Machine Embroidery: A Marriage of Fabric and Design

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Threads Magazine, editor

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Small designs scattered over a garment can maximize the embroidered effect. These shapes are from the Dot Font design card by Cactus Punch.

Coarsely woven fabric

Smoothly woven fabric

Small designs scattered over a garment can maximize the embroidered effect. These shapes are from the Dot Font design card by Cactus Punch.

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Enlarging designs on some embroidery systems lengthens the stitches and increases the spacing between them (lowering the stitch density). These designs will not cover fabric as well as their unscaled counterparts. If your customizing software only elongates the stitches and spreads out the rows, try using gold lamé as a topping. The spaces created from lengthening the stitches will have the shimmering lamé peeking through, and you may even create a more interesting effect than the original design.

Personal preference also influences what you think about fabric coverage. Too many embroiderers expect total coverage of any fabric, regardless of thread-color choices. This results in stiff embroidery, which professional embroiderers and digitizers consider to be of poor quality— and which will probably result in other problems, such as puckering, thread breaks, or even fabric damage.

Misalignment problems
Poor registration (gapping or misaligned outlines) can result from using a tearaway backing with a design that has large fill areas. These designs can break down a tearaway and compromise stability before the outline has been completely sewn. Use a cutaway backing alone or adhered with embroidery spray adhesive to remedy the problem.

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Comments (1)

Mcat1227 writes: Another great refresher....thanks!
Posted: 10:24 pm on September 3rd

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