Original text by Marina Belova
Tie-offs are a secondary property of the object. But they are important nonetheless.
Tie-offs are made of several short stitches (usually 1—1.5 mm, and never over 2 mm) that prevent the embroidery from loosing up.
Reasons for inserting a tie-off:
- In the beginning of the embroidery
- In the end of the embroidery
- Before trimming
- Before/after a jump
- Before/after thread color change
It is better not to use tie-off without a reason, for they may lead to "bird nesting" on the wrong side of the embroidery.
Ways of inserting a tie-off:
- Manually
- Automatically
Manually inserted tie-offs
Only a small number of digitizers insert their tie-offs by hand. Usually, they are pretty much satisfied with what the software could offer.
Manual tie-offs are used often in cases when an automatic tie-off at the end of the object becomes too apparent to the eye or distorts the outline. Small letters with narrow outlines, for example. In this case a tie-off is digitized manually in such a way that it becomes lost between stitches.
Types of automatically inserted tie-offs
There are different types of automatically inserted tie-offs. A line and a butterfly are considered the most common. There are several ways of inserting them.
Often the embroidery software offers a whole row of options, out of which you can choose the one you need. For example, in the Stitch Era Universal you can choose a tie-off out of 5 suggested ones:
In Tajima DGML by Pulse 12 there are only 2 types of tie-offs. And Compucon has 12!
Additionally, some embroidery editors it is possible to modify the chosen variant. Usually, you can change the stitch length and the number of stitches.
Edited by Irina
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