Archives for February 2017

February 15, 2017 by ANN

Digitizing embroidery designs for beginners

First, a bit of vocabulary – creating embroidery designs is a process generally called digitizing. The software you need is called digitizing software. The first thing to figure out is if this really is something you want to do. Many people get a machine and assume that they should make the designs that go on it. That is certainly an option and it might be the right option for you.

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Hang on! Are you comfortable with your embroidery machine?

I strongly encourage you to get to know your machine and how to work it well before you jump into digitizing. Embroidery and digitizing are two related but entirely different skill sets. When you stitch out your design and something goes wrong (it will, it happens to everyone, it is all part of the learning process), you want as few variables as possible. When your fill and your outline don’t line up, is it an error in the design or are you using the wrong stabilizer or is your tension off or is it just not really a design suited to the fabric you are using? Once you are confident with your machine and stitching on different fabrics, you will be able to test your designs and know if it is something that you need to change in the design or if it should be corrected at the machine. There are enough things to learn when starting out in embroidery. Using designs from reliable digitizers will help you through the learning curve.

Is that pucker from using the wrong stabilizer or because the design needed a tweak? My tester was experienced and had run into this before, so we knew that the design needed a tweak and I was able to fix it quickly.

OK, I’m getting pretty good at this embroidery thing – now I should start digitizing, right!?!

If you want to – sure! Why do you want to create your own designs? I’ll start with the only one that makes any sense to me. Do you enjoy working on the computer and learning new software, you have time to dedicate to reading manuals, watching tutorials and a lot of experimenting – and you have ideas just begging to be made? If so, digitizing might be right for you!

This design was at least 2 years in the making. I knew I wanted to made a design that changed from one thing to another and it took years to figure out how to do it.

Are you trying to save money on buying designs? Considering the cost of designs these days, it would take you a very long time to create enough designs to offset the cost of buying them vs the cost of software and the other costs involved in digitizing and testing. Even if you are paying someone to custom digitize logos, etc, carefully consider how long it would take you to learn to design and whether that time would be more profitable spent stitching for your customers. That is a cost/benefit only you can know.

You want to make designs to sell and get rich? It could happen. Reality is, as a field, digitizing is flooded. The cost (and with that profit) of designs is at an all time low and the competition is fierce. Back to my first point – if you love doing it and have brilliant and unique ideas, and you are pretty good at marketing – you might be able to break through. It is most definitely not a get rich quick stream of income for most people and requires many skills beyond digitizing. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, there are many successful digitizers selling their designs. It is just not as quick or easy as making a few designs and putting them on Etsy.

I wish!

With modern software, creating a design is actually quite simple. Consistently creating designs that stitch out well and achieve the look you are going for takes a lot of study, practice and testing.

You tried to talk me out of it, but I still want to do it!

Great! After all that, you really want to make cool stuff and understand what you are getting into – lets do it! I love digitizing and what it lets me do. There are quite a few very good digitizing programs on the market and each has its benefits and drawbacks. It is important to understand some basics first. On one end of the spectrum, you have auto-digitizing. This is when you import a picture and click Convert (or something like it) and voila! you have a design. Some autoditizers will give you a small amount of control in choosing what kind of fill you want or outline style, but it is generally a very automated, quick process with very little input. This sounds fantastic! I’ll have my entire clipart folder converted and ready to stitch by dinner tonight! If only it were that easy… This requires very “clean” artwork, meaning just a few colors, high resolution and little to no shading or shadows. Even given that, the results are quite unpredictable. Check out my post about autodigitizing here.

Auto-digitizing creates designs that range from awful to kind of ok

On the other end of the spectrum is manual digitizing. You can either work from scratch or import an image to use as your background. With manual digitizing, you create objects by setting “nodes”. Once you have those shapes, you choose what kind of object it will be – a run or a fill and what properties it will have. Do you want it a very thin line? A thicker line, a satin column? The control is all yours. On the one hand it is more challenging because you have to make those decisions for every part of your design, but on the other hand, you can get the outcome you were imagining because you have the control. It definitely takes longer, but in the end you have a design worth stitching.

All those options can be overwhelming, but they are the building blocks of a quality design.

Some digitizing programs include an autodigitizing function. Go ahead and play with it – for some extremely simple things, it might be a shortcut worth taking. I would never spend the money for a program that is only auto-digitizing. It just isn’t worth it.

Stay tuned for my Digitizing software roundup, but I’ll give you a sneak preview – My favorite software for beginners is Embrilliance. I love that you can purchase only the modules that you need and expand as you need it. Stitch Artist is the digitizing module that I am using these days.

February 6, 2017 by ANN

5 Stabilizers to have on hand

You do not need to own every embroidery stabilizer on the market. Some have a very specific job and if you are not doing that job, you just don’t need it. I went through my Amazon order history to see which stabilizers I have ordered in the past. These are my favorites.

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Tearaway Stabilizer

I love this tearaway stabilizer by Exquisite. I have to laugh a little at the name because it truly is exquisite. Felties are where I started digitizing and I have stitched literally thousands of them. These are designs stitched onto felt and then cut out. They have a million uses.

I tried so many different brands and weights of tearaway stabilizer and I always come back to this. I hate seeing stabilizer peeking out between the layers of a feltie, it just looks unfinished to me. This stabilizer pulls away nice and clean, leaving no shreds or “pokies” sticking out of the edges. It is equally clean on the back of towels and other project where the excess is torn away.

Cutaway Stabilizer

There are many different kinds of cutaway that may be useful for you, but I always keep a soft light weight cutaway on hand. It doesn’t create that stiff ugly outline on shirts and it is great for softies that have filled objects, like eyes or noses that would be too much for a tearaway to support. For super dense designs I can add another layer, but I rarely need to. Once again, Exquisite is my go to brand. It gives me consistently beautiful results and the price is right. I have found that I can use this on all but the lightest t-shirts without getting show-through, so I tend to use it more often than polymesh because (shhhh….) I’m cheap!

Exquisite brand stabilizer is my favorite for shirts like this cute bear applique.

Polymesh Stabilizer

Technically this is a cutaway, but it deserves its own point. Polymesh is perfect for t-shirts and other lightweight fabrics where you do not want the stabilizer to show through. It drapes nicely with the fabric so that it won’t stand out or make your project stiff. I also use it on the back of towels when a tearaway won’t cut it, but I don’t want it to show any more than necessary.

One important thing to note is that polymesh is notorious for shrinking under heat. I have not had a problem with this particular brand, but I highly recommend testing a sample with your particular iron to see if you will need to pre-shrink it before using it.

Use polymesh to avoid stabilizer showing through shirts

Polymesh is extremely light, yet strong enough to support your stitches

Water soluble TOPPER

This is the one that you want when you are stitching projects that have a lot of texture, like a towel or minky. I use it on just about every single Peekaboo or other stuffed toy that I make. Depending on your machine, some people use this on t-shirts as well, to help lettering and appliques stand up nice and thick on top of your fabric. I have found that I need to use it on my single machine, but not on my multi-needle. Try it and if it makes a big difference, you will know and if it doesn’t, then you know that too! You just place this on top of your project and stitch, after you are finished pull off what you can and the rest can be removed with a dab of water. This is not technically a stabilizer, but is sold in the same section and I consider it part of my stabilizer collection. I go through a ton, so I buy it by the bolt.

You can see the water soluble stabilizer on Peekaboo Panda. It helps keep his nose and mouth nice and dark rather than having bits of fuzzy fabric poking through.

Water soluble STABILIZER

This is different than the topper, this is an actual stabilizer. There are lots of great brands out there, I have always used Vilene and it worked for me so I stuck with it. This is what you want to use to make Freestanding Lace. I don’t use it often, but it is great to have it on hand when the mood strikes. I also use it on the back of towels from time to time. That one is more of a judgement call – there are times when I want the back clean, but a tearaway just will not give the results I am looking for. It is important to remember that this will wash away, so while the back is clean, it is also no longer supporting the design. If you are using it in this way, do a test run and wash and dry a few times to make sure that your design stays beautiful. I have this Stitch and Rinse stabilizer on my list to try next time I make towels.

I am stitching this freestanding lace ornament on Vilene washaway stabilizer.

Each of these come in a variety of widths, so if the one I linked does not fit your hoop, just select the one that does. Remember that your stitch field is not the size of your hoop, so a 5 inch wide piece will not fit a 5×7 hoop. When in doubt, measure the outside of your hoop and add a bit to account for the fact that it gets pushed down between the two pieces of the hoop. It is far better to have it too big than too small. You can always cut it down, but if it is too small it is totally unusable. I go through a lot of stabilizer, so I tend to buy the biggest roll I can to save money. If you are more of an occasional hobbyist, you may prefer a smaller roll.

Options, options and more options

There are many many more stabilizers available – heat away, sticky tearaway, water activated sticky, pressure activated cutaway and many more. They each have a job and do it well.

But this should not be one of the options!

You’ll notice that I do not have Glad Press n Seal or dryer sheets on my list. I actually keep a box of Press N Seal in my sewing room but it is NOT as an embroidery stabilizer. I will admit, I used to. We still have a burp cloth that I made 12 years ago that has been used as a rag for many many years. It still crinkles when I pull it out of the dryer because that plastic wrap is still there. I got lucky, I never damaged my machine – although I’ll never know how much I shortened its lifespan.

In the meantime, I learned much more about what that plastic could be doing inside my machine and I cringe at that crinkly burp cloth. I know that embroidery is not a cheap hobby and I love to save money wherever I can, but stabilizers that are made for embroidery machines cost pennies per hooping and are engineered to support stitches and not harm our expensive machines. Buying in bulk or buying wide rolls and cutting them down to fit your hoop are great money savers that won’t risk your machine or your warranty. You can also add your favorites to your Amazon cart so that you will be notified when the price drops.

For more tricks and tips, sign up for our Newsletter. Check out my shop A Creative Medley for fun projects to create with your perfect stabilizer.

February 3, 2017 by Ann

What is digitizing OR How do I get my pictures onto my embroidery machine?

Turning pictures into a design is a process generally referred to as digitizing. There are software companies out there that advertise that you can import a picture, click a few buttons and bing bang boom – you have a design! There are even a few embroidery machines that claim you can take a picture with the machine and transform it into a design. Well, yes, you can. This is a process called auto-digitizing. Some programs are better at it than others and with a very clean image, they might make a usable design sometimes. Did you catch that “might” and “sometimes?”

I frequently hear this question because someone has a logo that they need to stitch for a friend or customer and they need to get it into the machine. Logos are a particularly challenging kind of artwork. Sometimes your recipient will give you a clear vector image that will help the process along, but often you are working from a .jpg file or a screenshot from a website. To make it more challenging, logos are seldom created with embroidery in mind. I actually created mine with the idea that I would want to digitize it some day, so I kept my shapes relatively simple, limited the number of colors, and chose a chunky font. This is what I got from Bernina, which has a fairly decent autodigitizing function. This really isn’t something that I am going to wear to advertise my business.

Here it is when I put it into a program that exclusively autodigitizes. Ouch.

I have been digitizing for years and I outsource logos to someone who does them all day every day. The amount of precision and skill required to make a design look good at 3 inches takes a level of patience that is just not worth it to me. My time and sanity are worth it!

Logos aside, baby designs are very popular for many digitizers. Here I have a very “clean” image, which for digitizing purposes would mean high resolution and no shading. Super cute for a bib or a onesie, right!?!

I ran it through the autodigitizing in Bernina v8, which actually does a pretty decent job and allows for a little bit of control. To get this, I imported the image and hit convert – easy as pie. This is actually an abnormally great output. I wouldn’t sell it, but I might put it on a quick project.

Look a bit closer though – I lost all the gills on the fish – those were cute! Zoom in and you start to see more. That handle has some MIGHTY long satin stitches – those are going to snag the first time I wash my item. The area between the reel and the handle has some very odd angles going on. I am going to have loose stitches and tight stitches. All in all, it isn’t TERRIBLE, but I assume if I am taking the time to make this, and using my blanks and thread and stabilizer, I care about the finished product. Why else would I be doing it?

Just for grins, I ran the same artwork through another auto-digitizer, just to see what would happen. It only let me export the first three colors because I was using the demo version. The results speak for themselves. It picked up bits of the blue in the green letters and the edges are rough to say the least.

Here is the same artwork after I manually digitized it. I outlined each “chunk” (called an object in the software) and told the program what kind of stitches it should be, how long they should be, what direction the should run, what goes behind and what goes in front. My end result has a mix of satin stitches and fill stitches, the letters look like they would if you wrote them with a pen and all the details of the fishing rod and reel are there, just based on using different textures and colors.

Now you know creating designs isn’t a matter of clicking a few buttons. Digitizing is a skill that takes practice and skill. Stay tuned to learn more and decide if learning how to create your own designs is a skill you want to learn, or if you would prefer to stitch the many many quality designs available to download. If you are sure that digitizing is what you want to do, I highly recommend Stitch Artist, by Embrilliance. It is a great way to try digitizing at a price that will not break the bank. Check out my carefully digitized designs at A Creative Medley.

I was amazed at how decent the result from Bernina was at turning a picture into an embroidery design, so I experimented with the rest of the clipart in the set. Check out the results HERE.

February 3, 2017 by Ann

AutoDigitizing show and tell

I was actually quite impressed by the design that the Bernina software created in my post about autodigitizing. I decided to go back and run the entire clipart set through the autodigitizer and see what happened. Some were almost ok, and some would be a massive waste of time and thread. Here they are in no particular order!

Notice anything missing? My s’mores usually have marshmallow in them, not a gaping hole. The lettering leaves a lot to be desired too.

This raccoon is actually really adorable when you can see the whole thing, like in this In the Hoop Coloring Page

Sometimes random pieces just don’t show up when autodigitizing

The boot actually turned out pretty good, but those letters are rough

I like how it made the tent stakes satin stitch, but it really needs something to divide the tent from the tree behind it on the left side.

That hot dog will be a MESS to stitch out and the white of the eyes is missing. When all of the stitches are running in the same direction in a design like this, there will be gaps between the colors when you stitch it out and it looks very flat.

Those stars are something else! The combination of satin stitch and fill on the letters is never something you would choose to do.

Again, look at those letters. Lettering is something VERY difficult to get right when autodigitizing. The software just has no way of understanding what goes where, so you get bulging, oddly divided letters.