While the embroidery machine has preprogramed designs available, you may want to create your own custom designs. The Bernina b500 allows for USB stick plugin to access and use your own embroidery files.
Creating a design to be stitched on an embroidery machine is called digitizing. Embroidery designs can be bought online either by purchasing pre-made designs or ordering custom designs created by embroidery digitizing professionals.
If you are new to using an embroidery machine, we recommend you start with using the preprogramed designs on the machine. Once you've had experience using the machine, then you can consider working with embroidery design files you've purchased or created.
The Bernina b500 prefers the .EXP file format but the following format are also acceptable: .PES, .PEC, .XXX, .PCS, .JEF and .DST
Online retailers for embroidery designs:
OESD is a leading retailer for all things embroidery. They have a wide selection of pre-made embroidery designs available to purchase. OESD is also an official Bernina partner so their designs are guaranteed approved for use with Bernina machines.
KimberBell is another well known embroidery machine design retailer that sells designs, projects, and have tutorials on different techniques.
This is an online retailer that can create custom embroidery designs for you.
There are different sellers who create and sell their own embroidery designs as well as sellers that offer custom digitization. It's recommended that you check a seller's reviews to make sure they are a reputable vendor.
The Knowledge Lab does not currently have digitization software but plans to provide that option in the future- this guide will be updated with that information when that resource is available.
Having your own embroidery digitizing software can be a big investment, but if you want to try learning how to do digitizing on your own, there are a couple resources available. Please keep in mind that the embroidery machine is a new addition to the Knowledge Lab, staff are still learning how to use the machine and may not be able to assist in digitization or answer questions on how to properly create custom designs. Using the options listed below can be done on personal computers.
Ink/Stich is a free open source embroidery software based on Inkscape.
Hatch is a professional embroidery software- while a subscription is expensive, they do offer a 30-day free trial.
Note: Adobe programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop can't create or edit embroidery files.