Digitizing is one of the most important parts of machine embroidery, and it can make or break the quality of your design. If you don’t take the time to learn about digitizing, you might make mistakes that cost you time and money. Even if you hire someone else to do your digitizing, you should still know how it works. This will help you choose the best digitizer for your business’s needs.

This blog post will go over the dos and don’ts of digitizing so that your designs will come out right the first time and every time after that, whether you digitize them yourself or hire someone else to do it.

Let’s get started!

DO’S

Think about the clothing when you digitize

Before you digitize a design, you should think about what you want to embroider. For example, a design that was digitized for flats wouldn’t work on a cap because it doesn’t take into account the curved surface of the cap. If you try to embroider a curved design onto a flat piece of fabric, you won’t get the best results.

Also, certain design techniques are better for specific fabrics. For example, if a stretchy fabric has too much density, it can pucker, which might not happen with other fabrics. On the other hand, a design that was digitized for a material like stretchy knitted fabric might not look good on denim because it was digitized with the stretchiness of the knitted fabric in mind.

Digitize In the Correct Order

The order in which the design is embroidered by the machine is very important. When stitching a design, the machine should start with a placement stitch, then the underlay, and then the top stitch. If the machine embroiders out of order, it won’t be able to keep the design stable, which can lead to a crooked, poorly stitched design with lots of problems.

You want everything to stitch in the right order when you digitize. For instance, the design’s small details should be stitched last. Also, when embroidering on hats, the machine should start in the middle and work its way out to keep the fabric from puckering.

Think About the Angle

The stitch angle is the angle at which the machine makes its stitches. They can be at any angle, from straight to diagonal to horizontal. In a design with more than one part, for instance, one shape might have horizontal stitches and another might have vertical stitches. If you want your design to look good, you need to use different stitch angles for different parts of it. When there are many different kinds of angles, the design is more interesting and has more contrast between the different parts.

But if you only use one type of stitch angle, you might end up with a design that is dull, lacks texture, is one-dimensional, and doesn’t flow. So, instead of embroidering a big shape at one angle, try splitting it and adding stitches at different angles to give it more depth and volume.

Use Underlay

Underlay is the base of your design because it helps keep everything in place. Underlays come in many different styles, such as edge runs, center runs, zig-zags, fill stitches, and so on. They give the stitches a smooth surface to work on and keep the design from getting messed up. For example, knitted fabrics are very stretchy, so if you embroidered on them without an underlay, the design would get messed up. Underlay gives the design more depth, which makes it stand out.

If you use the wrong underlay, the design won’t be stable, which will make the design look messy and make the embroidery digitizing process harder. If you use the wrong underlay, the stitches can also sink into the fabric. If the underlay isn’t good, the material may even show through the design. For example, you need a centerline underlay when stitching small letters so that the underlay doesn’t show through the top stitches.

DON’TS

Don’t have Too Many Stitches that Jump

The extra threads on an embroidered design are called “jump stitches.” This happens when the needle moves from one part of the design to another and pulls the thread with it. Jump stitches can happen when the design was not digitized well and the needle moves randomly from one place to another. This often happens when the design order isn’t taken into account when digitizing. When you have a lot of jump stitches, you have to trim them by hand, which makes embroidery digitizng much more work. Puckering can also be caused by jump stitches, which make your embroidery look cheap.

You can reduce the number of jump stitches by not using patterns that are more likely to cause them. Most designs with a lot of running stitches also have a lot of jump stitches. Running stitch is a basic stitch that is used for underlay, outlining and detail work. Overall, there will be a few jump stitches in a well-digitized design that stitches out in the right order.

Don’t Mess Up the Weight

The distance between each stitch is the density. Density is important because it has a big effect on how the design looks when it is embroidered. When there is less density, the stitch time is shorter. This makes it less likely that the thread will break or the needle will break. But if your density is too high, your design might get messed up, your needles might break, your thread might break, and your fabric might tear. A design with a high density can also be very stiff and not uncomfortable to wear.

Don’t Use Technology Without a Plan

Any project, including digitizing, needs to be planned out ahead of time. For example, you should first think about what you’re going to embroider, how you want the design to look, and what colors you want to use. After you’ve thought about these things, you can import a high-quality image, trace it to make the shapes, and then stitch inside them. If you plan out the design you need to digitize, you are less likely to make mistakes and will end up with a better design overall.

In Conclusion

Digitizing is an important part of machine embroidery. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to embroider any designs. Because of this, it’s important to know what to do and what not to do when digitizing.