Why typed text needs more than a font
On screen, text is a font doing the work. In thread, every letter has to be built from satin columns: smooth banks of stitches that follow each stroke, with an underlay beneath so the letters sit crisp on the fabric instead of sinking in. A capital B is six or seven columns meeting cleanly; a lowercase e is a curve that has to stay open at stitch scale.
That's why simply tracing a screenshot of text gives lumpy, uneven letters. Embify's lettering engine builds each character stroke by stroke as proper column satin, the way a digitizer would, with the stitch angles following the letterforms. You type; it constructs.
What people actually make with it
Names and roles on uniforms
The right-chest counterpart to the company logo.
Business names
Where the wordmark is the brand, no icon needed.
Team and event wording
Club names on caps, years on leavers' hoodies, 'Est. 2019' under a crest.
Gifts and keepsakes
A name on a baby blanket, initials on a towel.
All of it follows the same three rules: keep letters at least about 5 mm tall, bolder styles sew better than delicate ones, and check the preview at the real finished size before you stitch.
Sized in millimetres, checked before you sew
Lettering lives or dies by physical size, so Embify works in real millimetres, not font points. Set the height the text will actually stitch at, and the preview shows exactly how the letters land at that size, including whether small counters (the holes in e, a, o) stay open. Text that's too small to sew cleanly gets flagged before you download rather than discovered on a garment.
The result exports like any other design: PES, DST, JEF, EXP, XXX or VP3 from the same conversion, ready for Brother, Janome, Tajima and the rest.
Text plus logo, or text alone
Both are normal jobs. If your artwork already contains lettering, the digitizer handles it as part of the design, and warns you if any of it is too small at your chosen size. If you want text on its own, or a name to sit alongside an existing logo file, type it directly and export it as its own design. Shops running names on uniforms usually keep one file per name, which takes seconds each with a lettering engine doing the construction.
Common questions
How small can embroidered text go?
Around 5 mm tall is the practical floor for clean, readable lettering on most fabrics, a little larger on fleece and towelling where stitches sink. Embify flags text that's too small at your chosen size before you download.
Which lettering styles sew best?
Solid, slightly bold styles: the classic block and rounded fonts you see on workwear. Thin, delicate or script styles need to be larger to keep their shape in thread. The preview shows you honestly how your chosen style copes at your size.
Can I put a name under my existing logo?
Yes. Either add the text to the artwork before converting, or create the name as its own small file and sew it as a second design. For uniform name runs, one file per name is the standard workflow.
What formats does text export in?
The same six as everything else: PES, DST, JEF, EXP, XXX and VP3, all from one conversion, so the same name file can go to a home Brother and a commercial Tajima.
Is text-to-embroidery free to try?
Yes, same as any conversion: typing, digitizing and previewing the sew-out are free with no card required. You pay when you download the file, £5 as a one-off or less per file on a plan.