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Embroidery Software Basics

Embroidery Software Basics

CREATIVATE Education

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June 17, 2025

Basic Operations
Open and manipulate embroidery designs in your hoop with these essential features:

  • Copy and paste elements
  • Rotate, flip and center your Design
  • Change thread colors
  • Save and Export
  • Print a template
  • Export the finished Design in a wide range of embroidery formats.

 

 

 

Open mySewnet Embroidery and select Blank Canvas.
A Hoop Selection window will appear where you can choose your work area.

  • Under Hoop Group, select the brand and model of your embroidery machine.

  • Under Hoop Size, choose the hoop size available for your machine.

  • Choose the Orientation:
     • Natural (vertical, as it attaches to your machine)
     • Rotated (horizontal work area)

  • If you want a custom hoop size, check Enter Size and type in the width and height.
     Note: When Enter Size is checked, the Hoop Typeoptions will be grayed out. Uncheck it to select a hoop from the list again.

     

  • For this example, choose 240mm x 150mm hoop with Rotated orientation and click OK.

Embroidery Design

 

 

Click the File tab and select Open. Open the “Frollicking Butterflies” design from the mySewnet Library.

The design will appear selected with a square border and handles:

  • Square corners: Drag to resize the design. Hold Shift to keep proportions.

  • Triangles: Mirror the design horizontally or vertically.

  • Round handle: Rotate the design to any angle.

Move the design to the right side of the hoop. Use the round handle to rotate it clockwise.

 

Use Duplicate from the top menu (or right-click the design and choose Duplicate) to create a second copy.

 

Mirror the second design horizontally by clicking the triangle handle. Rotate it to match the first design. Use the grid to align the two designs as mirrored pairs.

 

Click File > Insert to add another design — in this case, a letter.

Place the letter in the center between the two butterfly designs.

 

Select the letter and open Color Select from the Design Panel.

 

Choose your thread color:

  • Use Thread Range to pick a specific manufacturer and color, or

  • Use Quick Colors to select from 32 basic colors.
    Click a color to apply it to the letter.


All three design elements appear in the Filmstrip on the left (this feature isn’t available in Basic mode). This lets you rearrange the stitch order easily.

 

Combine all designs into one complete design using Combine All.

 

You’ll see all the colors used in the design listed in the Color Select panel.

 

Click ColorSort to merge duplicate colors — this reduces extra thread changes unless colors overlap.

 

If you have a mySewnet-enabled machine, you can send the design directly to it or save it to the Cloud. This converts the design into a stitch-ready format.

 

To save your design for later editing, click File > Save As and save it as a .vp4 file.

 

To save in a different embroidery format, use Export instead.

 

In the Export window, choose the file format your machine requires.

 

You can also adjust sewing settings here temporarily under Optimize for Sewing, or change automatic settings in Configure.

 

To print a template, go to File > Print. This is helpful for testing placement or alignment.

Make sure Design Scale is set to 100%.

You can select what information to include on the template by checking or unchecking the boxes under Print Information.