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Import an embroidery file

Use this to bring a machine file you already have (bought, sent by a customer, or made in other software) into Boldbobbin to check it, recolor it, or combine it with your own work. It comes in as stitch blocks: the exact stitches from the file, which you can move, recolor, and edit stitch by stitch, but which don't regenerate the way a shape you drew does.

Readable formats: DST, PES, EXP, JEF, PEC, VP3, U01, XXX, plus TAP, HUS, 100, and 10o, which Boldbobbin can open but not export.

  1. File → Import → Import embroidery…, or click Import in the tool rail's Automation section and pick Embroidery design from the chooser, or drag a supported file onto the canvas.
  2. The Import embroidery file dialog opens, showing the stitch count, size, and colors, with a preview of the actual stitch paths.
  3. Set the options and click Import.
Example: a customer's DST with four color changes
  1. Import the file. The dialog shows its stitch count and size, and one color.
  2. Turn on Give each color change its own color: the four sections now show as four colors.
  3. Leave Center in hoop on and click Import.
  4. Recolor each section to the threads the customer asked for, then export in their machine's format.

Options​

  • Center in hoop: move the design so it sits centered, instead of wherever the file placed it (on by default).
  • Give each color change its own color: appears for files that record color changes but no actual thread colors (typical of DST). Turn it on so each section reads as a distinct color you can tell apart and recolor later.
  • Discard unused palette colors: after import, drop palette colors no stitch uses (off by default). Imported colors are always added to the palette.

If the design is bigger than your current hoop, you'll see a warning but can still import. See Design larger than the hoop.

Resize an imported design gently: its stitches stretch or crowd rather than regenerate, so scaling a block more than about ±20% is flagged. See Vectors vs. stitches.

DST has no thread colors

The DST format stores color changes but not the colors themselves, so an imported DST reads back as one color until you assign colors: that's what "Give each color change its own color" is for.

PES and PEC files with a machine stop

As of v1.3.3, a PES or PEC file with a machine stop, such as an appliqué's pause to lay the fabric, reads back with every color right: the stop stays inside its color rather than adding one, and each later section keeps its own thread. The same goes for a file from other software with two sections in the same thread one after the other. Before, every color after that point came in one thread late, and the last one as black. If you imported such a file in an earlier version, import it again.

Opening a Boldbobbin project instead​

To open a Boldbobbin project (not a machine file), use File → Open (.vemb)…: that's a different format. See File formats.