Digitizing is a crucial part of machine embroidery that can make or break the quality of your design. Understanding what digitizing is and how it works is critical to your success, whether you've just unboxed your embroidery machine or have been embroidering for years.
Even if you outsource your digitising, knowing a little about how it works will help you choose the finest embroidery digitizer for your needs, which will be useful to your company. If you don't spend the time to learn about digitization, you risk making mistakes that will cost you time and money.
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The foundation of your embroidery design is the underlay, which serves to support it. The stitches might also sink into the fabric if you use the wrong underlay. When stitching small text, for example, a centring underlay is required to prevent the underlay from peeping through the top stitches. Furthermore, a poor underlay can cause the material to show through the design.
If you choose the wrong underlay, the design will not be stabilised, resulting in a sloppy pattern and a more difficult embroidery procedure. Knitted materials, for example, are particularly elastic, so if you embroider on them without an underlay, the design will distort. Underlay gives the design more depth and helps it stand out. Edge runs, centre runs, zig-zags and other forms of underlays are available.
Before digitising a design, consider what you want to embroider on it. A pattern created for stretchy knitted fabric, on the other hand, may not look nice on denim because it was created with the stretchiness of the knitted fabric in mind. A curved design embroidered on a flat cloth will not yield the greatest results.
A design created for flats would not work on a cap because it ignores the curved surface of the cap. In addition, various design strategies work better with certain textiles. Too much density on a stretchy fabric, for example, can create puckering, which does not happen with other materials.
The stitch angle refers to the angle at which the machine embroiders the stitches. However, employing only one stitch angle can result in a monotonous, flat, one-dimensional artwork that doesn't flow. Any angle, from horizontal to vertical to diagonal, can be used.
Using a variety of angles creates a more fascinating and textured design with more contrast between the various pieces. It's crucial to have varied stitch angles for different portions of the pattern if you want it to look decent. A design with many elements, for example, might have one form with horizontal stitches and another with vertical stitches. Instead of embroidering a large object at one angle, try splitting it and adding multiple stitch angles to enhance volume and dimension.
The order in which the machine embroiders the design is really important. If the machine embroiders out of order, the design will not be adequately stabilised, resulting in a deformed and poorly stitched design with numerous difficulties. In order to avoid puckering when embroidering on hats, the machine should stitch from the centre outward.
Small design features, for example, should be stitched last. When digitising, you want everything to be stitched in the correct order. The machine should start with a placement stitch, then the underlay, and finally the top stitch when embroidering a design.
You won't have to embroider the actual design and waste materials just to check how the machine stitches it. The Slow Redraw tool will imitate the sequence in which the machine will stitch out the pattern, as shown in the GIF below.
Any endeavour, including digitization, requires advance planning. It can help you avoid mistakes and ensure a better design overall if you conduct a planning session for the design you need to digitise. For example, consider the fabric you'll be embroidering on, the design you want to create, and the colours you want to use.
There shouldn't be too many jump stitches
Jump stitches can also produce puckering, resulting in a low-quality appearance to your embroidered designs. Jump stitches can occur as a result of a poorly digitised pattern in which the needle goes from one region to another at random. When the needle moves from one section of the design to another, it drags the thread behind it.
When the needle moves from one section of the design to another, it drags the thread behind it. Because you must manually cut jump stitches, having a lot of them makes for a considerably more labor-intensive stitching experience. When the design sequence is not taken into account during digitization, this is what happens.
When you're initially starting out in embroidery, auto digitizing applications come in handy. Basic errors will be avoided if you digitise yourself or have someone else do it, which will boost your efficiency and productivity. Basic errors will be avoided if you digitise yourself or have someone else do it, which will boost your efficiency and productivity.
High density might also result in a design that is uncomfortable to wear due to its stiffness. Density is significant since it affects the embroidered design greatly. However, if your density is too high, you risk having a distorted design, as well as damaged needles, thread breakage, and fabric tears. The stitching time is shorter when there is less density, which minimises the risk of thread breaks and damaged needles.
You wouldn't be able to embroider without digitising; without it, you wouldn't have any designs to embroider. If you're outsourcing your digitizing, on the other hand, these pointers will assist you to check your digitizer's design and guarantee you choose the correct individual for the task. That is why it is critical to understand the dos and don'ts of digitising.