Have you ever purchased a digital embroidery design from an Etsy shop or a website and wondered - what exactly goes into making a digital product to list for sale? Well, you're in the right place! Today I am going to show you my process of how I create an embroidery design to sell online, both in my Etsy shop and on my website. There is a LOT of information to cover today, and I think you'll be surprised at all the work that goes into creating a digital product! Whether you are looking to sell your designs online, or just wondering what goes into the process, this post is packed with information on everything you need to know about creating a digital embroidery design to sell online.
Step 1: Create the design. Before creating a digital listing, you have to create the design, of course! This process can take anywhere from one hour to several, depending on the complexity of the design. I cover some details of what goes into optimizing an embroidery design to sew smoothly with proper pathing in this blog post.
Step 2: Sew a sample. I sew all of my samples on my Brother PE535 Embroidery Machine (link to review here) with tear-away backing. You can find more information about my favorite embroidery supplies here. Most of my customers are sewing on single-needle home embroidery machines. It is important for me to know how my designs stitch on both home embroidery machines and big, multi-needle machines. All of my designs are optimized to sew smoothly, no matter what type of machine is being used. This includes considerations such as stitch count, density, pathing, color changes, and trims. Sewing a sample is not a hit "go" and walk away process. You need to sit with the machine and watch the design stitch, ensuring proper pathing is used with as few trims as possible. I take notes on changes I want to make to the design while it is stitching. Take a look at the sample for my Christmas Cowboy Boot design:
Step 3: Make edits. Back to design to make any final edits and adjustments. Sometimes it's necessary to sew another sample!
Step 4: Deciding how many sizes to offer. Some designers sell their designs in only one size, some sell designs with as many as ten size options. Typically, designers who are manually digitizing designs (versus the dreaded auto-digitized design) sell in fewer options, because we are not just resizing and repackaging the file. Each size may have adjustments to stitch length, type, choice of underlay, etcetera. Some designs are simple enough to sew at a very small ( and popular) "mini" size, some designs are too complex. Look at the difference between simple designs like the Junk Food Minis and the soccer ball versus my Christmas Cowboy Boot and the Chinoiserie Christmas Tree:
The bottom two designs would not stitch well in a small format and are best sewn at a minimum of around 3 inches. Once I decide how many sizes I plan to offer in a design, I make the edits and save each individual size as its own file.
Step 5: Create a main folder for the design, along with a sub-folder for each size I plan to sell.
Step 6: Create a video! Embroidery digitizing software programs have a "stitch player" feature that is very useful when digitizing so that you can see how your design stitches out within the program before you sew a sample. On Etsy, sellers are allowed to include ten listing photos and one video with each listing. Handmade sellers often include a video of their process or perhaps a video of their item being packaged so the customer can see the uniqueness of the packing before receiving the item. I like to use this video option with my digital products to show how the design stitches so the customer can see that the design is properly pathed before they purchase. My 14 year old son actually helped me figure out how to make these videos for my listings. Here is an example of a video I include in my Etsy listings:
This video gets saved into the main design folder.
Step 7: Create a PNG file of the design for the listing photos. The PNG file format is widely used on websites to display high-quality digital images. I later import this file into Photoshop to create my listing photos. This PNG file also gets saved into the main design folder.
Step 8: Create a PDF worksheet of the design for EACH size. I haven't always created worksheets for my designs. A customer asked me to create one for a design that she had purchased, so I decided to add them to all of my designs. It's an extra step, but adds a lot of value for the customer. Each PDF worksheet gets saved into it's respective size folder within the main design folder.
Step 8: Now for the tedious part...exporting the files. After saving all the PDF worksheets in their respective size folders, I export the design file into all of the formats I offer with my designs. Every design I sell comes in 7 file formats used for various machines: JEP, PES, VP3, HUS, XXX, EXP and DST. Fortunately, Hatch 3 has a way to export all of these file types simultaneously into the folder that I select.
Step 9: Create a zipped file of the design files. THIS is the file that will be uploaded to Etsy and to my website and that the customer will download when they purchase or download one of my monthly freebies! Take a look inside my folder for my Coffee Cup design:
Inside the main design folder, you can see the design file folder, which contains the sub-folders for each size of the design, a zipped folder of those files, the video I created (mp4 file) and the PNG file.
Step 10: Create the listing on Etsy and on my website. First I create a draft of my Etsy listing. There is plenty of information online on how to create a digital Etsy listing, but for the purpose of this post, I'm sticking to the broader process before the listing is actually created. Creating a title, tags, the listing description, and price are all part of this process. In the description, I also include the exact size and stitch count for each size that is including in the listing. At this point, I upload the zipped file to the listing and my video that I created. Take a look inside the zipped folder of the Coffee Cup design and inside one of the subfolders:
Step 11: Create the listing photos! We are almost to the end of the process. I open my PNG file in Photoshop that I created in Hatch and I create my listing photos for my Etsy listing. This usually includes several mock-ups of the design on different items such as tea towels, hand towels, pillows, and tote bags, so the customer can get an idea of different applications for the design.
Step 12: Finally!! Publish the listing on Etsy and on the website simultaneously!
Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
Beth
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