16 Christmas Machine Embroidery Designs (4 Free): Ornaments, Names and Sweatshirts

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The zip opens and there are seven snowmen inside. Same snowman, seven files: DST, JEF, HUS, VP3, PES, EXP, XXX. Your machine wants exactly one of them, and the manual that says which is in a drawer somewhere under the extension cords.

That is the whole trick with machine embroidery files: pick the right format, make sure the design fits your hoop, and back it with the right stabilizer for what you are stitching on. Get those three right and a Christmas design stitches out the way it looks in the photo. The 16 designs below are sorted by project, with four free ones first.

The short version: Use PES for Brother and Baby Lock, JEF for Janome, VP3 for Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff, and XXX for Singer. Check that the design size fits inside your hoop. Use cut-away stabilizer under sweatshirts and add a water-soluble topper on towels. These are files for embroidery machines, not patterns for hand embroidery.

Which file in the zip is yours

Your machine	Format to use
Brother, Baby Lock	PES
Janome, Elna	JEF
Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff	VP3 (older Viking: HUS, older Pfaff: PCS)
Singer	XXX
Bernina, Melco	EXP (Bernina software also uses ART)
Tajima and other commercial machines	DST

DST is the universal fallback: most machines can read it, but it carries no color information, so the thread colors on your screen will be placeholders and you pick them from the preview picture. A few listings also include CND, a format for commercial Melco software; home machines can ignore it.

Check the hoop. A design has to fit inside your hoop’s stitching area, which is a little smaller than the hoop. The common small hoop is 4×4 inches, about 100 x 100 mm of stitching space, and designs listed “for a 4×4 hoop” are made to fit it. When a listing offers three or four sizes, the smallest usually suits a 4×4 hoop and the larger ones need a 5×7 or bigger. The size is in the file name or the listing; most machines will also warn you on screen when a design is too big.

Match the stabilizer to the project.

• Sweatshirts and tees stretch, so they need cut-away stabilizer underneath. Tear-away lets the stitches pull the knit out of shape after the first wash.
• Towels need something under them and a water-soluble topper on top, or the stitches sink into the loops and disappear.
• Felt ornaments are stable on their own; a layer of tear-away underneath is usually enough.

Free Christmas embroidery designs

All four were free when we checked. On each Creative Fabrica product page, ignore the big button (that one is the All Access trial) and use the “Download this product as a freebie” link below it.

The two ornament frames and the wreath are made to have something stitched inside them. A single initial or a three-letter monogram works well; our monogram fonts roundup explains monogram order and why a font file alone will not stitch.

Christmas ornament designs

Ornament designs are stitched on felt or on a sturdy fabric and then cut out, and many include a hanging loop in the design. They are quick to stitch, and they are the Christmas project people ask you to make again next year.

Names and personalized designs

A name turns a pretty ornament into a present nobody else gets. The personalized designs leave space for lettering you add in your machine or embroidery software; the alphabet spells names out of Christmas characters, one letter per design.

For stockings, stitch the name before the stocking is sewn together, while the fabric still lies flat in the hoop.

Christmas sweatshirt designs

These run big, so measure your largest hoop before you buy, not after the file is unzipped. Center the design about three inches below the neckline for an adult sweatshirt. Thick fleece can keep a ring mark from the hoop, so many embroiderers hoop just the stabilizer and float the sweatshirt on top with a spray adhesive or pins.

Small motifs and bundles

Bundles of small designs are the best value if you stitch a lot of little things: napkins, gift bags, patches, baby clothes, the corner of a tea towel. They also fit the smallest hoops.

If you also cut vinyl, the same kind of motifs come as cut files in our Christmas SVG roundup, and for mugs and shirts without a needle, see the Christmas sublimation designs. Stitched gift tags and cards look finished on a printed background, and our Christmas digital paper roundup has patterns in the same red, green and cream.

Can you sell what you stitch?

Often, with conditions. The free designs carry Creative Fabrica’s Single Sales License, which its help center says covers commercial use. Designs downloaded with All Access follow the subscription license. Stitched items you sell at a craft fair are one thing; reselling or sharing the embroidery files themselves is another, and individual sellers can add their own terms. Check the license on the product page before you stitch twenty stockings for sale.

Frequently asked questions about Christmas embroidery designs

What embroidery file format does a Brother machine use?

PES. Baby Lock machines use PES too. If a download has only DST, many Brother machines can read that as well, but you will have to choose the thread colors yourself.

Can I use these designs for hand embroidery?

Not really. These are stitch files that tell an embroidery machine where every stitch goes, and a hand embroiderer cannot read them. For hand stitching you want a printed pattern to trace, which is sold separately and looks nothing like a zip of PES files.

How do I get an embroidery design onto my machine?

Unzip the download on a computer, copy the file in your machine’s format onto a USB stick, and plug it into the machine. Some newer machines can receive designs over Wi-Fi through the manufacturer’s app instead.

What size hoop do I need for Christmas ornaments?

Most ornament designs fit a 4×4 hoop. Check the size in the listing, because some come in several sizes and the largest may need a 5×7.

Are the free designs on Creative Fabrica really free?

Yes, all four. Take the freebie link on the product page; the main button is a trial sign-up.

One snowman, one file

Find your machine’s format in the table, copy that one file to the USB stick, and leave the other six snowmen in the zip. The one that stitches out is going on the tree. For the lettering on tags and signs around it, our Christmas fonts guide is next door.