The Digitizing Basics Of Embroidery
Time was when machine embroidery meant that you had to go to a special factory where they had the large sewing machines specially made for embroidery. So whatever kind of machine embroidery you wanted done – whether it was a promo T-shirt or something like a design or logo you wanted sewn on, these specialty places were the ones to go to. So you had to depend on someone else to do it for you.
Of course this was before computers came along and changed things. Now, you don’t have to leave your home if you want a logo sewn onto your son’s baseball cap – you have your very own sewing machine that can do it. The reason these machines are capable of it is thanks to embroidery digitizing. All you need is your embroidery sewing machine of course, a computer and a special software application for digitization.
The software gets installed onto your PC and any design you want gets digitized and can be embroidered. Of course, it’s not a click and embroider program – you need some skills and there are things you have to do by hand. For one thing, the design needs to be formatted into layers and sections before it is digitized. Even after it is digitized, it will need a bit of changing around because what you see on the computer is not what you get, embroidery being more of a three-dimensional art. However, the software helps you along.
In order to make the best use of this software, you must know all about embroidery and about the different fabrics as well. You will even have to take into account how the fabric moves when you do your design. You will also need to have a computer that is powerful with a lot of disk space that is free as well as a lot of RAM, a USB port and a strong processor. If your computer is powerful, it will make things move much more smoothly.
How do you choose your software? Well, you should find one that is easy enough to install and equally easy to use. It should be able to zoom in and out easily, match the onscreen grids with the components and control scaling. It should also be capable of automatically adjusting the stitch count if you were to increase or decrease the size. If it does not have this feature, you will be wasting a lot of time in calculation. It should also show you the true colors so you know that what is seen on the screen is what you get finally. This is crucial when it comes to color combinations.
Computer digitized embroidery may be a slightly complicated process but once you have mastered it, it can be a great source of joy as well as maybe a business if you manage it well.