# general rules of thumb for digitizing...and how to spot a bad design.



## digidana (Jun 20, 2016)

ok...and pet peeves.

run fill stitches at an angle. not left and right, or up and down. if you run with the direction of the nape of the fabric it can stretch the fabric and cause puckering and throw off registration.

no satin stitches under 1.3 mm wide...including lettering. less than that and its thread-break city. if lettering comes out less than 1.3 mm wide. pull comp can be used to make it wider. but don't go so wide that it fills in the e's and a's. 

my general rule of thumb. if a stitch area is less than 1.3 mm wide, its a running stitch. take the time to zoom in and measure the stitch widths with the pull comp to make sure they aren't under 1.3 mm. between 1.3 mm wide and 6 mm wide, its a satin. over 6 mm wide and its a fill. (tho this rule gets broken from time-to-time depending on the situation). as the width of a satin stitch goes up....so should the density and amount of underlay.

less than a 2-2.5ish mm satin stitch only needs a single line underlay. more than that and you're jacking up the stitch count unnecessarily.

caps...digitize from the center out and from the bottom up. a cap design will stitch fine on a shirt....a shirt design will not always stitch right on a cap.

underlay is important. and so is pull comp (whether you compensate manually or automatic). not all underlay has to be generated automatically. if you have, say, a checkered flag, consider laying down an underlay in the first color, either manually, or using a fill stitch with a very light density, that covers the entire flag area first, and not just under each check. the underlay will help hold the entire area stable and help with registration.

not everything you see in a design should be digitized. you have GOT to know what works and what does not. and tell your customer up front what can't be done so they aren't disappointed and give options. text too small? can you make it work in all upper case instead of caps and lower case? can it be stacked on two lines, etc.

think about pathing. the sewing order is important, but pathing from one stitch group to the next is just as important. nothing is more irritating than a design with 15 unnecessary trims.

registration. when you outline a fill with a running stitch, end the fill stitch a bit short of the running stitch outline in the direction the stitches are running. if you digitize a running stitch perfect circle, the fill stitch should look more like an oval.

1-click, autodigitizing is terrible. don't use it. even the best software can't THINK.

give your design depth and character. can a large area of fill be done instead with several sections of satins to give it life? no? how about several sections of fill stitches running different directions? light will catch the stitch groups differently and bring it to life. (skubler...the email i sent you is a perfect example of this). it takes a lot more time, but is worth it in the end.


here is another good example of giving a design depth and character:


this design would be boring with one solid block of grey fill, and one solid block of white fill.

lettering. vertical stitching letters, like I, M, N, V, W (etc) will stitch looking taller than letters that are horizontal on top and bottom like a B, C, D, E, O (etc) unless you compensate for it. the edges of the satin stitch will sink into the fabric making the horizontal letters look shorter. if you don't compensate with pull comp, do it manually. without pull comp i generally make the BCDEO (etc.) 6-8% taller. on lettering that is horizontal on top like FPRT i enlarge vertically about 3-4% then make 'flush top' with the BCDEO letters. on letters with a horizontal bottom like JLU, i bump it up 3-4% and make "flush bottom" with the BCDEO letters.

small serif fonts. don't make them three stitch groups...just one with the serifs being wider than the "stalk" like the first one shown here...


if you (the embroiderer) are having consistent registration problems, thread breaks or having to send designs back for edits....you need to find a new digitizer. they will probably be more expensive, but they are worth it. the best embroiderer can't make a poorly digitized design stitch well or look good.

what did i miss? i'll probably come up with more later...its early.


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## 34Ford (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm watching


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## malakia2966 (Dec 30, 2016)

Digidana, just wanted to say a BIG Thank You for taking the time to post the detail... As an individual trying to 'absorb' the "scale" of what Embroidery and Digitization of designs is all about this Post was helpful in setting up some 'book-ends' of basic understanding for me. 

Thanks again.


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## roggie (Jan 5, 2017)

digidana said:


> no satin stitches under 1.3 mm wide...including lettering. less than that and its thread-break city. if lettering comes out less than 1.3 mm wide. pull comp can be used to make it wider. but don't go so wide that it fills in the e's and a's.
> 
> my general rule of thumb. if a stitch area is less than 1.3 mm wide, its a running stitch. take the time to zoom in and measure the stitch widths with the pull comp to make sure they aren't under 1.3 mm. between 1.3 mm wide and 6 mm wide, its a satin. over 6 mm wide and its a fill. (tho this rule gets broken from time-to-time depending on the situation). as the width of a satin stitch goes up....so should the density and amount of underlay.
> 
> less than a 2-2.5ish mm satin stitch only needs a single line underlay. more than that and you're jacking up the stitch count unnecessarily.


Thanks for posting this here, these are almost all great pieces of advice that I found to be true too (sadly had to figure it out on my own tho'  )

This is my first post here, I registered because I found plenty of good advice and fixes for digitizing.

I mostly agree with you, just not with the quoted part. In my place of employment I regularly make (better said - have to make) letters that are 0.5mm thick, this is considered the minimum here (also the man that gave me lessons in digitizing told me this is the absolute minimum for me). I would LOVE to only make letters and lines wider than 1.3mm but I don't have that luxury and would probably have to reject most of the designs I digitize. I would be out of a job in a few months..

I also don't quite agree that only single line underlay is neccessary. I find it that 'sometimes' everything tends to be better embroidered if there is edge line underlay. Depends on the fabric I guess.

I only work as a digitizer for 18 months now so I'm actually a newbie compared to some of you, just thought I would add to the discussion.


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## digidana (Jun 20, 2016)

here is a good place to start to tell if you're getting a decent design. check pathing also, and if you're getting too many thread breaks, that's a good indication that its bad!


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## derpko (May 26, 2019)

Thank you for pointing me here digidana! Too bad the pictures are broken!


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## pjmom60 (Mar 31, 2013)

So when are you going to start your You Tube lessons??!!! Thanks so much for your advice. Digitizing is hard when your mind is analytical, not creative! (Give me a balance sheet and income statement anytime-digitizing, not so much!)


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## digidana (Jun 20, 2016)

derpko said:


> Thank you for pointing me here digidana! Too bad the pictures are broken!





derpko said:


> Thank you for pointing me here digidana! Too bad the pictures are broken!


hey! sorry, i went through and reread it, and its weird, some of what is showing up as links, never were. 

but these should help. this is what i was talking about breaking up stitch groups in one color designs to give it character: 

this one shows what i was talking about with horizontal stitches falling above or below the baseline. i use guidelines for all lettering so i can make sure its right: 

and here is what i was staying about doing small serif fonts: 

hope it helps!


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## digidana (Jun 20, 2016)

pjmom60 said:


> So when are you going to start your You Tube lessons??!!! Thanks so much for your advice. Digitizing is hard when your mind is analytical, not creative! (Give me a balance sheet and income statement anytime-digitizing, not so much!)


hahahaha, i have to sleep sometime!


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## djque (Feb 5, 2013)

digidana said:


> hey! sorry, i went through and reread it, and its weird, some of what is showing up as links, never were.
> 
> but these should help. this is what i was talking about breaking up stitch groups in one color designs to give it character:
> 
> ...


what would I start with to digitize the ABFJ in wilcom e4.2.

Digitize open shape
digitize closed shape
digitize column
digitize run


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## digidana (Jun 20, 2016)

djque said:


> what would I start with to digitize the ABFJ in wilcom e4.2.
> 
> Digitize open shape
> digitize closed shape
> ...


I use e3, so i'm not sure if its the same, but i use 'input b'. i never use 'input a'. i never use 'fusion fill' either.


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