Original text by Marina Belova
A very long time ago I've read on Lindee Goodall's website that the colors in machine embroidery could be blended not only by way of adding tone to the main color but also the other way round. I made little of it then, having considered this technique just a slightly odd variation of a traditional one.
But when I created a pony free embroidery design not so long ago, I, by a fortunate coincidence or rather because I added the understitching manually, noticed that the method described by Lindee does indeed work:
After that I saw an embroidered logo at my work, executed in exactly the same fashion. And then it dawned upon me that a rare technique can rival this one in its simplicity and availability: You don't even have to bother about splitting the objects into segments, orienting your stitches and adding the understitching so that it won't show through the upper layer of low density, etc. The gist of this method is as follows:
Place the tonal layer under the main fill in the required place. Set the density at an ordinary value or 1 or 2 points lower. Remember that the stitch orientation in the main and tonal layers should be matching to a tee.
- The density of the main layer is standard, 0.4 mm, for example.
- No understitching in the main layer.
- It is also very important for your editor to distribute the stitches in the layers in such a way that majority of them do not overlap, but fit in the free space between the stitches of the preceding layer.
Not every editor can give you the required precision in stitch allocation. But this is what makes it possible for the inner layer to peep through the densely laid stitches of the outer one, creating a very thin watered effect in case the colors are chosen appropriately.
Edited by Irina
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