Welcome to PatchArtist, the original award-winning patch-making software. Chosen by professionals, enjoyed by enthusiasts, easy enough for everyone!

Everyone loves patches. We collect them to show where we’ve been, what we enjoy, and who we are inside.

PatchArtist is a versatile software tool and an extensive collection of resources to allow you to create beautiful patches with a classic, clean, faux overlocked edge.

PatchArtist lets anyone create custom-contour and custom-sized patches with a click, starting from any embroidery design or text.

PatchArtist will help you make professional looking patches for everything easily: Clubs and sports, special events, first responders, custom uniform pieces, band and theater,  even costumes and cosplay.

Fonts and designs, curated for patch making.

• Added Width Control allows for adjustment of the patch border thickness.
• Now with 12 ‘Fun Fonts’ are perfect for contoured name patches.
• 6 Small Fonts, accurate for military and first responder emblems. Useful everywhere that small, readable, lettering is needed.
• 3 Sizes of each of the block fonts are included, hand-tuned to sew beautifully by a master digitizer. These include Mini and Micro versions that use 60wt thread.
• Over 150 patch designs and edge shapes. PatchArtist has everything you need to make incredible professional emblems.
• The shields, rockers, banner and tabs are classic shapes used by uniform companies worldwide.
• Newly Updated and Expanded Baselines and envelopes with new pre-placed text objects have been added the stock patch designs to get you quickly into production.
• Classic and fun shapes included.

Patch Making tools for Fun and Profit

PatchArtist‘s tools are based on our unique programmatic machine embroidery stitch that emulate the special overlock machine stitch used to create patch edges. When you have a PatchArtist patch in your hand, you feel as though it was made with traditional tools and skill on an overlock machine due to how well it represents the classic and distinctive look of this stitch. With only an embroidery machine, thread and stabilizer, you can create one-of-a-kind authentic-looking patches with an edge that looks and feels like a real overlock stitched edge.

Patchartist can automatically create a patch for anything on the design page. With a single menu selection (Utility > Add Patch Edge) you can automatically wrap the all the embroidery on your design page in a custom-shaped patch edge or a made-to-size circle, rectangle or rounded rectangle, all with adjustable settings.

PatchArtist provides a controlled Interactive design for the patch, allowing you to select your favorite method of patch construction from the following options:

Freestanding: (Create with Fill) Make a patch from thread using freestanding lace-like technique that leaves full-coverage, fabric like background by stitching on an appropriate stabilizer (wash-away, vinyl, etc.)

Directly on yardage: (Cut when Complete) Embroider as normal and cut manually either with scissors or a hot knife from the finished span.

Applique: (Using Pre-Cut, Hand-Cut in Hoop) You can use either traditional hand-cut methods or pre-cut applique pieces made by hand or machine. You can also save a cut-file or .svg to allow for electronic cutting. If you do not have the perfect color fabric or just like the texture of an embroidered background, PatchArtist also has the option to add a light sketch-style fill for color and texture to the background of the patch.

Designs and Fonts for Serious(ly fun) Patches

PatchArtist comes with patch shapes that have been used on commercial uniforms for many years. These shapes are the same size and aspect ratio as you would expect when creating police, fire and military patches for actual use by responders. Included are rockers and name-drop templates for ease of use.

Just your ‘Type’

PatchArtist also comes with two sets of fonts: One set is designed for those standard uniform patches we all do, but the others are just for fun.

Uniform patches often require specific fonts chosen to match a style guide or service. Embroiderer designers often use a nearest-matching font and adjust letters as needed, but this set has not only block fonts styled for common patch uses, it includes mini and 60wt versions of these fonts for clearer small text. These ‘uniform’ fonts include specially selected typefaces that fit the style of military branches and traditional patches.

For fun, we included a small collection of fonts with various styles from swirly, to retro, to motorcycle. These fun fonts are great starting points for contoured name or word patches with interesting custom shapes. Simply type your text, select Utility > Add Patch Edge and you have a custom-shaped patch design ready for any apparel or accessories.

Personalize your Patch Designs with Ease

Some of our stock scalable patch designs come with the added value of special populated Envelopes or ‘Baseline‘ elements to make it easy to place your text in the most common positions for the patch! For the many patch designs and outlines in the PatchArtist libraries that come with names in place, you can just click the text, make adjustments in the Lettering tab, type in your name and hit ‘Enter’ for a personalized patch!

In fact, most of the simple patch borders in the PatchArtist collection include embedded ‘Baseline‘ and ‘Envelope‘ objects to assist with text placement. Many of these objects come with the aforementioned lettering objects in place that can be selected and altered. Most also contain additional placement options beyond those you see filled with text in the library previews or upon importing the designs. You can use these extended  envelopes and baselines to style and place your letters in the patch by simply adding or renaming your lettering object(s). Each design that has these special features includes Notes in the Properties tab to help you correctly name lettering objects to take advantage of the multiple text areas and placement options.

Note: If you don’t like the populated text options present in your chosen patch, just delete the ‘Letters’ object(s) to remove the lettering and start with a clean slate!

For example of the multiple options, the ‘Top Arc’ placement on the below patch border, for instance,  has both a Baseline for simple curved text and an Envelope for text that stretches to fill the shape of the top arc area, as well as Baseline objects to allow you to type text along the left and right sides. Any lettering objects directly below your patch design in the Objects pane, will snap into place in the indicated areas of your patch design when named as specified in the notes. Just make sure to click inside the Text box in the properties and hit ‘Enter’ to generate your text.

Make your Border Bolder (or Slimmer!)

You now have the option to alter the width of the patch edges. The Width control that appears on the Interactive tab in the Properties area when your patch design is selected now allows for a range from 3.5mm to 5.5mm for the edge width. Simply select the patch and use the slider or type in your desired width. Should you want to return to the standard 4.2mm found in most production patches, simply click the ‘Std’ button to reset your width.

Basic Features Include:

• Merge and save machine embroidery design files from virtually any source.
• Export cut-files.
• Create patch edges to wrap a page, as a circle/oval, square/rectangle with adjustable corner radius.
• Use pre-made patches or choose from over 150 shapes in the included library.
• Includes two sets of fonts: A set of excellent uniform fonts which include small, micro, and 60wt. versions and Fun fonts for name patches or any other embroidery use.
• Color Sort for multiple-patch layup.
• Create objects compatible with StitchArtist 3 for complete control and editing.