Embroidery Filter

Embroidery is not a texture, it is a set of decisions. Where does the fill start and stop. Which direction does each block of satin stitch run. Where does the thread change colour, and does it change abruptly the way real thread does or fade the way a gradient does. Which details are simply too small to stitch at this size and have to be dropped.

A filter that skips all of that and multiplies a canvas texture over your photo produces something that looks like a photo behind a mesh, which is what nearly every stitch effect on the app stores actually is.

The run above is ours, and the corgi is the useful test case because fur is the hardest thing to stitch convincingly. Look at where the stitch rows change angle across the chest and around the muzzle: they follow the way the coat lies, which is the decision a digitiser makes by hand before a machine ever runs.

Then look at the collar tag — small, dark, and still there, because it was worth the thread. Nothing about the pose, the markings or the ear position moved.

Two limits worth knowing. This produces a picture of an embroidered patch, not a machine file — there is no . dst or . pes to feed a Brother, and a digitiser would still have to do that work from your image. And fine detail simplifies on the way in: thin whiskers, small text and delicate jewellery tend to be absorbed into the fill, the same compression that happens in real stitching.

If you want the fabric itself changed rather than the whole subject converted, the clay filter is the neighbouring idea in a different material.