Production & B2B Tools

The tools in this section let you turn a design into more than just something you stitch out — they carry it through the business steps of batch production, customer quoting/approval, and shop-floor work orders. They're all gathered on the app's "Production" page: click the "Production" entry (printer icon) in the left menu. Nearly all of these tools are part of the Ultimate plan; on lower plans the entry appears locked, and clicking it opens an upgrade (paywall) screen.

Windows — The tools work on the design (Pattern) you currently have open. Open a design in the editor first, then pick the tool you want on the "Production" page. If no design is open, you'll see a "no pattern" style warning on the relevant page and the buttons stay disabled.

Note — If your plan isn't Ultimate, the "Production" menu entry is shown with a lock badge. When you open a locked tool, nothing happens; it just tells you which plan is required. The table below lists the exact plan each tool maps to.

Which tool, which plan?

Tip — The order of the tools on the page follows a typical workflow: first quote the customer with "Quote", get sign-off with "Approval Form", then produce your shop-floor output with "Batch Export" / "Worksheet" / "Color Films".

Batch Export

Writes a single design to disk in several machine formats you choose, all at once. It saves you from doing "save as" one file at a time when different customers or machines each need a different format.

1. Open the design and pick the "Batch Export" tool on the "Production" page.
2. In the "Design name" field, enter the design name to use in the file names.
3. Under "Formats", check the formats you want. Standard options: DST, PES, JEF, VP3, EXP, XXX. For less common formats, open the "Advanced formats" section (SEW, SHV, U01 — these are flagged as "experimental").
4. Use "Naming template" to set the file-name pattern. Available placeholders: {designName}, {ext}, {stitchCount}, {customerName}, {date} (plus formatted dates such as {date:yyyyMMdd}). The default pattern is {designName}-{ext}.
5. Use "Output folder" to choose the destination folder (defaults to "StitchKit Exports" under Documents).
6. Use "Conflict policy" to decide what happens when a file of the same name already exists: "Rename" (foo.dst → foo (2).dst), "Overwrite", or "Skip".
7. You can leave the "Validate round-trip" box checked. This reads each written file back and confirms the stitch count is consistent.
8. Press the "Run" button. A status line for each format is listed in the lower section.

Windows — Statuses in the result lines: "Written" (written), "WrittenAndValidated" (written and validated), "ValidationFailed" (validation failed — usually a stitch-count discrepancy), "Skipped" (skipped), and "Failed" (error). When you see "ValidationFailed", the file was still written; check the output before running it on the machine.

Tip — Round-trip validation only checks that the stitch-point count is preserved within a small tolerance (down to a few stitches); it doesn't guarantee colors or fine settings. On critical jobs, still review the output.

Name Drop (CSV Personalization)

Regenerates the same design with different text (e.g., a player or staff member's name) for each row in a CSV list, producing a bulk, personalized set of files. Ideal for team jerseys, name tags, and uniforms.

1. Open a design that contains text blocks (lettering). If the design has no text blocks at all, the tool shows a "no text blocks" warning.
2. Open the "Name Drop" tool on the "Production" page. The design's text blocks are listed at the top.
3. For each text block you want to make variable, type a placeholder key (e.g., playerName) and press the "Mark placeholder" button. If you mark the wrong one, undo it with "Clear placeholder". The marked keys are collected in the "Placeholders found" section.
4. Choose your CSV file in the "CSV file" section. The first row is read as the header (column names); these column names must match your placeholder keys. A preview table shows the first 5 rows.
5. Set the "Output folder" (destination folder) and the "Filename template" (file-name pattern, e.g., {playerName}-{ext}). The placeholders in the file-name pattern are filled from the CSV column names.
6. Under "Formats", check the output formats (default DST).
7. Press the "Generate batch" button. A result is listed for each row: the generated file name on success, or an error message on failure.

Note — The "Generate batch" button only becomes active once all of these conditions are met: at least one placeholder marked, at least one CSV row loaded, at least one format selected, and the destination folder filled in. Make sure the CSV headers are spelled exactly the same as the placeholder keys; a mismatched key results in empty text.

Tip — Invalid file-name characters (e.g., / \ : * ? < > | ") are automatically replaced with an underscore, so even if you use these characters in the names, the file name won't be corrupted.

Color Films

Produces a color film PDF with a separate page for each thread color in the design. It's used to visualize the color separation and to follow the color order on the shop floor.

1. Open a design that has colors. If the design has no colors at all, the tool shows a "no colors" warning.
2. Pick the "Color Films" tool on the "Production" page.
3. Fill in the "Job ID" (auto-generated by default) and "Design name" fields.
4. The page shows how many colors the design has, and therefore how many pages will be produced (each color = one page).
5. Press the "Save PDF" button and choose a save location. Once saved, the file path is shown on screen.

Worksheet (Production Work Order)

Produces a single-page production work-order PDF for the shop/operator: job number, customer, due date, target machine, and design summary.

1. Open the design and pick the "Worksheet" tool on the "Production" page.
2. The "Job ID" field is filled in automatically. A valid job number must contain uppercase letters/digits/hyphens and be 6–20 characters long; if it's invalid, the field is flagged as an error. You can generate a new one with "Regenerate job ID" and copy it to the clipboard with "Copy job ID".
3. Enter the customer name in the "Customer" (required) field.
4. Choose the "Due date" and the "Machine" (target machine). Machine list: Tajima, Brother, Janome, Bernina, Husqvarna, ZSK, Ricoma, Generic.
5. If you like, type the file path to use on the machine in the "File path" field.
6. Press the "Save PDF" button (it stays disabled if the customer name is blank or the job number is invalid). The saved file path appears on screen.

Quote — Cost/Quote Estimator

Starting from the design's stitch, thread, and time data, it calculates a cost breakdown and the quote price to give the customer. The pricing rates are kept in a separate "Pricing" profile, and all calculations are based on that profile.

1. First, set up your pricing rates once: the "Edit rates" link at the top of the tool takes you to the settings page (/settings/pricing). Here you enter the currency, thread cost per meter, machine and labor hourly rates, machine speed (RPM), efficiency factor, per-piece setup time, fixed setup cost, per-piece material cost, and markup percentage. Save with "Save".
2. Open the design and pick the "Quote" tool on the "Production" page.
3. Fill in the "Customer name", "Design name", "Quantity", and "Valid until" (quote expiration date) fields.
4. Press the "Calculate" button. The lower table shows the breakdown: thread ("Thread"), machine ("Machine"), labor ("Labor"), material if any ("Material"), and fixed setup ("Fixed setup") costs; then subtotal ("Subtotal"), markup ("Markup"), total ("Total"), and per-piece price ("Per piece").
5. To document the quote, save a PDF with "Save PDF".
6. To send the quote to the customer online, use the "Send web approval" button — this opens the approval-link flow described below.

Note — The time and cost calculation is an estimate based on machine speed, an efficiency factor, and default times for color changes and trims. Actual run times vary by machine, fabric, and operator. Tuning your quote rates (the "Pricing" profile) to your own shop determines how accurate the result is.

Tip — The currency is formatted according to the currency code in the profile (e.g., TRY, EUR, USD). If you see the wrong symbol, check the "Currency" field on the "Pricing" page.

Approval Form & Approval Link (Customer Approval — PDF and Web Link)

Gives you two ways to submit a design for customer approval: a printable/emailable approval form PDF, and a shareable web link the customer can open and approve in their browser. The web link includes the design's preview image, a size/color summary, and (if you came from Quote) the quote; the customer's decision flows back into the app.

1. Open the design and pick the "Approval Form" tool on the "Production" page.
2. Fill in the "Customer name" (required), "Customer email", "Design name", "Date", and "Notes" fields.
3. In the "Order" section, enter the order context: quantity ("Quantity"), garment type ("Garment" — T-shirt, Polo, Sweatshirt, Hoodie, Cap, Jacket, Apron, Bag, Towel, Other), placement ("Placement" — left/right/center chest, left/right sleeve, back, back neck, collar, cuff, pocket, center front, other), size on the garment ("Size on garment" — width/height), due date ("Due date"), and garment color ("Garment color").
4. For a printable PDF, press the "Save PDF" button and choose a location.
5. For online approval, press the "Approval link" button. A shareable link is generated in the window that opens; copy it with "Copy" and send it to the customer. The window also shows a QR code area, a status badge, and the link's expiration date ("Expires").
6. As the customer decides, the status updates automatically: "Pending", "Approved", "Changes requested", or "Rejected". If the customer left a comment, it's shown beneath the badge.

Windows — Generating an approval link requires an internet connection and a signed-in account; the link is created on the StitchKit server. If there's a network error, an error message appears in the window. As long as the window stays open, the status refreshes at regular intervals in the background.

Note — The "Email" button on the form is disabled in this release ("coming soon"). To send it to the customer, download the PDF and email it yourself, or share the approval link.

Tip — When you open it via "Send web approval" on the "Quote" screen, the approval link also includes the quote breakdown, so the customer can see the price and the design on one screen and approve it.