Travel embroidery designs
Iconic landmarks, city skylines, taxis, hot air balloons, compasses and maps: these travel embroidery designs help you remember a trip or dream up the next one. A good number are free, and each design downloads in PES, JEF, EXP, VP3 and DST, or as a single all-formats ZIP. For backpacks and other hard-to-hoop gear, stitch the motif as a patch on twill and sew it on.
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Places, cities and adventures
This category gathers the destinations themselves. Landmark designs show famous kinds of towers, bridges and monuments as simple silhouettes, and city designs cover skylines, taxis and coffee to go. Adventure designs add hot air balloons, compasses, maps and summit badges.
Suitcases, passports, globes and luggage tags have a page of their own, the wanderlust and travel gear designs. The two groups work well together, for example a globe on a passport cover and a skyline on the matching tote.
Souvenirs you stitch yourself
A travel motif turns a plain item into a souvenir: a landmark on a tote bag after a weekend in a new city, a hot air balloon on a baby blanket for a family trip, a compass on a gift for someone setting off. Travel embroidery designs also make thoughtful farewell and honeymoon gifts, especially with the place and the year stitched underneath.
Many travelers collect patches, one per trip, on a backpack or a jacket. The embroidered patch designs page explains how to stitch, cut out and attach them.
Fabrics for bags and travel gear
- Canvas totes and cotton bags: a medium tear-away, with only the front panel in the hoop.
- Nylon backpacks, packing cubes and coated luggage: hard to hoop and quick to show needle holes, so a sew-on patch is the better choice.
- Travel T-shirts and hoodies: a ballpoint needle with cut-away behind the design, the sheer mesh type on pale knits.
- Denim jackets: tear-away for open, light designs and cut-away for heavy fills.
A wide skyline across a sweatshirt or a tall tower on a tote is measured on its longer side, and the 125 mm size fits a 5x7 hoop either way.
Trips into nature
Hiking and road trips connect with the mountain and landscape designs, which pair well with a compass or a trail badge from this category. For beach vacations, look for waves, shells and palm trees in the beach designs, and for flights, the airplanes among the vehicle designs.
Frequently asked questions
How do I embroider on a backpack?
Most backpacks are too thick and padded to hoop, and nylon shows every needle hole. The easier route is to stitch the design as a patch on twill or felt, cut it out and sew it onto the front pocket. If the pocket opens flat, you can also float it on hooped adhesive stabilizer.
Can I add a city name or a travel date to a design?
Yes. Type the city and the year in the monogram maker, then place the text under the motif on your machine's editing screen. Short names read best, and the combined design must still fit your hoop.
Are the landmark designs copies of real buildings?
They are our own simplified silhouettes inspired by famous kinds of towers, bridges and monuments, drawn in the library's flat-color style. They contain no trademarks, official logos or photos, which makes them easy to use as souvenir motifs on tees, totes and patches.
What is the difference between travel designs and wanderlust designs?
This category shows destinations: landmarks, cities and adventure motifs. Suitcases, passports, globes and other travel gear are grouped in the wanderlust and travel gear designs, which pair well with them on bags, luggage tags and travel pouches.