Free tool · Caps, polos, workwear

Logo to Embroidery

Digitize your logo for caps, polos and workwear. See it stitched before you order, quote from the stitch count, and keep the file. Stitch AI by Dynamic Mockups plans it the way a digitizer would, and tells you where the logo will fight the thread.

  • Stitch count and production sheet on every run
  • Cap and flat profiles

In short

How do you digitize a logo for embroidery?

Digitizing turns the logo's shapes into stitch instructions: which regions are satin and which are fill, the angle each runs at, the density, the underlay beneath, the sewing order, and the size in millimetres for the placement. A digitizer does it by hand in an hour or more; Stitch does the first pass while you watch it work, stage by stage, shows the result, and flags the parts of the logo that are too small or too fine to sew.

Digitize your logo

How it works

Upload, place, check, send

  1. Upload the logo

    Vector if you have it. The agent separates the mark, the wordmark and the tagline into regions and reads the brand colours.

  2. Choose placement and garment

    Left chest, cap front, sleeve, back or patch sets the size. Cap profile changes the stitching order and origin so the design sews clean over the seam.

  3. Check text and colours

    Small-text warnings, the thread palette, the stitch count. Drop the tagline on caps if it is flagged.

  4. Download and send the proof

    The file, the production sheet and the render go to the client before anyone orders. Test-sew the first piece.

Sizing rules

The placement sizes embroiderers actually use

Logos are sized in millimetres for the placement, not in pixels. These are the ranges shops work to; your file is planned to the one you pick.

Small text floor: clean satin lettering needs about 6 mm of cap height in a plain font, 7 mm to be safe; script and serifs need more. Below 5 mm the plan uses a run stitch and tells you.

Placement Typical size Watch for Garment profile
Left chest (polo, shirt, jacket) 89 to 102 mm wide (3.5 to 4 in) Taglines under 6 mm; piqué needs more underlay than twill Flat
Cap front (structured) Up to about 57 mm high (2.25 in), about 115 mm wide The centre seam; stitch order from the bottom centre outward; puff on bold letters only Cap
Cap side or back 40 to 50 mm wide Small text; one colour reads best Cap
Sleeve 60 to 76 mm wide Tubular hooping; keep stitch count low Tubular
Back yoke or full back 150 to 300 mm wide Stitch counts climb fast; fills over 200 mm want split columns Flat
Patch 50 to 100 mm Merrow border width in mm; twill ground Flat

Brand colours

Your hex codes become thread numbers

Thread comes in a few hundred colours, not sixteen million. Each brand colour in the logo is matched to the nearest thread in the Madeira chart, and the production sheet lists the numbers in sewing order so the operator loads the right cone at each stop.

Two to four colours keep a logo affordable: every colour is a stop and usually a trim, and machine time is what a shop charges for. Metallic thread is possible and slower; ask for it deliberately.

What the production sheet carries
Stitch count The file's own count, read back from its bytes
Thread sequence Madeira numbers in sewing order, one line per stop
Colour changes and trims Counted, because each costs machine time
Finished size Width and height in millimetres for the placement
Fabric and garment What the compensation and underlay were planned for
Edge finish Merrow or stitched border, width in mm, when it is a patch

From count to price

Quote from the stitch count, not from a guess

Most shops price embroidery per thousand stitches on top of the blank, and suppliers publish their surcharges. The count on your sheet is the number those prices multiply.

Logo type at left-chest size Typical stitch range
Text-only wordmark, one colour 2,000 to 4,000
Simple mark plus wordmark, two colours 4,000 to 7,000
Detailed mark, three to five colours 8,000 to 15,000
Full-back design, 250 mm 30,000 and up

Why the count matters

Suppliers and contract decorators commonly include a stitch allowance in the base price, often around 7,000 to 8,000 stitches on a cap, then add a surcharge for every additional 1,000 stitches, on top of a one-time digitizing or tape charge that often runs $25 to $100. A logo planned at 6,800 stitches instead of 8,100 avoids the surcharge on every run. The count is on your sheet before you quote.

Ranges are typical, not promises. Your file shows the exact count for your logo at your size.

Before the purchase order

Send the proof before anyone commits

Every other route delivers the stitched proof days after the money is committed. Here the render, the count and the warnings exist before the order, so the client approves the logo as it will sew, and you have the tagline conversation now instead of at the sample.

Ownership

The file is yours, and any shop can sew it

Download it, keep it, take it to the embroiderer down the street or to a contract decorator. Print-on-demand suppliers differ: Gooten accepts an outside file; Printful, Printify and Gelato digitize in-house and keep the file. With your own file, no supplier owns your logo.

Who uses it

Shops, distributors, brands and hat sellers

  • Embroidery shops

    Say yes to the small order

    The count is there while the customer is on the phone. A 12-cap job is worth taking without a digitizing invoice.

  • Promo distributors

    A proof in the pitch

    Every rep sends a proof drawn from the stitches and the count behind the price. Pairs with Lookbooks for the whole catalog.

  • Brands and workwear buyers

    Approve the logo as it will sew

    See the cap and the polo before the order, keep the file for every future supplier.

  • Etsy hat sellers

    Custom logos on trucker caps

    Quote from the count, preview on the cap mockup for the listing, sew or hand the file to your shop.

Side by side

Digitizing a logo: bureau, supplier tape charge, Stitch AI

Digitizing bureau Supplier tape charge Stitch AI
When you see the stitched logo After delivery, 4 to 24 hours At the sample, after the order Before the order
Price for a new logo About $10 to $85 Often $25 to $100 plus per-1,000-stitch surcharges Free preview; the DST with a free account, free right now
Who keeps the file You, usually The supplier, usually You, always
Cap and flat versions Two jobs Two tape charges Two exports of one plan
Revisions Free, by email Per change In the studio, yourself
Accountability A named human The supplier's remake policy Your review plus the test sew-out

Logo digitizing questions

Files, sizes, rights and quoting. Interested in something else?

Book a call →
Vector or PNG: which logo file is better?

Vector (SVG, PDF, AI) gives the cleanest regions and edges, and the agent reads brand colours exactly. A transparent PNG of at least 1,000 px works well. Avoid JPGs with white boxes, screenshots and logos pulled from a website header.

My logo has a gradient. What happens?

The gradient bands into two or three thread steps, and the compromises list says so. Most brands keep a flat "embroidery version" of the logo for exactly this reason; upload that if you have it.

Can I put the same logo on a cap and a polo with one file?

Not with one file; a cap is digitized differently from a flat garment (order, origin and compensation change). You can export both from the same plan: choose the cap profile at 57 mm and the flat profile at 90 mm. Every export after the first is free.

Will my embroiderer accept the file?

Any embroidery shop can sew a DST you bring; many will test-sew it first, which is good practice. Print-on-demand suppliers differ: Gooten accepts outside files, while Printful, Printify and Gelato digitize in-house and do not.

How many stitches is a typical logo?

Text-only marks often land between 2,000 and 4,000 stitches at left-chest size, simple two-colour logos between 4,000 and 7,000, detailed multi-colour logos between 8,000 and 15,000. Your file shows the exact count, and the count is what most shops multiply to price the job.

What about small text and the ® symbol?

Satin lettering needs about 6 mm of cap height; the ® at logo scale is usually 1 to 2 mm and will not resolve. The plan flags both. Drop the tagline and the symbol on caps, or size the logo up on a back.

Do I own the file? Will you reuse my logo?

You own the file: download it, keep it, sew it anywhere. We never publish or resell your logo, and never use it for training without your permission.

Can you sew it for me?

We do not run production. Take the file to any embroidery shop or contract decorator. Shops and distributors evaluating the tool can book a 15-minute file review with a real logo.

Your logo, stitched on the cap, before anyone orders a cap.

Free preview, the stitch count you quote from, a production sheet for the operator, and a file you keep. Test-sew the first piece.

Digitize your logoBook a 15-minute file review

Watch

Stitch AI by Dynamic Mockups, in action