Custom dog embroidery patterns: what to look for, and where to get one

Four ways to get a dog embroidery pattern

Every dog pattern comes from one of four places. They differ most in one thing: whether the finished hoop looks like your dog or like a dog.

A breed pattern gets the ears and the coat roughly right. What you'd recognize from across the room, the tilt of the head, the one ear that flops, the white blaze, only comes from your own photo. If the hoop is meant for your wall or as a gift to someone who loves that dog, start from that dog.

What to check before you buy any dog pattern

Whatever route you pick, run through this list. Most disappointing patterns fail one of these.

• It's made for hand embroidery. A cross-stitch chart is a grid of colored squares, and a machine embroidery file (like .pes or .dst) is for a computerized machine. Neither is line art you can stitch with a needle and floss. Photo tools often make one of those two.
• One line weight. Thread is one thickness, so the drawing should be too. Thick and thin strokes look great on paper and don't translate to thread.
• Every stitch is marked. A dot at each needle hole means every stitch comes out the same length. With plain lines, you decide the length of every stitch yourself, which is where a beginner's lines wobble.
• The eyes and nose are marked as fills. Solid shapes for satin stitch, with the small highlights left bare. That's where the expression lives.
• It fits your hoop. About 4 to 5 inches tall for a 6-inch hoop, with a 1-inch check on the sheet so you know it printed at true size. See hoop sizes.
• It's ready to transfer. Ask how it gets onto fabric: a PDF you trace, an iron-on, or a print file for a stick and stitch sheet. The transfer guide compares every method.
• It says which stitch goes where. Which stitch, how many strands and what order. How to read a pattern shows what a good one tells you.

Three real patterns from our pattern maker

These are real outputs, not mock-ups: the drawing, the dot pattern and a stitched preview for the course's three sample dogs. Notice how the coat changes the work. The same pattern maker drew all three.

Each one is also a free printable sheet. You can stitch any of them today from free dog embroidery patterns.

How our pattern maker works, and what it can't do

1. Pick a photo. One dog, facing the camera or turned slightly, both eyes sharp, in soft daylight. How to choose a photo has the details.
2. Upload it. It checks the photo before it draws: at least 400 pixels on the short side, bright enough, sharp enough, and one dog filling a good part of the frame.
3. It draws the line art. The outline, the ears, the face and the fur lines that show which way the coat grows, all in one line weight.
4. It marks every stitch. A dot at every needle hole, about 1/8 inch apart, and the pupils and nose as shaded shapes for satin stitch, with the highlights left bare.
5. It checks its own drawing. Big solid black areas fail this check, because they're miserable to stitch. You'd get a message instead of a bad pattern.
6. You download the print file. Sized for a 6-inch hoop, about 4.7 inches tall, with the 1-inch check, four centering marks and a small practice piece. The whole thing takes a few minutes.

• One dog per photo. Two dogs side by side become two patterns, each from its own photo or crop.
• Very dark coats are the hard case. A black dog in a dim photo can come out as solid blobs, and those don't pass. Your brightest daylight photo gives it the best chance. See how to embroider a black dog.
• Dogs only, for now. It turns cat photos away. Stitch Your Cat is next.
• One color of line art. It makes black-thread line art, not a color chart, a thread-painting map, a cross-stitch chart or a machine file.

What comes with a pattern from the course

• Your dog's print file, ready for a stick and stitch sheet, with the practice piece and the 1-inch check.
• Simple or Detailed. Simple is the outline, the face and a third of the fur lines, the longest ones. Detailed has every fur line. Simple is the kinder choice for a first hoop.
• Lessons for both stitches, back stitch and satin stitch, practiced in the 3D Stitch Simulator before you touch fabric.
• 30 days in the Pattern Studio, with 3 more patterns from any dog photo you like. No card on file and no automatic charge.
• No printer? Pre-printed sheets can be added at checkout and mailed to you. (The optional Stitch Kit of supplies ships within the US only.)

It's one payment of $47, with lifetime access. Weighing it against buying a finished hoop? See commission vs DIY. Against a kit? See kit vs course vs custom pattern.

Is the pattern maker free?

No, and we'd rather say so up front. The pattern maker comes with the Stitch Your Dog course. What is free: the 3D Stitch Simulator, where you can practice back stitch, satin stitch and a whole eye; the three sample dog sheets, which you can print and stitch; and tracing your own photo, which costs a pen and an evening.

Questions people ask

Keep going

• How-to guideHow to turn a photo into an embroidery pattern (hand embroidery)Trace a photo into hand-embroidery line art yourself, or let a pattern maker draw it with every stitch marked.
• How-to guideFree dog embroidery patterns: three printable sample dogsThree free printable sample dogs, ready for stick and stitch or tracing, plus the free simulator and the honest catch.
• How-to guideHow to choose the right photo for a pet portraitThe light, angle and framing that make a photo stitch well, and the checks a photo has to pass.
• ComparisonCustom pet embroidery: commission one or stitch it yourself?Commission a finished pet embroidery or stitch your own dog? Price, time, skill and meaning, compared honestly.
• ComparisonEmbroidery kit vs online course vs custom pattern: what should a beginner buy?Kit, online course or custom pattern? What each one gives a beginner, and how to choose the right way to start.
• How-to guideHow to read an embroidery pattern: dots, lines and fillsEvery mark on a hand embroidery pattern explained: dots, lines, fills and highlights on a real dog pattern, then keys, color numbers and strands.
• Dog breedsEmbroider your dog's breedBreed-by-breed stitch notes for hand-embroidered dog portraits, from labs and corgis to Great Danes, each with a real pattern made by our pattern maker.
• Free toolThe free 3D Stitch SimulatorPractice back stitch and satin stitch on a 3D hoop you can turn, zoom and flip.