Lofty Goals

Dec 1, 2008

Textured fabrics such as this sweater present an embroidery challenge in that the sewing surface is not flat.

Flawless embroidery starts with a smooth sewing surface. But when a customer's order calls for sewing on textured or lofty fabrics, your path to successful embroidery suddenly gets a little bumpy.

Here are several secrets to getting great designs on textured, dimensional items such as piqué knits, sweaters, afghans and polyester fleece:

• Use the smallest frame to fit the design so the area can be hooped without stretching much of the garment in the rings.

• Hoop gently so that the finished embroidery won't pucker around the stitching once the material is released from the hoop.

• Fuse a piece of cutaway to the back of the material, and hoop the two pieces together.

• Use this backing recipe: two juxtaposed pieces of medium weight, either cutaway or tearaway.

•Try heavier backing on loose fabrics, such as terrycloth or knit sweaters.

• For high stitch count designs, try a sturdy cutaway backing rather than tearaway, which might break down and lose stability, allowing the knit to stretch.

• Remember that any kind of zigzag stitch (including column stitches) has a tendency to pull in toward the center on stretchy fabrics such as fleece. To avoid this, you may need to increase the column widths and pull compensation factors. Also, consider increasing density settings and underlay.  — Source: Impressions archives

Tech Tips: Fleece Printing
To successfully screen print on fleece fabrics, there are several variables to be aware of including fleece quality, separation type and whether your design is created using vector- or raster-based artwork. Depending on the type of artwork you use, the type of screen frame and tension also comes into consideration.
July 31, 2009

Tech Tips: Identify Fabric Color Prior to Digitizing Embroidery Files
A common frustration for many digitizers is discovering that a seemingly perfect sew-out file — at least on their end — turns out to be horrible on the customer's end. What’s worse is that digitizers then have to guess at how to fix what appears to them as an already perfectly digitized file.
July 06, 2009

Tech Tip: Achieving Crisp 3-D Embroidery
Puffy foam embroidery continues to be a popular option for those customers looking for something different to give dimension to their designs. One of the biggest challenges with this process, however, is preventing the foam from sticking out between the stitches in 3-D designs. Some simple solutions in both the digitizing and embroidery stages can help correct this problem.
July 01, 2009

Tips for Training Embroidery Operators
Many shops just hire a new worker and let them learn on the job. This “on-the-job osmosis” method usually results in uneven job skills and does not give your employee the best opportunity to excel.
May 22, 2009