Embroidery Basics Articles

10/28/2016 Understanding Alphabet and Font Options
each method and how you can use each to your advantage.
1. Custom­Digitized Lettering
When creating logos, I prefer this method because there are small nuances to
most lettering that only are captured by digitizing from the artwork, and in this
method, the lettering is digitized specifically for each job.
The other reason to custom digitize lettering is to make it run ef ficiently. Custom
lettering created by a professional or experienced digitizer is production friendly ,
and has the proper underlay and density values for the fabric onto which it will be
stitched. I don’t try to force a keyboard font into a logo unless it’ s a perfect match.
Using a keyboard font for a logo rarely results in the same high­quality sewout that
can be achieved when the lettering is custom digitized.
Sometimes special considerations — like time and money — can get in the way of
using custom­digitized lettering. In these instances, three choices remain: keyboard
fonts, auto­digitized T rueType fonts and alphabets as designs.
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2. Digitized Keyboard Fonts
This quick­and­easy method is how most of us embroiderers create lettering for
everyday jobs, from personalized sewouts to poems and scriptures, and everything
in between.
In this method, letters and words are typed at the computer keyboard in much the
same way as you type in a word processing program like Microsoft W ord. The user
selects the style, size, density and other parameters, and the stitches are
generated according to the user ’s instructions.
In most systems, the resulting lettering is fully editable. The best practice is to save
in the native format of the software so that it can be edited later , in the event that it
doesn’t stitch as planned or you discover a misspelling. Then, save the lettering to
a stitch file, such as DST or EXP, to be easily read by an embroidery machine.
Even though the software you regularly use probably has about 100 digitized
keyboard fonts, chances are good that you use only a few select favorites. That’ s
because you know them well and they’re reliable. You don’t have to do a test
sewout before each job because you have used these fonts so many times that you
can predict the styles that will work well in a small size, as well as the ones that are
bold enough to stand out on plush material.
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Of course, you know the “bad” fonts too — such as the script fonts that have
awkward connections or strange characters (like a “T” that looks like an “I” and an
“S” that doesn’t look like any handwriting you’ve ever seen). Some sophisticated
software packages allow you to edit characters and save them for future use.
Still, I’m a believer that you can hardly have too many lettering software packages.
When trying to match a keyboard font to a specific customer­requested font style, it
seems that the customer ’s lettering always has at least one character that’ s
different than the similar font in your system. Instead of spending up to an hour
trying to edit the character , a different software package could have a font that
more closely matches what your customer wants. Most embroidery software brands
have reasonably priced lettering packages, which are good for ensuring lots of
lettering options.
3. TrueType Font Generation
Modern software packages also usually include a T rueType font generator that
converts TrueType fonts into stitches. This can be useful for certain lettering styles
and sizes, but the resulting lettering sometimes contains incorrect stitch directions
and other edits may be needed.
When used with discretion and proper settings, this type of lettering can serve a
purpose. However, be aware that many TrueType fonts will need to be adjusted to
their column widths using the “Pull Compensation” feature of your software.
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