How to Download Our Embroidery Designs

Welcome! This guide will show you how to easily download your Sweet Pea embroidery designs, no matter which machine you use. All of your purchased designs are available in your account. 

For the simplest experience, we recommend using a PC or Mac computer. Other devices can be used if you are comfortable with their operating system and know how to download, extract, and transfer the embroidery files to your embroidery machine.

Step 1: Log in to Your Sweet Pea Account

Go to your account page and enter your email and password to log in.

Step 2: Access Your Downloads

Once logged in, navigate to the "Design Library" section of your account.  

Your purchased designs should be listed alphabetically. You can use the search bar to search for specific designs if required ("Dog Table Runner" example search shown below):

Alternative Method for Locating Designs via the Orders Page

You can also navigate your purchases chronologically from the "Orders" section of your account.  If your library is quite large this may be an easier method to find recently purchased designs.

Step 3: Download the Design

After locating the design you wish to download, click on the ZIP file to start the download process.

Depending on your browser you may receive a pop-up / notification asking you to confirm the download. Below is an example "Save As pop-up from Chrome:

By default your browser should automatically save the ZIP file to your "Downloads" folder however this location may have been changed depending on the settings of your device.

TIP: Its a good idea to save all your Sweet Pea design files into a special folder all of its own. This will help make it easier for you to locate the files in the future.

Step 4: Extract the Files

Locate the downloaded ZIP file on your computer and extract it to a folder. You can usually do this by right-clicking the ZIP file and selecting "Extract All" (Windows) or double-clicking the ZIP (Mac).

Windows Example:

The extracted folder should not end in ".ZIP", it should be a new folder created by the extraction process. 

Step 5: Understanding the Files Included in Your Download

After extracting your ZIP file, you will see several folders and files within. This is normal and helps keep everything organised.

What you’ll find inside:

• Instructions 
  The download contains the design instructions in both PDF and DOCX formats.
  You can open either file—both contain the same information.
• Embroidery Files Folder(s)
  The embroidery design files are organised by hoop size, such as: 4x4, 5x7, 6x10 (and any other sizes included with the design).
• Machine File Formats
  Inside each hoop size folder, you’ll find the design saved in multiple embroidery machine formats (DST, EXP*, JEF, PES, PEC, VIP, VP3, and XXX). (*For the "EXP" format it is recommended to also use the associated "BMP" and "INF" files for Bernina machines.). 
• Cutting Files
  Alongside each embroidery panel there will also be a optional SVG cutting file within.

The screenshot above shows just one panel (Bear Arms & Legs) from the 4x4 folder of the "Tiny Teddy Bear" design.

Step 6: Choosing the Correct Embroidery Format

Typically, you will only need to use one embroidery file format with your machine. The correct format depends on the brand of embroidery machine you own.

In general, the following formats are used by these embroidery machine brands:

• Brother / Baby Lock → PES or PEC (older models)
• Janome / Elna / Kenmore → JEF
• Singer / Viking / Pfaff → VP3 or VIP (older models)
• Bernina → EXP (as well as the matching BMP and INF files)
• Commercial & multi-needle machines → DST
• Singer (older models) - XXX

If you are having trouble finding the correct format for your machine it may be due to a File Association occurring on your device. Installing software on your PC can change how certain files appear to you. It may help to enable "File name extensions" within your file explorer view settings to find your embroidery format.

Below is before and after comparison showing the impact of this setting (it will append the file type to each file name):

Step 7: Transfer the Design to Your Machine

The exact procedure for transferring embroidery designs may vary depending on your embroidery machine model. For the most accurate and up-to-date instructions, please refer to the manual provided with your machine.

Most machines will typically feature a USB port compatible with USB flash drives. When available this is the method we recommend using. To achieve this, transfer the embroidery file required by your machine (mentioned in STEP 6) to your USB flash drive.

Right clicking on the file should bring up the option to "Cut" (moves the original file) or "Copy" (duplicates the file to the new location). Then navigate to your USB flash drive, right click within the window and select "Paste".

If this was successful the embroidery file should be shown on your USB drive.

Disconnect the USB flash drive from your PC/Device and connect it to your embroidery machine.

If this was successful you should be able to view and load the design on your machine display.

---

Important Notice Regarding Embroidery Software

Please note that if you choose to open or edit our embroidery files using third-party embroidery software, this may affect how the design stitches out.

Some embroidery software programs can unintentionally alter the design, such as:

• Combining or removing stitch steps
• Changing the stitch order
• Modifying colours, trims, or jump sequences

These changes may cause the design to stitch differently than intended by our digitisers.

For this reason, we are unable to provide compensation or support for stitch issues that occur after a design has been opened, edited, or resaved using embroidery software.

To ensure the best results, we recommend stitching the original file provided, without modification.