The Basics Of Embroidery Digitizing
Machine embroidery has been around for many years. However, all of the machine
embroidery of the past was done by very large and expensive machines housed
within specialty businesses. In the past if you were a business and wanted your
logos sewn onto baseball hats or other promotional items, then you went to a
custom embroidery business and they did it for you. Thanks to the declining
costs of computers and technology advances, home sewers now have the capability
of doing custom machine embroidery in their own homes.
The art of creating custom machine embroidery is called embroidery digitizing.
Embroidery digitizing involves using a personal computer, an embroidery sewing
machine, and a special digitizing software application.
Using digitizing software install on your personal computer, you can transfer a
design into one which can be embroidered. However, this is not a simple
“click-of-the-mouse” conversion; it is done by hand and takes some time and
skills. To digitize a design you need to dissect the design into sections and
layers and design how each area will look with another.
Once you have your basic design digitized, you then have to spend time with the
special software tools tweaking out the design so that it will look good once
your embroidery machine embroiders it. Because thread embroidery designs are
three dimensional not all designs will look good once they have been digitized.
The software is very helpful in this area and in showing you which areas to
change.
To be successful with embroidery digitizing software you must be an experienced
sewer and knowledgeable of the various types of fabrics on the market. Fabric
moves differently when sewn and you will have to account for this in your
designs.
Embroidery digitizing software requires you to have a fairly powerful personal
computer. You will need one with a lot of system memory, a strong processor, a
USB port, and a lot of free disk space. The better the personal computer you
use, the easier it will be for you to design your embroidery projects and the
easier it will be for your computer to transfer them.
When you are looking to purchase digitizing software there are a few things you
should be looking for. The first is that the software itself should be easy to
install and use. You should be able to digitize on your computer screen by being
able to control scaling, match components to the onscreen grids, zoom in and
zoom out, and pan from one area of a design to another.
Many digitizers today can easily allow you to expand or shrink your designs and
they will automatically adjust your stitch count and density to meet the new
design size. This is very important and can save you a lot of time.
Another important thing you want to have in your digitizing software is the
ability to see the true thread colors both on your computer monitor and on your
color printer. This allows you to make sure you use just the right colors in
your designs and that the embroidered design meets any logo requirements as
well.
As you can see, computer digitized embroidery is not a simple process. However,
once you learn the basics it can be a very satisfying craft or business venture
for you. You will be truly amazed at your results after learning the software
and creating your first few designs.
