Developer's $300 Embroidery Machine Required a Subscription, So They Built This Open Source Tool

Developer Kathy Korevec released ZigZag, an open-source embroidery design tool under the Apache 2.0 license, built for the roughly $300 Brother Skitch PP1 machine that otherwise requires Brother's Artspira app and its paid Artspira+ subscription tier. ZigZag imports SVG art, traces PNG and JPEG images, covers 11 stitch types including fill, satin and appliqué, and ships a built-in MCP server that lets AI agents inspect, draw and edit designs and control the Skitch over Bluetooth, with each action counting as one undo step. Korevec said she built the entire app with ChatGPT, and the project credits Respira for the Bluetooth protocol and sewing flow; ZigZag is available for Windows and macOS, with Linux users building from source in Rust.

A tinkerer, Kathy Korevec https://www.kathy.pm/?ref=itsfoss.com , has made ZigZag available under the Apache 2.0 license. She says that the entire app was built with AI, using ChatGPT, and her goal was to get software made to her specs, similar to the Adobe suite, but with MCP support built in. That MCP support is a built-in server that lets AI agents draw and edit in the same window. Her post about this on Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50470488&ref=itsfoss.com has already managed to reach top 10 status https://x.com/simpsoka/status/2120986510929313852?ref=itsfoss.com over a 48-hour period , and she has been answering questions there about how this was built and which machines it supports. ZigZag: Why develop this? This was built around a Brother Skitch PP1 https://www.brother-usa.com/p/sewing-embroidery/PP1?ref=itsfoss.com embroidery machine that she says cost her around $300. You see, the Skitch needs Brother's Artspira https://www.brother-usa.com/apps/sewing-embroidery/artspira?ref=itsfoss.com app to operate. While the app is free and works with the machine, a paid plan called Artspira+ adds useful extras such as digitizing images into embroidery patterns and creating cross-stitch patterns. Kathy says the free version is limited in colors and tools , and she believes some of the clip art is reserved for subscribers. She also guesses Brother sold the machine at a loss at first because of the subscription. seeing https://itsfoss.com/news/bambuddy-self-hosted-bambu-lab-alternative/ what many hardware manufacturers are doing. ZigZag imports SVG art and can trace PNG and JPEG images into shapes. It covers 11 stitch types , including fill , satin , and appliqué , with a preview of the stitches being shown in the editor. As for the MCP server , it lets an AI agent inspect the open design, add and edit objects and text, trace images, preview the stitches, and export files. It can also control a Skitch device, and each action counts as one undo step. This is not something new. Open source embroidery tools existed before ZigZag. People have brought up projects like Ink/Stitch https://inkstitch.org/?ref=itsfoss.com , an Inkscape extension, and Respira https://github.com/jhbruhn/respira?ref=itsfoss.com already lets people send designs to the Skitch without Artspira. The project also credits Respira https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag/blob/main/NOTICE?ref=itsfoss.com for the Bluetooth protocol and sewing flow. Kathy says she reverse-engineered the protocol herself and that her agent used Respira to verify it. Get sewing Currently, ZigZag is available for Windows and macOS . You can grab the latest release from the project website https://zigzag.diy/?ref=itsfoss.com or its GitHub releases page https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag/releases?ref=itsfoss.com . The README https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag?ref=itsfoss.com readme covers installation, Bluetooth pairing, and the MCP server, and it advises against firmware updates on the Skitch. Linux users can follow its steps for building ZigZag from source with Rust. The Brother Skitch PP1 is the only machine ZigZag sends designs to over Bluetooth, and Artspira needs to be closed first since the Skitch can only talk to one app at a time. For other machines, ZigZag can export PES , DST , EXP , JEF , or VP3 files. Suggested Read 📖: Synaptics went hard after a lone open source developer https://itsfoss.com/news/synaptics-vino-fiasco/ who wanted to get DisplayLink working on Linux. Enjoyed this update? Support independent Linux news coverage It's FOSS has been helping people use Linux for the past 14 years. Help us stay independent from big tech. Become a Plus member, enjoy ad-free reading and get 5 eBooks. Skip the AI slop and SEO spam in your Google results Tell Google you prefer It's FOSS, and it will show our Linux news and tutorials, created by experienced Linux users, more often when you search. It takes just a click. Set as preferred source https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=itsfoss.com Get FOSS Weekly in your inbox