Patent ID: 8818546

Claim:
A multi-needle sewing machine which sews an embroidery pattern based on embroidery data for sewing the embroidery pattern including a plurality of pattern-by-color portions, using a plurality of thread spools, the multi-needle sewing machine comprising: a spool setting portion on which the thread spools are set; a spool color storage unit which stores, as thread spool color data, a plurality of thread colors of the thread spools set on the thread spool stand; an input unit configured to receive one or more user's designations of color for one or more pattern-by-color portions; an assigning unit that assigns thread color data to each pattern-by-color portion, the assigning unit being configured to: determine, for each pattern-by-color portion, whether or not the user's designation of the pattern-by-color portion has been received; when the user's designation for the pattern-by-color portion has been received, assign the user's designation as thread color data for the pattern-by-color portion; and when the user's designation for the pattern-by-color portion has not been received, then randomly extract and assign a non-overlapping color as thread color data for the pattern-by-color portion from the data of the plurality of thread colors stored in the spool color storage unit; wherein the multi-needle sewing machine is configured to execute sewing of the embroidery pattern for the pattern-by-color portion based on the thread color data assigned by the assigning unit.