Every digitizer aspires to deliver flawless designs right out of the box. However, sometimes, in the sprint towards the deadline, many professionals end up overlooking certain elements. These items generally include an unnecessary number of cuts, too many color shifts, inadequate compensation, etc.
While these items are not too prominent during scanning, they appear as glaring errors on the shop floor. Such mistakes not only result in a waste of time and effort, but they can also end up irritating your customers to the point where you could end up losing them altogether. That’s why we’ve created a checklist of the top ten mistakes when digitizing:
1) Planning: the lack of planning or route is a sure draw of a hobbyist. What may look good on screen will not necessarily work on the shop floor. Therefore, it is essential to keep an eye on cuts, jumps and lock stitches while traversing the routes.
2) Base Coat: When it comes to a base coat, the adage “practice makes perfect” is absolutely appropriate. Deciding which base coat works best for what type of stitch is something that comes with the bump and test that needs to be calculated beforehand. No foundation or wearing the wrong style will only put you on the short path to disaster.
3) Compensation – Compensation is what separates an experienced embroidery digitizer from the rest. You need to know how much is too much vs. too less vs. Just fine. Poor compensation leads to distorted designs and a visible base. When deciding on compensation, always consider the fabric used, design elements, type of base and type of support.
4) Density – Inadequate stitch density is another indication of lack of experience. If it is too high you will have a thick design on hand, if it is too small you risk the fabric showing through. Understand how your design interacts with the fabric to nail this one.
5) Stitch Direction: To give any design some visual interest and texture, make sure not all stitches run in the same direction, this also helps to loosen the tension that stitching puts on the fabric.
6) Lock Stitches: When it comes to spandex, sports equipment, jerseys, jackets and knits we recommend placing lock stitches so that the design does not come undone once it is complete.
7) Fillings: knowing the types of fillings and how they affect a design is key to bringing visual variation to your sewing. Using a combination of fill types is what can make the difference between blah and beautiful.
8) Stitch type: Always decide the type of stitch you will use according to the surface area you need to cover. For example, using a satin where you need a fill will result in curvy stitches, and a fill instead of a satin will create a dense, thick patch.
9) Suitable Application: As an embroidery digitizer, you need to know the application of your design. This means whether it will be logged on a cap, jacket back, or left chest. Even if the layout and dimensions remain the same, a layout
digitized for a sweater will not sew well on a hat, nor will one for terry on nylon.
10) Quality Testing – Our advice to all embroidery digitizers is to always test your design before shipping, no matter how long they are held down. This is the only chance you have to save the design and your reputation, while avoiding the above pitfalls before it’s too late.