Four short steps. Take your time. Nothing here can break anything.
Step 1: Sign your name on paper
- Use plain white paper. Paper with no lines on it, if you have some.
- Sign with a black felt-tip, marker, or gel pen. A thick, dark line works
best. A ballpoint pen usually makes a line that is too thin and too light for us to trace.
- Sign larger than you normally would, about as wide as your hand.
Bigger is easier to trace.
- Write in cursive or print, whichever feels like you. Both stitch
beautifully.
- Press firmly, so the line is solid and does not break up.
Step 2: Take a good photo
- Put the paper on a flat surface: a table, not your lap.
- Find bright, even light. Near a window in the daytime is best.
- Do not let your shadow fall on the paper. Stand to the side of the
light, not between the light and the paper.
- Hold the camera straight above the paper, not tilted at an angle.
- Move in close, so the signature fills most of the picture.
- Take the photo, then look at it. The line should be dark and sharp, and
the paper plain and bright. If it looks grey, dim, or blurry, take it again.
Step 3: Add it here
On an iPad or phone
- Tap ＋ Add in the toolbar, then Add a photo.
- Choose Photo Library.
- Tap your signature photo.
If you would rather take the photo right now, choose
Take Photo instead. That works too.
On a computer
- Click ＋ Add in the toolbar, then Add a photo.
- Find the photo on your computer.
- Click Open.
Step 4: Finish it
- Pick a stitch style. Satin is the classic solid column; Hand stitch
looks like hand sewing and suits small writing.
- Choose how big you want it, and pick your hoop size.
We will warn you if it will not fit.
- Pick your machine from the list, so the file
comes out in your machine's own format.
- Tap Preview (PDF) and print it at 100%, or
actual size, so you can check it before you stitch.
- Tap Export in the toolbar, then Download the file,
or Share or save… to send it straight to Google Drive, Files, or Mail.
Getting the file to your machine
The file is named for your machine's format, like signature.dst
or signature.pes. Pick your machine and we choose for you.
- Tap Send to your computer, then email the file to yourself, or save it
to Drive or iCloud. On a Mac you can choose AirDrop.
- On your computer, open the email (or Drive) and save the signature file onto a
USB stick.
- Put the USB stick into your embroidery machine, then find the design on the
machine's screen and open it.
If you do not see a Send to your computer button, your browser
cannot pass files to Mail. The file still downloads when you tap
Export. Look in Files ›
Downloads on an iPad, or in your Downloads folder on a
computer, and email or copy it from there.
Saving your design
- Tap Designs at the top, name it, and tap Save. It stays on this device, and your unsaved work is kept as a draft between visits.
- To move a design to another device, tap Save as a file, put the file in Google Drive or an email, then Open a file on the other device.
Beta testers: the mission
One stitch-out that shows us how the app behaves on your machine. Two sheets, both a single thread: a small one for a 4 × 4 in hoop, about 2,400 stitches, and the full one for a 5 × 7 in hoop, about 9,000 stitches with the stitched code and the fills.
- Pick your machine and hoop at the top. Tap Designs, then Get it for my machine on the sheet that fits your hoop, under Beta testers.
- Hoop quilting cotton with medium cutaway stabilizer. One spool of 40 wt thread, a 75/11 needle. Do not resize or move the design.
- If your machine has an automatic jump stitch trim setting, turn it on (Brother calls it jump stitch trimming). Both sheets carry a trim test: two short bars with a gap the thread should be cut across.
- Stitch it. If you stitched the 5 × 7 sheet, point your phone camera at the stitched code. It should offer stitchmysignature.com. Snip any loose threads across the code first.
- Photograph the whole sheet flat in daylight, plus a close-up of the small letters and of the signature, and of the filled squares if your sheet has them. Email the photos to hello@stitchmysignature.com and say which machine and hoop you used.
One page you can print, with the sheets, the thread notes and a feedback page to photograph beside your stitch-out. Open the beta kit.
Nothing about you is collected by the app. The photos stay with us.
What we're working on
- More machine formats, built and being tested on real machines.
Testing the beta? What you stitch (and what goes wrong) decides what we
build next. Please pass it on.
Your signature stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded to us.
This tool is still being tested, so please stitch a test piece on scrap fabric first.