Vehicle embroidery designs
Little red cars, tractors, fire trucks, airplanes, sailboats, steam trains and diggers: these vehicle embroidery designs are favorites for kids' clothes, backpacks and nursery quilts, and for grown-up fans too. Many of them are free, and each one downloads as a DST, EXP, JEF, PES or VP3 file.
Tip: most vehicles are drawn from the side, so they are wider than tall and sit best across the chest.
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From race cars to tugboats
On the road, the car designs range from classic cars and race cars to vintage campers, and the truck and tractor designs bring pickups, tractors and fire trucks. Excavators, dump trucks and cranes have their own home in the construction vehicle designs.
In the air, the airplane designs include helicopters, jets, hot air balloons and propeller planes. On water and rails you will find sailboats, tugboats and paper boats in the boat and ship designs, and steam trains and toy railways in the train designs. Bicycles, scooters and motorcycles have a section of their own as well.
Size and placement for wide motifs
Because the longest side of a vehicle is usually its length, a 70 mm (2.8 in) car is a low, wide shape that suits a pocket, a bib or the front of a toddler cap. A 95 mm train or tractor fits a 4x4 hoop and runs across the chest of a kids' tee, and the 125 mm size, which needs a 5x7 hoop, fills a backpack, a pillowcase or a quilt block.
A row of different vehicles also makes a good border: stitch three of them side by side along the hem of a pillowcase or a curtain, with the same gap between each.
Kids' clothes that are washed every week
- Tees, bodysuits and sweatshirts: a cut-away stabilizer with a soft fusible cover on the inside, and a ballpoint needle.
- Bibs and hooded towels: a water-soluble topping on terry so the wheels and windows stay crisp.
- Denim overalls and canvas backpacks: a tear-away or cut-away depending on the weight, and a sharp needle.
Use 40 wt polyester thread for everything a child wears, since it is colorfast and handles bleach.
Generic vehicles, no logos
All of our vehicle embroidery designs are original drawings of generic vehicles. You will not find car makers' badges, tractor brands or airline colors here, so the things you stitch stay clear of other companies' trademarks, whether they are gifts or, with a commercial license, items you sell.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have designs of a specific car or tractor brand?
No. Brand badges and the trademark colors of car makers or tractor companies belong to their owners, so we draw generic vehicles instead. For a car that looks like yours, without its badges, describe the body style and the color to the AI design generator, or pick the closest generic car and change its thread colors.
Which file format do I need for my embroidery machine?
Choose PES for Brother and Baby Lock, JEF for Janome, EXP for Bernina, VP3 for Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff, and XXX for Singer. DST works on almost every machine but stores no colors, so you follow the thread chart. The embroidery file formats page explains each one in more detail.
Are there bicycle and motorcycle designs?
Yes. City bikes, scooters, choppers and dirt bikes are collected in the bicycle and motorcycle designs, ready for denim jackets and kids' tees. Road and mountain bikes for cycling fans are in the cycling section under sports.
Can I combine two vehicles, like a train and a plane, on one item?
Yes. If both fit your hoop, place them side by side on your machine's screen and stitch them in one go. Otherwise, stitch one, re-hoop and line up the second with a marked guideline. For a quilt, give each vehicle its own block and arrange them when you piece the top.