Do you get stunned after looking at an exquisite piece of Embroidery on an article?

Well, behind every enchanting piece of embroidery goes the digital process of Embroidery Digitizing, which is responsible for converting embroidery artwork into a machine-readable embroidery file. To come up with a high-quality and precise embroidery file isn’t a simple process and rather involves many intricacies and procedures. From using a needle to color charts and compensating for the push and pull factor to sewing directions and stitch types, there are various key technicalities involved in digitizing and embroidery artwork.

Mastering the art of embroidery digitizing may take several years for an artisan, given the various complexities involved in the process. Also, since the entire appeal and elegance of embroidery work depends on the precision and quality of the embroidery file, it is essential for the embroidery digitizer to have a complete understanding of all the intricacies involved in the process.

If you, too, are interested in pursuing embroidery digitizing as a hobby or profession, then continue to read on. Below we will be reviewing some of the crucial aspects of embroidery digitizing that influence the quality of the embroidery files.

–         Choosing the digitizing software

The first and foremost step for all embroidery digitizing work is to choose a digitizing software. If you are a newbie in the trade, you can easily find tens of free digitizing software available online. While this software is a great way to begin your journey as a digitizer, these are not recommended for commercial or professional use.

Remember, the quality and functionality of digitizing software directly influence the quality and precision of embroidery files. Even though there is various automated digitizing software available in the market, these aren’t professionally recommended; since these aren’t able to keep up with the design integrity. Some of the most recommended and industry-standard digitizing software is offered by the manufacturers of embroidery machines like Brother and Wilcom. This software offers advanced functionalities and key tools to assist digitizers to get things done faster and better. Also, if you want to pursue embroidery digitizing as a profession, you may need to have digitizing software that is able to export digitized embroidery files in multiple file formats since different embroidery machines only accept certain embroidery file formats.

–         Compensating the push and pull impact

Another vital aspect of digitizing embroidery is compensating for the fabric’s push and pull effect. To put it plainly, different types of fabric act differently when exposed to embroidery machines. Some tend to stretch, whereas others tend to shrink under the embroidery machine.

In order to achieve the best embroidery results, the digitizer needs to understand the push and pull of different fabrics and take the necessary measures to compensate for this factor. The key here remains the aptitude, experience, and skills of the digitizer and command over the trade.

While there is no thumb rule to address the push and pull compensation during embroidery, you will start mastering this important digitizing factor with extensive practice.

–         Understanding the underlay stitches

Underlay stitches are an essential type of stitches that act as the foundation of embroidery work. These stitches are meant to provide a strong foundation to the fabric. The right underlay stitches are also important to create a smooth core for the embroidery design. Without the right underlay stitches, it will be impossible to manage the fabric under the embroidery machine since it will sink and result in lousy embroidery.

Again, the key to understanding the underlay stitches for embroidery digitizer is his experienced and skills. An experienced digitizer will have the right skills to use underlay stitches ideally as per the fabric to achieve high-quality and precise embroidery work.

–         Understanding the fabric role in embroidery digitizing

Perhaps the most important aspect of embroidery digitizers is understanding fabric’s unique character and behavior under embroidery machines. The fabric represents the ultimate base for all embroidery works, and thereby, it is important to keep up with its characteristics and behavior while creating embroidery digitizing files. Again, to master the understanding of fabric response to the embroidery machine, you would need practice and experience. For instance, the response of heavy fabric like jeans or denim will be entirely different from soft fabric like silk or cotton. So, before you start with the embroidery digitizing career, make sure you learn about the character and behavior of different fabrics under embroidery machines.

Takeaway!

So are you ready to take on the embroidery digitizing profession? Apart from the factors mentioned above, there are various other factors that you would need to consider to master digitizing art.

However, if you are an embroidery fashion business, you may not need to waste time and energy learning digitizing. At 360 Digitizing, we offer fast, reliable, and affordable embroidery digitizing solutions to businesses of all sizes across the USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Our expert digitizers come with years of experience and strong skills to ensure the highest quality standards and precision for all embroidery digitizing works. Register with us today to experience the best in class embroidery digitizing solutions starting as low as $8.