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    In-the-Hoop: Stuffed Cat toy. Free design included!

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 4,055 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    It occurred to me that I never did anything like that, so why not? Here's a cat made in the minimalistic style typical of all French designs, which are the subject of my respect and admiration. There is also a bit of quilt in it (a decorative strip across its chest), also made right in the hoop. 
    The idea for the design came from the open sources online. The design may be used for non-commercial purpose only. You may also publish it on the Web with the reference to my website. 
    The design is in a *.dst format. To convert the file into other machine embroidery formats you'll need a converter. You can read more about it here. 
    Soft kitty (download) 

    The design size: 8.7х12.2 cm Stitch count: 1411  Number of colors: 1 or 2. Number of colors depends on whether you want to change threads. I used two threads, a black one for the nose and eyes and a beige one for everything else.  The embroidery sequence goes like that: 
    Hoop a stabilizer (tear-away): 

    Stitch the first outline directly on the stabilizer: 

    Put the first front piece right side up, aligning it with the horizontal line: 

    Cover it with another piece of fabric with its wrong side up to make a narrow strip on cat's belly. Align the edge with the outline: 

    Start the machine and stitch the strip that joins these two pieces together: 

    Turn the fabric back to flatten the seam: 

    Stitch one more basting stitch over it. You'll need it to know where to put the next piece of fabric for cat's lower part: 

    You may trim this piece of leave it for later: 

    On top of it place the lower part piece with its wrong side up, aligning the edge of the fabric with the basting stitch: 

    Stitch it: 

    Turn it back to flatten the seam. Stitch the whole thing along the perimeter to secure all three pieces on stabilizer: 

    Embroider the eyes and the nose (black in my case): 

    Cover it all with yet another piece of fabric with its wrong side up. This time, we'll make cat's back side: 

    Stitch the cat perimeter-wise: 

    Unhoop it, remove the stabilizer, cut it out along the perimeter (don't forget seam allowance!): 

    Turn it the right way round: 

    Fill it and stitch the opening: 

    That is all. Nothing overly difficult. 
    P.S. You can download other free designs from our online shop. 

    Embroidery on burlap: my first attempt

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 6,729 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    So, I've got to the Russian national material — burlap. Though I've already written about loosely woven fabrics, this may be considered a super-loosely woven one. There are only 4 or 5 strands per cm in burlap, and their variable thickness adds to the brain twister of design creation. But this is also what makes it interesting. 
    I have laid my eyes on a brand new vegetable sack, which I'm planning to use it in my experiment. I only have one attempt, so I hope everything will be fine. 

    Actually, the embroidery technique for the burlap is very similar to the one for other loosely woven fabrics; the only difference is that burlap surface has more texture. Therefore, much of the listed below is pretty obvious: 
    Hoop the fabric and the backing – a semi-transparent cut-away spunbond or a piece of organza so that it wouldn't show between the yarns. If you aren't keen on saving up on the stabilizer, you can use a thick water soluble film. For my fabric, I would also add a temporary spray adhesive, just in case. Thin water soluble film goes on top to make the surface smoother.  You can use the threads of any thickness and structure.  Loosen the upper thread tension.  Use the most ordinary needles matching the threads and the fabric in thickness. Sharp needlepoint is preferable.  You also need to lower the speed a bit so that the loosely woven yarns aren't pulled.  To create a machine embroidery file, I: 
    Picked a rather simple design to avoid excess stitches.  Paid particular attention to the strengthening layer: an additional basting stitch at the very beginning of the embroidery would attach the fabric to the stabilizer. It outlined my future design, the basting stitch being of the same color as my burlap so that in case something went wrong it wouldn't be visible.  I manually drew a lattice under the entire design. It would be of a matching color as well, provided that there was one in my collection.  I made a complex edge run and zigzag underlay for wide satins. For narrow satins only edge run was used. A very open lattice at 90 + edge run was put under the fills.  I set the density at 0.43–0.45 mm (my usual value).  Increased pull compensation up to 0.5-0.6 mm on each side and also deliberately changed the shape of the outline to make it wider (I mentioned this in my article on pull compensation).  I reduced satin stitch length to 3–4.5 mm in order to avoid the excess distortion.  With these settings I proceeded to the embroidery and got this: 

    I can't say that the result is outstanding: it needs correction. Mainly, the underlays – I should have given them more strength, like the ones for the FSL where the purity of the outline does not depend on the texture of the surface. But to do that I need to buy more burlap and try again. This sack is already full of potatoes. In my own opinion, the design for such a coarse fabric should on the big side, because small objects look ridiculous on this texture. One should not be afraid of using large elements in a case like this. 
    The first problem I encountered during the embroidery was the difficulty of hooping because this is not just cloth, but a garment. Special devices for such occasions once again popped in my mind. 
    Also, it is inconvenient to embroider such things on my home embroidery machine. In these circumstances, one fully understands the advantages of the "free arm embroidery" in the tubular hoops on commercial embroidery machines. In my case, it's the back side of the sack, but someone else struggles with the back of a T-shirt or a hoody. A free arm is usually kept under the rest of the working gear and does not interfere with your embroidery process. You don't have to rack your brain over positioning the garment properly so that is does not get stitched or loose in the hoop. 

    Adding volume to the embroidery. Method #2

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 3,281 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Today I'll tell you another method of adding volume to your embroidery with the help of special material like 3D Foam, 3D Puff, Bodybuilder from Madeira, etc. Some of the manufacturers call it EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) Foam, and some – PE (Polyethylene) Foam. The composition may vary, but the purpose of the product remains the same. 
    The most common embroidery designs with foam are inscriptions on caps and bags. Though I've seen puffy embroidery on T-shirts as well. You can use 3D Puff not just for the letters but also under an appliqué. 
    Foam comes in the variety of colors (usually all colors of the rainbow). But black and white remain the most common; anyway, I have not yet seen any other colors in Russia. As a rule, people try to choose puffy of the same color as the thread. The thickness, too, may vary – from 3 to 8 mm.
    The most common is 3 mm foam. 
    Embroidering with puffy is fairly simple: 
    First, you embroider all the elements if they are present in your design. After that machine makes a stop.  You put the puffy in the right place.  Embroider; the needle should penetrate it along the edges.  Remove the extra puffy.  Recommendations: 
    Before hooping 3D Puff, you can slightly spray it with temporary spray adhesive, just to secure it in place.  Choose your needles according to the fabric type. Ballpoint is the best for perforating 3D Puff. The needle size should be slightly bigger than the usual one for this type of thread.  Upper and lower thread tensions should be loosened up so that the threads would go around the puffy without trampling it.  Reduce the machine embroidery speed.  Rayon or polyester threads are preferable. A firm "no" to metallic threads. I've also read that #30 threads help to lower the stitch count in the design.  Plain-surfaced and tear-resistant fabrics are good for the basis of your embroidery. Better to do without thin and unstable fabrics. For example, chiffon and silk.  If there are still some traces of your 3D Puff left, try to singe it with a lighter.  Digitizing a design with puffy 
    The most efficient stitch type for 3D Puff is, of course, satin stitch. Pick the design with satin columns at least 5 mm wide. I've also read that you should put fill under puffy, for example, the one with long motif stitches. But I've tried this, so I cannot say whether it works good or bad.  Our first underlay is made of running stitches about 1 mm long along the perimeter. 
    Digitize "caps" for the open edges to perforate around the Puff on all sides. You can leave the inner side of the cap uneven in order not to penetrate the puffy. 
    You can also use pinching instead. Pinching involves choosing such angles that stitches at the corners are very small: they don't perforate puffy and don't require capping. 
    Your second underlay will consist of double zigzags with the density of 1.5–2 mm. 
    Digitize your outer satins. 
    Increase pull compensation by 5–15% of the column width. Increase push compensation by slicing at least 1 mm from the open edges.  Your standard fill density should be increased by 40–100%. For example, if your standard fill density is 0.4 mm, you'll need to make it 0.2–0.3 mm for the outer layer.  No shortening at the corners.  Now you've learned all digitizing tips. 
    There are two ways of removing the puffy: 
    after having stitched the underlay  after completion of the embroidery  I cannot comment on this one. It's the matter of preference. I tear the puffy away after the embroidery is completed. 
    You can see samples in my article Testing solid 3D Puff. See also how I tested various supplementary materials in order to find a substitution for 3D Puff — one, two, three. 
    Other articles on 3D embroidery — one, two. 

    Quality benchmarks. Exploring edge types

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 2,501 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Satin and filling stitches have a property defining the edge type (object profile). 
    There are at least 3 basic edge types: As it usually happens, every type has more than one name, depending on the embroidery editor: 

    Smooth (sharp) edge, where one stitch is parallel to the guideline (transverse) and the other is at an angle.  Acute (chiseled) edge is good when you want parallel stitches, except the first and the last ones.  Straight (square) edge is typical for low-density (min 2 mm) fills with a wide distance between the stitches. It makes a straight border.  There is one more type for satins: 
    Zig-zag edge where two neighboring stitches are laid at an angle to the guideline (transverse).  See the difference between Smooth and Zig-zag edges on the picture below:
     
    Apart from these basic edge shapes, the advanced modern software offers the users the possibility of customization. 
    It's hard to see the sense in changing the edge type and predict the results right away. Why did the software developers include so many separate shapes? I haven't yet found a comprehensible explanation neither in software manuals nor in professional literature. All I see is a plain statement: it is so and deal with it. 
    Therefore, I decided to conduct a little experiment of my own, to find out how to control this parameter and whether there is any sense in it. I digitized a small design containing 4 satin columns with different edges and 3 square fills. The density of all the objects except the one with the square edge was set at 0.4 mm. 
    This is how it looked in the editor: 

    And this is the result:

    Conclusions: Zig-zag edge for satins provides the best coverage, and I like the outline more. Acute (chiseled) edge is the best for the fills as it makes the best outline. I suppose if I combine satins with fills, the effect will be the same. Straight (square) edge looks skewed, and the outline is uneven. High (7 mm) stitch length is to blame, I guess. But it works splendidly for the fills: the outline is even. 
    Perhaps, someone has experience in this area and is willing to share it with us? Or tell us why change the settings at all? 

    Fringe effect in machine embroidery

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 6,329 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    The fringe effect is a special machine embroidery technique, simple yet effective, that allows to look at the design from a new angle and add some volume to the embroidery thanks to the free thread ends. 
    Below is the example: 

    Technically the process of creating fringe effect is simple and includes 3 steps: 
    First, we embroider the entire design in exactly the same way as always.  Second, we unhoop our item and cut the stitches on the wrong side to create the fringe.  Third, we fluff the threads up.  This technique works splendidly for whiskers and tails, hair and fur, flowers, etc. Anything your fantasy can conjure. 
    Digitizing 
    The digitizing process for creating of the fringe effect is so simple that even a beginner can cope. It's sufficient to know how one creates a wide satin column in the embroidery software. 
    So, we create a standard but a very wide satin column. You can set the width at the maximum value for the longest stitches your machine can embroider. The longer is the stitch, the longer the fringe will be. You can have a short fringe, of course. In my opinion, the stitch length should not be less than 5–7 mm, otherwise, it will be difficult to cut the threads on the wrong side. It's better to increase satin stitch density by 15–20%; it will improve the outer look.  No understitching whatsoever.  One side the column should be fixed to prevent unraveling. This can be done with the help of thin satin column. Set the stitch length in this column at about 1–1.5 mm.  You can apply this effect to the ready designs, too. Just create the satins in the way described above and place them on top of the embroidery sequence. Thus, the fringe will be embroidered before other elements. 
    Recommendations 
    Adjust your embroidery machine so that it does not trim long stitches. 
    Ways of cutting the underthread: 
    If you want loops, cut the underthread only.  If you want no loops, cut the upper thread on the wrong side near the edge.  Very easy, as you can see. 

    Embroidery on terry cloth

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 4,422 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Terry cloth is a fabric with loops. Every one of these loops is some kind of sponge that is aimed at soaking up water. Terry cloth made of 100% cotton is the most common. But it may be composed of other fibers: bamboo, cotton, linen, etc. 
    Lots of much-in-demand garments are made of terry cloth, and all kinds of embroidery are used as decoration. Therefore, I decided to write about the basics of embroidery on this fabric. 
    Terry cloth can differ in: 
    weight  density  composition  stability  loop height  loop twist loop on just one side of the fabric or both  All of these properties make their impact on digitizing for loop fabrics. 

    From the technical standpoint there is nothing difficult in embroidery on terry cloth. You hoop the fabric together with the stabilizer (I use thin tear-away one; although I've read somewhere that you can use a thin water-soluble film instead: put it on top so that the loops don't show between the stitches or better hoop it), and then embroider. 
    80/12 needle with a sharp needlepoint is usually recommended for thick terry cloth, and 75/11 ballpoint needle for thin and stretchy kinds. You can use any kind of threads. As for me, I prefer rayon – it is softer than polyester. 
    Digitizing a design for a loop fabric 
    The design digitizing process is not much different from the usual one, but there are some recommendations that you should follow. 
    It's better to choose bigger designs for embroidery on terry cloth. The object should not contain small and delicate elements, for after the embroidery the loops will raise and cover them completely, making the embroidery look worse. Therefore, it is better to use bold letters. Satins should not be wider than 8 mm and narrower than 1.5–2 mm. 
    When the stitches are over 8 mm it is necessary to compulsorily split them or apply short filling stitches to this object. This is due to the fact that garments made of terry cloth are washed rather often, and long stitches will eventually slacken or get caught in something — in both cases, it will damage the outer look of your embroidery. 
    It is recommended to increase the satin width by 10% or just add 20–30% pull compensation. 
    Understitching: 
    Double run for thin satins  Double run + double zigzag with short stitches that will keep the loops trampled for thick ones  Double run + full lattice at an angle different than the one in the main layer — for the filling.  Density: 
    I set density at no more than 0.45 mm for terry cloth. Though I've often heard that you should increase your density by 20% compared to the usual one. My experience shows that this will only lead to distortion — there will be waves on the embroidery surface. 
    You may consider using applique not only because this will allow you to reduce the stitch count and save on water soluble stabilizer, but also because it is easier to embroider small details on applique than on terry cloth. 
    But I didn't like the process of cutting out the applique with terry cloth still in the hoop — too much risk to catch a loop with your scissors and cut it open. Better to make an applique out of a ready template. 
    Digitizing for terry cloth is not really difficult. There is nothing in it that one cannot learn.

    Underlay: in addition to all said before

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 2,575 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    In the latest article by a famous digitizer and blogger Erich Campbell in Printwear magazine, I saw an explanation of the way of using underlay I'd encountered before. This was not the ordinary understitching applied automatically in your embroidery editor but manually digitized many-pronged stars for completely stitched designs like emblems or lines under openwork designs. 
    A many-pronged star looks something like this: 

    This type of underlay is used for very tricky and highly stretchy fabric like knitwear. It is placed under designs that are stitched all-over as in the picture above. This type of underlay is stitched at the very beginning, before the other underlays because it's main purpose is to make the fabric even and attach it to the stabilizer. The main thing when digitizing this type of underlay is to maintain the direction of the embroidery from center outward in order to avoid puckering. 
    But how does one deal with an openwork design that has openings between the stitched areas? A definite answer to this question does not exist, because its type is defined by the design itself. 
    This is what Erich Campbell suggested when making a Celtic flourish: 

    And this is Bonnie Landsberger's answer given in the Stitches magazine long ago: 

    I think I should take note of these recommendations. What is really important, this method allows you to edit designs created by other people even in the most primitive embroidery software. You'll only need to add a couple of stitches. 
    Of course, this can work only if you use a stabilizer for your openwork embroidery. Without it will undoubtedly shift. 

    Quality benchmarks. Rendering corners

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 4,277 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    In these days all embroidery software embroidery offers the users a possibility of choosing their own type of corner or automatically create a new one in one click. But let's divert our attention from this very handy option and see what corner shapes exist in machine embroidery, and what determines your choice of them in a different situation. This, in my opinion, is necessary in order to start controlling the automatic process at least to some degree, and to manually fix anything that you don't like. 
    So, there are the following angle shapes in machine embroidery: 
    Capped corner  Mitered corner  Hand-sewing corner (or butt corner)  Tucked corner  Simple corner (rotating corner, also called main or regular corner)  Before we plunge into the depth and begin to sort out why there are so many of them, let's recall some knowledge that we took out of our geometry lessons at school. 
    The measurement unit for an angle is a degree. 
    Sharp angle is an angle that is less than 90°.  Straight angle is 90° even.  Blunt angle is the one that is more than 90°.  The factors that influence the corner shape and kinds of stitches used for decoration: 
    Angularity  The width of the columns that form a corner.  If you look at the picture below, it will become clear why you should use different kinds of corners for the columns of different width. 

    Corner size is defined by the point on its inner side to the point on its outer side. The size depends greatly on the column width and rotation angle, which determines the type of corner that can be used. 
    Had we not used automatic angles in embroidery editors, we would digitize them by hand in this way: 
    Capped corner 
    Good for sharp angles between 0 and 60° and narrow columns, so that the stitch length isn't too high when they cross each other in the cap. I.e., the width of the columns that form a corner should not be over 2—3.5 mm. 

    Mitered corner 
    This method is used for sharp and blunt angles alike, from 60 to 130°. Column width value can be quite high — 5—7 mm. In order to avoid gaps at the joint place, you need for the columns to overlap. A slightly different stitch angle in columns that form a corner is preferred. Just how much overlapping there will be, is determined by fabric type: the stretchier is the fabric, the more overlapping there will be. 

    This is important: You should use this corner type in small letters and designs with care — overlapping stitches result in higher density. 
    Hand-sewing (butt) corner 
    Used only for straight corners (90°). It is good for columns of any width that form an angle. Can be digitized as 2 outlines, connected butt-to-butt.

    Very easy, but attentive digitizing is a must in order to avoid gaps between the outlines. 
    There is also this variety of a butt corner: 

    The turning looks like it was embroidered manually. Embroidery software manufacturers recommend it for appliques. 
    Tucked corner 
    This corner is very similar to mitered corner and consists of 2 oncoming columns overlapping each other. The columns should be wide enough (over 4 mm) and be identical. Stitch angle in neighboring columns is not much different, unlike in a mitered corner. Therefore the joint place is almost invisible. 

    Simple corner 
    Simple corner is very good for any angle ranging from sharp to blunt, but can be used only with narrow columns or the stitches may become too long. This corner is digitized as a single outline. Most of the stitches are gathered on the inner side, and on the outer side they are the most sparse. Therefore, it is necessary to remember to make the stitches on the inner side shorter in order to avoid holes in the fabric, monitor the stitch length and the stitch angles in the corner area. 

    Signs of a poor quality corner embroidery 
    the angle is not equal to the straight sector. The difference is most obvious in the wide columns.  a lot of thread breakage in the corners  the fabric is perforated on the inner side of the corner  embroidery speed is visibly lower at corners or trimmer keeps turning on when the stitches are too long  embroidery is puffier at corners, they become rounded and lose their shape  corners are not smooth because of distortion 

    Quality benchmarks. Push compensation

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 1 comment, 3,632 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Following my previous article called Quality benchmarks. Secrets of pull compensation, I'll remind you that in machine embroidery there exists a kind distortion called push. It means that the object stretches in the stitch direction. Thread thickness and density value are what causes shapes to distort. 

    There is a lot of reservation surrounding the whole concept. I suggest that we make it clear once and for all. 
    Push compensation is a deliberate distortion of the object shape in an embroidery design while digitizing. It serves to avoid various embroidery defects, for example, shape distortion (circles becoming ovals and squares turning rectangular). 
    Push compensation (Half-pitch compensation) 
    There are 2 ways of adding compensation to the object: 
    manually change its shape by removing several stitches from the ends of the object  adjust the respective parameter in the embroidery software  I'll better tell straight off that the possibility of regulating the compensation automatically is not present in every embroidery editor. And if it is there, the following methods of adjusting the automatic compensation are suggested: 
    remove the required amount of stitches from the ends of the object  or shorten it by a certain amount of millimeters  Tajima DGML by Pulse can automatically control the push comp properties, but for satin stitches only. At least, in v.12 of the mentioned software.

    Perhaps, the newer versions have a greater range of possibilities. 
    Also, Compucon works with this type of compensation. But you can only control compensation for fills in it. 
    As for WingsXP, it suggests moving the stitches aside from the open edges by the thread thickness value divided by half. A parameter called Half-pitch compensation exists specifically for that purpose. It only has two modes: Yes and No. 

    And the best bit comes at last. The question that everybody is interested the most: what are the benchmark push compensation values? 
    These are the push compensation values that I've encountered: 
    for satin letters more than 1.5 cm high — remove 1-2 stitch from the open edges 
    for fills — remove 2—4 rows of stitches  for open edges — remove the more stitches out of them, the higher is the density value  thicker threads need more push compensation than thinner ones  I'll repeat once again, that the aforementioned values are nominal and can only be used as a starting point for digitizing a new design. Compensation is not a science, therefore, you cannot tell which value is the most optimal.

    Quality benchmarks. Secrets of pull compensation

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 2 comments, 6,684 views
    Original text by Marina Belova 
    Compensation (or Comp) is a stitch object property around which a great number of myths, mysteries, and puzzles have emerged. Let's try and figure out what it is. 
    Compensation: generalities 
    Compensation is a deliberate distortion of the shape of the objects in an embroidery design at a digitizing stage. This distortion serves to prevent the appearance of various defects during the embroidery: gaps between the object outlines and shape deformation (circles becoming ovals and squares turning rectangular). 
    There are 2 main types of shape deformation: 
    Pull — decrease of the object thickness in the stitch direction.  Push — object elongation in the stitch direction.  
    Outline distortion is a result of the upper and the lower threads interacting with the fabric when changing the stitch direction during the embroidery. 
    In this article, we'll cover pull compensation only. 
    Pull compensation
    There are 3 ways of adding compensation to the object: 
    distort the shape manually by digitizing an object wider than it is in the original design  adjust the respective parameter in the embroidery software  combine the previous two options  I want to point out that to do the first one you need to have a vast experience and a trained eye. 
    Many western sources state that the option #3 is the most effective. They think that compensation should mostly correct shape distortion during digitizing. Adding some automatic compensation will allow adapting the design for various kinds of fabric. 
    A second way where compensation is added automatically is much easier and much more obvious. 

    There are 2 methods of adjusting the automatic compensation value: 
    absolute (fixed) value in millimeters  on a percentage-of-stitch length basis  Some embroidery editors have additional options for compensation: 
    you can choose to compensate only one side of the design  you can compensate in one direction only (X or Y — Tajima DGML by Pulse has such an option)  What determines the compensation value and how can it be adjusted? 
    type of fabric: the thinner and softer is the fabric, the more compensation it requires compared to the thick, densely-woven fabric  upper and lower threads tension regulation on your machine  the size of the embroidery area. The thicker is the element, the more compensation it needs the density of the embroidery. The higher is the density, the higher is the compensation value 
    And the last thing that everybody is interested in: what are the benchmark pull compensation values? 
    Ways of adding pull compensation: 
    set it at the value of 0.1—0.4 mm. I've heard that 0.4 mm value is good for standard situations.  adjust compensation on a percentage basis for sharp and straight corners to make them more clearly defined  when joining two objects make them overlap no less than 1 mm by hand or with the help of the compensation adjustment option.  too much compensation may damage the outer look of your embroidery and even lead to distortions  Of course, these parameters are only nominal and can be used as a starting point for design creation. Compensation is not a science, therefore, you cannot tell which value is the most optimal. You can always find the right value by doing test samples. You can read here why you should test every design. 
    In the following article, I will continue on the subject and will describe push compensation. 

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