Embroidery Digitizing: The incredible shrinking (or enlarging) design

There will be times when a customer decides they want a left chest size version of the jacket back they just had digitized (or vice versa) and you will have to explain to them why it will have to be redigitized. It’s hard for a customer to understand since to them, we’re just pushing computer buttons and all the magic happens in the program, right?

If you’re enlarging a design from a 4” chest size to 10” or 12” jacket size you will likely have to have portions (or all) of the design repunched or satin stitches converted to fills.  Once a satin or column stitch gets above a certain width, a fill stitch needs to be used instead so that the machine is not making huge movements and stitches are not too wide.  If a satin stitch is wide enough for a pencil to be inserted on the open end of the column, it is much more likely that the stitching will snag and ruin the embroidery, especially on jacket backs since the wearer will lean up against seat backs, etc.

There’s also the issue of detail.  What seems very detailed at 3-4” wide looks elementary when enlarged to 10” and gaps appear between joints and other elements that were not an issue in the smaller compact version of the design.  Any flaws that might have been virtually unnoticeable at chest size now appear. Remember, as you’re enlarging the design 250%, you’re also enlarging the spaces and gaps between elements 250%.

Conversely, if your intention is to shrink a design from jacket size, you are going to have the opposite issue.  Fill areas will become too small or narrow to use fill stitches efficiently and must be converted to satin stitches.  Satin stitches, such as outlines, that get even smaller must normally be repunched with running stitches once they get below about 1.5mm wide.  Some design details get too small to even include in the final design and must be eliminated.

These things are important to talk to your customer about, especially if they will be ordering both chest and jacket sized versions of their design. If there is an element that cannot be included once the design is small enough for chest applications, sometimes the customer will opt to leave it off the larger version so the two designs will still look exactly the same. Either way, you are giving your customer the information they need to make an informed decision when they order their digitizing.

For more information about NeedleUp's digitizing services, please visit our website at http://www.needleup.com where you can view some of our most recent work and get pricing and more information on contacting us.  Donna Lehmann is owner of NeedleUp Digitizing and she can be reached at 303-287-6633

Machine Issues VS Design Problems

Embroidery problems are a pain in the…. BUT, learning to diagnose whether the problem is with the machine or the design will take you a long way past the frustration.

We’ve all been there; you just want to get the job finished and out the door and move on to the next one waiting, deadlines and all. That, of course, is when the gremlins visit and slow down the whole bit. Being able to discern where the problem is gets you quickly back into production.

Let’s start with registration problems. We can determine whether the problem is machine or design as long as we’ve taken care of a few pre-production things:

Hooping: On flats, always check that the design is hooped properly, meaning using the correct stabilizer and insuring that it is completely captured in the hoop all the way around and the fabric is taut but not stretched. Some cases may require an extra piece of backing and that can be tested quickly by adding it on the next run to see if it makes a difference.

On hats: registration is even a touchier point and some hat frames will fight you to be able to get the hat tight in the frame and it may take a few clips on the frame to help hold the hat. Always use your needle plate designed specially for hats to limit the amount of flagging under the needle.

Once you’ve assured these initial steps, the problem is either the design itself or the machine.

Design:  Digitizing issues will be fairly consistent. If the design doesn’t line up, say a border around a fill, by just a bit, it’s probably the design and it just needs to be adjusted. If it is way, WAY off, check your hooping. Designs are created with compensation for the fabric push and pull in mind. If the fabric is moving way more than the digitizer expected, the result will be poor. (This is why we ask what type of fabric the design will be used for) For hats, the design needs to be digitized specifically for hat application and should sew center out and bottom up. Without the proper pathing, a design may bubble or ripple against the center seam and cause puckering.

Machine:  Check the frame arms to be sure they’re tight and that the hoop arms are seated tightly in the frame. Cap frame bands should be tight across the hat with no movement possible once the frame is clasped shut. Assure that the pantograph is moving freely and not catching or bumping anything while sewing. Distortion such as a line of text that “smiles” or “frowns” means the hat is moving and pulling in when sewn.

Thread breakage is the other usual obvious problem. These are a bit easier to diagnose. If the thread breaks in the same spot of the design every time, it’s a digitizing problem. There may be stitches that are too close together. If it seems to happen virtually anywhere in the design, you have a machine problem, could be tension issues or needle burs (snapping or fraying). One exception is a “false thread break” where the machine will unthread after a trim. Even though this may happen in the same spot, it’s not the design. It could be the machine’s trimmers are acting up or the tension is way too tight.

Use your deductive reasoning. One thing to think about is if you’ve used this design before successfully, what has changed? If the design sewed well previous, is it a different fabric/application? Different brand of hat? Different weight or brand of thread? If it’s a new design, was it digitized for the fabric/application you are trying to sew? Are you hooping it properly? Checked needles?

Talk to the digitizer and get some input. If it’s a design issue, the best way is to show the digitizer exactly what the design is doing is by scanning the resulting embroidery and let the digitizer see exactly what needs to be edited and by how much. A good digitizer will recheck their design and adjust the stitch file to fix the issues. (There’s that customer service thing again!)

Once you get good at diagnosing problems, you’ll be able to get sewing again much faster with less hair loss!
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NeedleUp Digitizing LLC is owned and operated by Donna Lehmann, a 20yr veteran of the embroidery/digitizing industry. She can be reached at NeedleUp, 303-287-6633 for digitizing, consultation and classes M-F.

Editing your Embroidery Machine Designs Properly

With regard to digitizing, ever wonder how stitch files work? The original file holding the digital information for the design is actually a master coded file with all sorts of info about everything from how close the stitches are (density) to color breaks, stitch angles, trim commands, pull compensation and many other codes that tell the embroidery machine what to do. This file is a condensed (wire-frame) master file in a format native to the software and can only be read by someone else with the same software. This file is not the file that is read by the embroidery machine.

The stitch file that sews the design on the machine is saved from that master file and is in an expanded format the machine can read. It carries no coded information and is merely a list of stitch points telling the needle where to sew.

For this reason, changes to the design should be made to the original master so the integrity of the design stays intact. Once the changes are made, the stitch file version of the design is rewritten.

All this explanation is to tell you that each time you make changes to a stitch file without going back to the master, the design deteriorates a bit when the embroidery software tries to recreate the codes upon opening the design up in the software. Some coding is invariably lost, even if you open the stitch file up in the same software it was created in. Over time, this results in poor embroidery. It’s always better to return to the original master file format to make changes or go back to the person who created the master for changes.

This is not to say that editing expanded stitch files is not possible, however, there will most likely be more editing and recoding needed to get quality results. As always, turn to a trusted digitizer with the skills to help you properly.

Do you have customers that would like to change/edit their embroidery files and you don't have the original? We do that! When you’re looking for a digitizer, call NeedleUp. We have over 20 years in the commercial embroidery business! 303-287-6633 NeedleUp Digitizing ©2002 A USA company