We are so used to software that has sequential levels where you have to have to have a base level software and then upgrade to other levels. Embrilliance is different. Each piece is a fully functioning software on its own so you can purchase one or all of them. Best of all, it works on Mac or PC and all updates are FREE. Yes, F-R-E-E free forever.

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I love analogies – so I think of Embrilliance like a recipe. Eggs are great and you can use them on their own. Add them to a few other yummy ingredients and they make something even better! Each piece of Embrilliance has a job and does it really well. If you keep adding modules, they work together seamlessly and you can’t even tell which one you are using anymore, they just work as one.

Embrilliance Essentials

This is often the first piece people buy because as the name implies – it does many of the essential functions. Essentials lets you combine designs, including adding text. If you combine appliques, it will remove the satin stitching where they overlap so you don’t get that ugly bump underneath your top piece. You can resize your designs, change colors, and so much more. You can see everything Essentials can do for you here. If you buy it and you just hate it (you won’t!), they have a 90 day money back guarantee.

BX fonts are an Embrilliance exclusive and I think they are GENIUS. Digitizers like myself are now including this format when we sell alphabets. You can install the entire font with the (double) click of a button and it will be included in your library. From there you can type words, scale them up and down, put them on a circle or morph them into other shapes. Best of all, you type them just like you would in a word processor. Putting on my old timer hat, back in MY DAY, we had to merge each letter file into our design, one at a time and line them up as well as we could.  BX fonts are a game changer.

Embrilliance Enthusiast

Enthusiast takes manipulating designs up a notch. You can edit individual stitches to take out pieces of a design that you wish were not there. Carousel and Scatter functions let you turn a simple item like a star into a full hoop design.

The feature I see most in demand for Enthusiast is splitting designs for multiple hoops. This will let you split a large design to use with your smaller hoop, rehooping your fabric multiple times. I’ll be honest, I’m chicken, but I have seen others get very adventurous with it!

I used the Essentials Knockdown stitching to make the words on this bunny’s arm stand out nicely. It is a fantastic feature for working with fluffy fabrics like Minky or fleece. It is like a permanent stabilizer that lets your fonts shine, not get lost in the fluff. (I used Essentials to put the name on the ear)

There is so much more Enthusiast can do – check it out here.

Embrilliance stitch artist

This is the one I love! Embrilliance Stitch Artist lets you create your own designs from scratch. I wrote all about why you don’t want to use autodigitizing. This is manual digitizing in a clean and easy interface. The Embrilliance 90 day satisfaction guarantee is especially helpful with Stitch Artist. There is a real learning curve to digitizing, but this gives you time to watch the videos, try it out. Ask for help on the Facebook page or in the Stitch Artist Facebook group. You can even hire me for one on one tutoring via Skype. There is something SO COOL about watching a design that you created stitch out. There are 3 levels, each one introducing more features and control.

all the rest

Those are the big pieces that I use most. A few others that may be useful for some embroiderers are:

• Density Repair Kit – Ever had a design so thick it could stand up by itself (but isn’t supposed to)? DRK can help smooth out the areas that have way too many stitches.
• Alpha Tricks – Your favorite alphabet isn’t available in BX format but you really want to be able to use it like a BX font? You can convert it yourself with AlphaTricks.
• Thumbnailer – This is a tiny little program that runs in the background and works in the folders on your computer. Rather than showing up with a generic icon, your designs have a tiny image of the design! Scroll through and grab that flower you were thinking of, rather than opening every.single.file. that says flower in the name.