ll print it”. There is no printing. Somebody rebuilds your design in a different medium, and that step happens whether you send a pristine vector or a napkin.

It is also why there is no separate digitising fee here. It is part of making the patch, not an extra.

What each file type gets you

Vector — SVG, AI, EPS, PDF. The best case. Shapes are described mathematically, so we can scale, separate and measure the design exactly. If your design came from a designer, this is what they have.

High-resolution raster — PNG, JPG. Fine. Aim for the design filling at least 1000 pixels across. A PNG with a transparent background is easier than a JPG, because a JPG’s compression smears the edges we need to trace.

A screenshot or a photo. Genuinely usable. Shoot it flat, in daylight, square-on, filling the frame. We will ask questions about anything ambiguous rather than guess.

A physical patch. If the original file is long gone and there is one surviving patch on somebody’s sleeve, photograph both sides. We can work from that.

The things that actually cause problems

Not file format. These:

• Text too small to stitch. Lettering under about a quarter inch tall stops being legible in thread regardless of how sharp your file is.
• Gradients and soft shadows. Thread has no opacity. Gradients get resolved into discrete colour bands or dropped.
• Hairlines. A stitch has physical width. A one-pixel outline either thickens or disappears.
• Dozens of colours. Each colour is a thread change. Designs simplify better than they multiply.

None of these are refusals. They are decisions, and you see every one of them on the proof before anything is manufactured.

What happens after you send it

Your artwork is redrawn for thread, matched to real thread colours, and returned to you as a proof with every simplification called out. Nothing goes to the production floor until you approve it.

If the finished patches do not match the proof you approved, we remake the order or refund it.

If you are choosing between embroidery and PVC

File quality matters more for PVC, because PVC holds far more detail — which means the detail in your file actually survives into the product rather than being simplified away. If your design is fine-lined or type-heavy, that is worth knowing before you pick a construction.