Embroidery run time calculator

How to use this calculator

Sewing time is the stitch count divided by your machine's speed in stitches per minute, then divided by a running efficiency. The efficiency covers what the speed setting leaves out: machines slow down for short stitches, trims and jumps, and many run caps and small lettering below top speed. The default of 75% is a starting assumption, not a measured figure, so lower it if your logs show slower runs. Color-change time is the number of color changes multiplied by the seconds each one takes; on a multi-needle machine that is a few seconds, while on a single-needle home machine it includes rethreading by hand, so raise it. One machine cycle is sewing time plus color changes. With more than one head, items sew in parallel, so the number of runs is the quantity divided by the heads, rounded up. Hooping and unhooping is added once per item, assuming it happens while the machine waits; if you hoop the next item while the current one sews, set it lower. Z Digitizing's pricing guide notes that machine setup with color changes and hooping takes about 30 to 45 minutes for a job, which you can add on top of the result for a first run.