DRAWings PRO XII vs Ink/Stitch

DRAWings PRO XII is graphics and production software for embroidery, textile and screen printing, computerized quilting, cut and stencil crafting, and fabric painting. It runs on Windows and macOS and imports vector and bitmap graphics, alongside support for many embroidery machine formats. Tools include automatic scaling to fit a design within a hoop, stitch-density adjustment within a 25% range, auto-digitizing, stitch simulation and appliqué. Version XII adds a patent-pending Sketch stitch engine, support for additional embroidery machine models and hoop sizes, and printouts that can include barcodes for compatible machines to load designs with stitch-count and color-change information. The package contains 204 embroidery-ready clipart items, 147 cut vector designs and more than 3,000 embroidery designs. Users can copy and paste designs from CorelDRAW or import CMX files exported from it, but DRAW-Stitch functionality is no longer available in this version. The full downloadable package costs $2,199, paid once. A free trial is available after submitting an evaluation form; review may take up to one business day. Activation and updates require an active internet connection.

Ink/Stitch is a machine embroidery design platform built around Inkscape and SVG, available as an extension for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It requires Inkscape 1.0.2 or higher and is free to use under GNU GPL version 3.0 or later. Designs can use running, bean, ripple, satin, fill, cutwork, redwork, and tartan stitches, with manual stitch placement also available. Lettering tools support typing with pre-digitized fonts or creating custom fonts. Users can preview an animated stitch-out or a stitch plan, then make a PDF with realistic rendering or line-drawing mode. Thread tools allow installation of palettes from more than 60 manufacturers, creation of custom palettes, and matching design colors to a selected palette. Ink/Stitch imports and exports embroidery formats including DST, EXP, JEF, PEC, PES, VP3, and XXX, and can export a detailed PDF view. It offers appliqué tools, vector import, and stitch simulation, but not auto-digitizing. Brother PEC and PES files cannot save more than 255 color changes.