Compiled Embroidery Skill Articles

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Conquer Lettering | Printwear about:reader?url=https://printwearmag.com/features/ways-conquer-embro... 2 of 3 10/28/2016 12:13 AM Navigating small lettering Small lettering is the most common embroidery challenge. There are countless articles on the subject as well as many differing opinions. As with most problems, the best solution is to avoid the problem altogether. Understanding the limitations of small lettering solves about 60 percent of issues. The greatest problem with small lettering has nothing to do with height. Rather, the problem is that the column width is too thin for a needle to form a proper stitch. If sewing with a 75/11 needle, each needle penetration creates a hole with a diameter of 0.75 mm or a radius of 0.375 mm. For a stitch that measures 1 mm in length, the sewing process creates two holes with a radius of 0.375 mm each, leaving only 0.25 mm of fabric untouched between the outer boundaries of the holes. That’s not much to work with. Of course, the hole closes again around the thread after withdrawing the needle, but the fabric is potentially weaker. In this situation, if the stitch length were 0.8 mm instead of 1 mm, you’d likely sew holes rather than laying down stitches. When a customer wants too many characters in a given area, the letters are compressed, further compounding the problem of the column width. Generalized values can assist in determining the feasibility of text within a certain area. For example, in a 4" area, try following this guide based on a normal thickness font: 1" lettering, eight characters 3/4" lettering, 11 characters 1/2" lettering, 17 characters 1/4" lettering, 22 characters 3/16" lettering, 30 characters This guide is not absolute, but it’s a good way to gauge if text will fit within a certain area. The more characters added to the values provided, the greater the chance of problems arising. In many cases, problems with small lettering are self-inflicted. Our desire to please the customer overpowers common sense, and we can’t say no. If the embroidery won’t sew properly, it’s the decorator’s responsibility to educate the customer and offer alternatives. Another tip for success with small lettering is to use more traditional typestyles of medium thickness. Characters with slender columns are too thin to sew, and thick columns often close the center of letters.
Conquer Lettering | Printwear about:reader?url=https://printwearmag.com/features/ways-conquer-embro... 3 of 3 10/28/2016 12:13 AM Underlay is also a culprit of small lettering troubles. Embroiderers tend to load up a letter with underlay, but it can easily stick outside of a thin column and further close the center of letters. A center walk underlay that doesn’t repeat more than once or twice is usually sufficient. In some cases, satin letters don’t work for the given application, and it’s necessary to create running stitch letters. This type of lettering is more tedious and difficult than the satin-column style. Ultimately, consistency is the key to creating successful run stitches. If some portions of the lettering are stitched with one or two passes and other areas have a different number of passes, the variances will stick out. Keyboard lettering is often blamed for poor letter quality because it’s designed to embroider at a wide range of sizes. However, there’s only one ideal size for a predigitized object. Embroiderers tend to abuse a font and use it for a variety of sizes without making adjustments for the letter’s push or pull. All lettering, whether hand-digitized or keyboard generated, must follow the rules of embroidery in order to look great and sew correctly. Great embroidery is the art of managing distortion. Small lettering pushes and pulls against material, leading to uneven lettering. Letters with columns, such as i, l, w, k, won’t push out and letters with curves, such as c, o, e, pull in. Embroiderers must visualize the sewing process when creating stitches. Think the process through and create lettering carefully. With practice, you can successfully embroider letters of all shapes and sizes.
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Page 5 and 6: 10/28/2016 Back to Basics When embr
Page 7 and 8: Embroidery / Digitizing Glossary -
Page 15 and 16: Embroidery Basics: Understanding De
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Page 19 and 20: 10/28/2016 Getting Started Part 2
Page 23 and 24: 10/28/2016 Hat Tricks product for t
Page 25 and 26: 10/28/2016 Hat Tricks panels. Unstr
Page 27 and 28: 10/28/2016 Stabilizers: A Simple Gu
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Page 33 and 34: 10/28/2016 Embroidery Thread Tensio
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Page 43 and 44: Stitchitize Embroidery Design Learn
Page 45 and 46: Some software may have options for
Page 47 and 48: Patterned Fill Many of todays digi-
Page 49 and 50: Accordian Stitch This is an effect
Page 51 and 52: TIP Digitize the edge run underlay
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Density Density is also known as St
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Stitch Angles Stitch angle is the d
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Push Compensation Push only affects
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Spacing Space is an extremely impor
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Cross section of overlapping embroi
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Segmentation Deciding the best path
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