How do you turn a pet photo (or a portrait) into embroidery with AI?

Why can’t a photo be stitched directly?

A photo has thousands of tones: every strand of fur, every shadow, the reflection in the eyes and the whole background. Embroidery software that tries to turn that into stitches, color by color, creates hundreds of loose specks, changes thread all the time and loses what matters, like the eyes and the nose. That is why photos sit at the bottom of the table in our guide on turning an image into an embroidery file.

Professional digitizers have always taken another route: redraw the photo as an illustration, with a few flat colors and outlines, and only then digitize it. That redraw used to take hours in a drawing program. The AI does the same job in less than a minute.

What does the AI do (and what doesn’t it do)?

In Prepare with AI, you send the photo and say whether it is a photo (pet, person, object) or a logo. The AI returns a new image with the background removed, 4 to 8 flat colors, dark outlines and simplified details, without losing what makes the customer recognize their pet: the color of the patches, the bow, the tongue sticking out.

With low-quality logos, it redraws the shapes with smooth edges and clean colors, keeping the text and the proportions.

What the AI does not do is digitizing: it delivers an image. The editor’s instant digitizing turns that image into stitches, and you can adjust everything. The image is generated by image models from OpenAI (ChatGPT) or Google (Gemini), depending on how the platform is set up.

How do you turn the photo into embroidery in Meus Bordados?

1. In the editor, click Add image… (or paste with Ctrl+V) and choose the photo your customer sent.
2. Right-click the image and choose Prepare with AI….
3. Select Photo (pet, person, object) and, if you like, write extra instructions such as “keep the yellow bows” or “at most 6 colors”.
4. Click Generate (1 credit). It usually takes 20 seconds to 1 minute.
5. If you like it, click Add as a new image (the original stays in the layers, hidden) or Use instead of the original. If not, adjust the instructions and generate again.
6. Right-click the illustration and choose Instant digitizing: illustration….
7. In the window, check the colors, merge the ones that are almost the same and tick Omit on the ones that should not be stitched. Then click Create embroidery.
8. Check it in 3D, simulate the stitching and download it as DST, PES or JEF for your machine.

Tip: Before opening instant digitizing, set the image width to the final embroidery size: the small details are decided based on that size.

Logo or illustration: which instant digitizing should you use?

The editor has two instant digitizing modes, and both appear when you right-click the image and in the Draw menu.

How do you write good instructions for the AI?

Extra instructions are optional, but they help a lot when you already know what the embroidery needs. Be direct and describe the result, not the process:

• “Keep the yellow bows with the little pink flower.”
• “At most 5 colors.”
• “Just the face, no body.”
• “White background and remove the collar.”
• “Thicker outlines, to stitch it small.”
• For logos: “keep the brand’s text and colors exactly”.

You can write in English, Portuguese or Spanish. If the result is not what you wanted, change one thing at a time and generate again.

Which photos give the best results?

• A single subject filling a good part of the photo: the pet, the person or the object.
• Good light, without strong backlight: you can see the eyes and the colors.
• Sharp focus, especially on the face.
• A simple background, if possible. The AI removes the background, but a clean one helps it tell fur from scenery.
• Phone photos work perfectly; you do not need a professional camera.

Watch out: Use photos your customer sent or authorized. Photos of people, above all, only with their consent.

How much does the AI cost?

Instant digitizing (logo and illustration) is part of every plan and can be used without limits.

Prepare with AI uses credits: each generated image uses 1 credit, and if the AI fails the credit comes back automatically. Credits are bought in packs in your dashboard, under AI credits, and they do not expire.

If you sell pet or portrait embroidery, it usually pays for itself on the first order: a redraw that would take an afternoon becomes a minute of work. See also how to price custom embroidery.