Color and color lists

By Priscilla Madsen

Many people when doing embroidery have questions about colors and color lists for their embroidery designs,
Why don’t the colors on the machine look right? Do I use what the machine says to use anyway?
I am going to try and address some the most commonly asked questions here.

Most of the Embroidery machine formats do not keep the colors that the design was originally digitized in.

This is especially true for DST, which does not recognize colors, only color stops. In a DST file, the first color will ALWAYS be black, followed by blue, lt green, red, purple, yellow, gray, lt blue and green.

Here is the same design after it’s been exported to the DST format:

HUS is the next one that has a limited color palette. It tries to interpret the colors, but since it has only 16 colors to choose from, you’re going to end up with a lot of gray and duplicate colors Notice that the leaves and the lavender flowers appear to be all the same shade of gray .

PES can read more colors, but is still going to have a problem with colors outside it’s basic palette. The center of the sunflower and the eye shows as blue and the nose and ear are purple.

So, what to do? You’ve brought the design into the machine and the colors don’t match! Rule #1 PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE COLORS SHOWING IN THE MACHINE! There is a color list included with every set, which looks something like this.

This will be included in the Zip file that you received either via download or email and will be titled with the set
number and set name, followed by the words “color list”.

Rule #2 PRINT THE COLOR LIST AND FOLLOW THE COLORS LISTED ON THE PAGES.
For example: The first color for the design you’ve chosen in your embroidery machine shows as Gray. The first
color for the same design on the color list shows as Green.
Slowly take your hand off the spool of Gray embroidery thread and pick up the spool of Green embroidery
thread. Thread it into your machine and stitch the first color.

Repeat for all of the colors on the color list.
You’re finished design will look just like the one on the color list!

Now for the more adventurous among you embroiderers.

Go back to that first color.

The color list says Green, but the project you’re working on wants that color to be pink, or blue, or yellow or
even orange!
What do you do?

Answer: Use whatever color you want!

The embroidery police will NOT, I repeat will NOT come to your house and arrest you for using the “wrong”
color in your design. AND once it’s stitched out and you’ve made your project and you’re showing it to all of
your friends, NO-ONE is going to know that color #1 was Green on the color list!

Go have fun!