Embroidery Digitizing - Lettering

Let’s talk about embroidery digitizing and lettering. All embroidery software, from the most basic home program to the most costly commercial software, has some type of lettering function. The user friendliness of the software means that quality has improved greatly over time and it has become difficult to differentiate between low and high cost digitizing embroidery software.

If you are planning on embroidering logos, offering a custom embroidery digitizing service, done by hand, will produce a better result than keyboard lettering. Keyboard fonts simply cannot adjust for every single design or fabric situation and individual letters need to be edited for pull compensation and fabric.

If you’re not too familiar with an embroidery digitizer yet you might find you tend to crutch on the font lettering. Try to avoid doing this as much as possible. Take a look at designs with lettering that sews really well and notice how the letters join and corner. This will help you to gain a better understanding of how lettering should really look and will apply to hand digitizing.

If you do wish to use keyboard lettering, make sure to familiarize yourself with the lettering and what it can do as well as the recommended sizes for each font. Keep in mind that certain lettering styles will work better at smaller sizes. If you wish to edit the keyboard fonts extensively, rather digitize the letters by hand. Some fonts will be okay at smaller sizes (such as block type fonts) but fabric really needs to be considered as to whether the fonts will sew cleanly or not.

Unfortunately there is no way to assure that the design will work 100% perfectly since customers will sew onto multiple fabrics. However, ¼ ‘’ standard font size for basic lettering tends to work well with embroidery digitizing. You will need a different version for fabrics like terry and fleece to account for materials that incorporate more density.

There are same designs and fabrics that will allow for block lettering as small as .16’’ such as twill and nylons. But fabrics like knits are somewhat unforgiving and will tend to sawtooth easier. The rule of thumb with fabrics and lettering is that it should be dense enough for coverage and smooth edges but not so dense that is causes knots, bunching and crowded spacing.

If you want to branch out from using keyboard fonts, you will need to understand the dynamics of embroidery digitizing lettering as well as densities, column widths, underlays and pull compensation too.

Digitizing Embroidery – Shrinking Designs

There will be times when someone requests, for example, a left chest size variation of the jacket back that you have just digitized and it will be up to you to explain that the entire digitizing embroidery process will have to be redone.

If you find yourself having to enlarge a design from a 4” chest size to a 12” jacket size, for example, you will need to have some or all of the design repunched or have satin stitched converted to fills. When it comes to satin and column stitches, if they get above a certain width you will need to use a fill stitch so that the machine is not making massive movements and the stitches aren’t too wide. If the stitch is too wide (for example a pencil is able to be inserted into the open end of the column) chances are far more likely that the stitching will snag and the embroidery will be ruined.

Detail should also be considered carefully. What may seem incredibly detailed at 4” wide looks fairly straightforward when enlarged to around 10” and gaps will appear between joints along with other elements that didn’t really present an issue in the smaller variation of the design. Keep in mind that when you enlarge the design by 200% you are also enlarging the gaps and spaces by 200%.

In comparison, if you want to shrink a design from jacket size the opposite is going to happen. Fill areas become smaller or narrower to use fill stitches properly and you will have to convert to satin stitched. Just like outlines, satin stitched that are reduced further need to be repunched with running stitches once they get below approximately 1.5mm wide.  You will probably notice that some of the design details even get too small to include in the final design and you will have to eliminate those.

It is important that you discuss these elements with your customer, particularly if they want to order both jacket and chest sized versions of the design. Sometimes if there is an element that will end up being too small for chest applications to be included the customer will choose to leave it off the larger version so that the two designs correspond.

Be sure to give your customer all the information they require to make an informed decision when ordering their Embroidery Digitising.

An Insight into the Exciting World of 3D Embroidery Digitising

As with every other industry, evolving with the ever-growing demands of consumers almost always leads to innovations that create a sense of excitement in the market. The embroidery digitising industry is no stranger to this effect, since it is also an evolution of the more traditional manual embroidery trade. Accordingly, a more recent development in the embroidery digitising industry is the addition of 3D designs. These 3D designs are generally used to enhance numbers, alphabets, flowers, animals and even cartoon characters for a more realistic touch.

3D designs can be easily and skillfully added to fabrics with the help of two techniques. The first is the use of layered embroidery. Layered 3D embroidery works best in case of thinner materials such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, polos, etc. that are also meant to go through regular washing and ironing. The 3D embroidery digitising technique makes use of a higher density of stitches as well as adding consecutive layers to specific areas of the design to achieve the raised effect. This technique is highly recommended for when more details need to be captured in the embroidered design.

The second, more popular technique used in 3D embroidery digitising is creating a puff using specialized foam. Puff embroidery is widely used to achieve the 3D effect in tougher materials only washed periodically such as caps and hats. Ranging between 3 and 6 mm in density, foam matching the color of the thread used to embroider is placed on top of the fabric to create a 3D effect. This foam sheet needs to be first kept in place, before the machine goes ahead with the rest of the embroidery, for which an outline is first created following which an appropriate “stop” is placed in the program. Once placed, the Digitizing Embroidery program is then resumed to complete the piece. Finishing touches are then added by removing the residual shreds of the foam with a heat gun.

Propping Your Label on the Road to Success with a Reliable Embroidery Digitizer

Whether you are a local boutique or a full-scale design house trying to grab the attention of the mall shopper, keeping a reliable embroidery digitizer in tow can benefit you on various levels. The world of fashion has often been compared to the weather as far as its unpredictability is concerned. What is quite ‘in’ this season can become the faux pas of the next. So, in order for you to create a niche for yourself in the demographic of your choice, you need to keep coming up with new designs each season. However, the key to success essentially lies in getting your latest collections into the store on time, each time.

For those whose collections rely heavily on embroidered pieces, the benefits of having a trusted embroidery digitizer on board are incomparable. Your go-to embroidery digitizer will not only make sure to offer you the best possible rates in the market, but also make sure the order is ready on time, every time, while ensuring excellent quality.

One of the more significant, but less mentioned advantages of having a trusted embroidery digitizer is the confidentiality of your designs. When you choose to change digitizers on a regular basis, you also put the confidentiality of your designs in grave danger, by making them more vulnerable to exposure before they hit the counters. However, when you have selected and rely upon a single embroidery digitizer for all your requirements, he/she automatically assumes the responsibility of keeping your patterns safe and secure.

Another major advantage of hiring the same embroidery digitiser time and again is that over a period of time they begin to recognize your order pattern and preferences. They come to understand your needs instinctively and help you save precious time on having to explain every minute detail. With this kind of a collaborative partnership, you are not only able to get your designs to the shelves in time each season, but also know that their quality and integrity are well taken care of.

Tie Together That Sorority Using an Embroidery Digitizing Service

There’s nothing that gives an eager freshman the sense of belonging like being part of a sorority. Most freshmen not only have their college decided in advance, but also know which sorority they’d like to be part of once they’re at the campus. Wearing a jersey with the name of their sorority plastered up front is a matter of pride for all. However, with college life being so exciting and chaotic, there’s no time for most to care for printed jerseys, with regular washing and ironing wearing out your sorority’s logo before the semester ends. This is where the services of an experienced embroidery digitizing firm can come in handy.

Embroidery digitizing is a process in which any kind of artwork is recreated into a digitized file, so that it can be read and executed by an embroidery machine to be sewed onto fabric. By choosing to digitize the logo of your sorority and getting it embroidered onto the jerseys or t-shirts handed out to freshmen and other members, you can not only save on a great deal of hassle, but also a great deal of money. With an expert embroidery digitizing firm in tow, you can have the logo of your sorority replicated to the tee on fabric. We, at Express Digitising understand how every element of a sorority’s logo is important, which is why we take extra care to replicate every color and angle to peerfection during the embroidery digitizing process. We also offer to create full back and left chest designs at flat rates, making it extremely affordable for students to wear their logos with pride.

By choosing to opt for Digitizing Embroidery, you gift your sorority’s logo a new lease of life. Since embroidery sews on the pattern of your logo onto the fabric, it tends to stay on for years at end. Unless tampered with intentionally, embroidery outlasts printed materials, since regular washing, ironing and minor tugging and pulling has little to no effect on its colors or shape. Thus, by choosing to go for embroidery digitizing for your sorority’s logo, you can make sure that your members get to wear their favorite jerseys to alumni meets years later as well.

How an Embroidery Digitizing Service Can Help You Play Office Santa

The holiday season almost always puts everyone in a good mood, especially employees who are looking forward to some time off after a long year of hard work. However, for those part of the Human Resource department it can be an unnerving time, since it is also that time of year when employees expect you to show them your appreciation by way of gifts or freebies. Therefore, before your staff heads home for the holidays, it becomes imperative for you to leave them with a gift or memento that not only shows them your appreciation, but is also easy on the company’s pocket. Hiring an embroidery digitizing service can help you solve part of this problem.

An embroidery digitizing service provider helps you recreate your company’s logo or other artwork into machine readable code that helps put gorgeous patterns on fabric in no time. This leaves you with a world of choices to gift your employees before the holidays. The next logical question to ask now would be how? By employing an embroidery digitizing service firm, you get the ability to place your company’s brand name or logo onto a variety of fabrics that can prove to be excellent gifts for the soon approaching Christmas or New Year. These gift items can be inclusive of Christmas stockings, mufflers, socks, gloves, hats, woolen caps, jerseys and much more. And, with such a large variety of gift options to choose from, you not only have the chance to offer presents that fit into the organization’s budget, but also hand out extras that can be shared by their family members.

Also, by employing an embroidery digitizing service before the beginning of the holiday season, you stand a chance to play office Santa, while promoting your brand. Distributing free goodies with your logos stitched onto them, this being taken care of by your embroidery digitizing service provider, helps you enjoy the best of both worlds, wherein you not only gain favor with your staff, but also help your brand make it into multiple households that too at the fraction of the cost of traditional TV or billboard advertising.

What to Expect Of a Professional Embroidery Digitizer?

At Express Digitising, we like to keep you informed about the various skills and processes involved in converting your artwork into custom digitized files, so that you are always left with a quality product at the end of the day that keeps you coming back for more. In this piece, we will try to acquaint you with the various skills and capabilities expected of a professional embroidery digitizer. These characteristics have always been given utmost priority while hiring our team of embroidery digitizers and are something that should be kept in mind while investing in an embroidery digitizing service by you as well.

Keen Analysis – One of the most important characteristics to look for in an embroidery digitizer, sharp analytical skills are what separate the amateurs from the professionals. With due analysis a digitizer is not only able to understand the software he/she is working with, but also know how the codes will be executed by the embroidery machine. In order to produce a top-quality embroidered piece, the digitizer must understand the synergies of both the software as well as the industrial machines.

Foresight – Yet another prized quality in experienced embroidery digitizers, foresight not only helps the professional create a code that produces the desired results effectively, but also efficiently. An experienced digitizer will always have a suggestion on how to make a design more “embroidery-friendly” by making a few changes to it after it is first presented for analysis. This ability to foresee also comes in handy to create an efficient digitized file that minimizes production run time.

Troubleshooting – An embroidery digitiser should have remarkable troubleshooting skills that help him/her create digitized files that eliminate production run errors. Taking into account a variety of factors including make of the fabric, thread strength, stitch pattern, etc., a professional embroidery digitizer will always aim at creating a file that runs smoothly after due quality checks and appropriate troubleshooting.