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Digitizing Embroidery
Digitizing Embroidery Is categorically Fine Art Approach
Introduction to Embroidery
Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric with intricate designs using a needle and thread, which is sometimes made even more exquisite by the addition of other decorative materials such as beads, sequins, and pearls. Embroidery using only a needle and thread often relies on the embroiderer’s knowledge of the different stitches that can be applied. This practice has been done as early as the 5th century BC.
Classic embroidery practices involved the conceptualization of a design before embroidering it onto the piece of fabric that is to be decorated. The image is then embroidered onto the fabric by the tailor through the use of his/her extensive knowledge on stitching. This usually takes days for a tailor to finish depending on the design.
Recent technology has allowed tailors of today to easily embroider designs onto different fabrics easily. Different machines have been developed to aid in hastening embroidery. Sewing machines have started to play a role in embroidering, but the most recent development is digitizing embroidery.
How Digitizing Embroidery Works
As its name suggests, digitizing embroidery involves the use of digitized embroidery designs to add onto fabric. As technology developed, tailors have found an easier way to provide embroidery services to their customers by cutting the production time by half through the use of digitizing embroidery. But how exactly does this technology work?
First and foremost, those who are in the business of embroidery must have their embroidery machines that are capable of embroidering digitized designs onto fabric. Once the company has the embroidery machines, all they need is digitizing software that would digitize the image that is to be embroidered onto the fabric.
The trickiest part of digitizing embroidery is the creation of digital images that would contain the design of the embroidery. Most businesses choose to have all their designs digitized by a different company that specializes in digitizing images for embroidery purposes since it would save them the time needed to digitize their designs. However, this practice has proven costly for most businesses that are why some have opted to start learning how to digitize their embroidery designs through the use of the different digitizing embroidery software that is available for purchase.
Choosing the appropriate software, you will use to digitize your desired image and embroidery designs is tricky since the digitizing software you need must also be compatible with the embroidery machine you are going to use for the embroidery process. Aside from compatibility, another problem that embroiderers can encounter is that purchasing digitizing software is also costly. However, there is an upside to purchasing the appropriate software for digitizing embroidery designs is that these businesses will only have to do it once. Some digitizing software that is available for purchase includes 6D Premier Embroidery Digitizing Software, Brother PE-Design Next Embroidery Digitizing Software and 6D Embroidery Extra.
Once the designs have been digitized, they can either be edited by the embroiderer to suit the design they want to appear on the fabric. Once the desired design has been edited, the embroidering process can continue. This is done first by loading the digitized design into the embroidery machine. You must take note that the format of the digitized image you are going to load into the machine must be in the format that it can read. Common formats of digitized image designs that are used include.ART,HUS,JEF,SEW, and.VIP. The designs are loaded either through the use of CDs, floppy disks, USBs or special cards.
Before embroidering, the fabric to which the digitized design is to be embroidered is first stabilized to avoid potential problems during the embroidering process including the wrinkling of the fabric. The stabilization of the fabric to be embroidered depends on the machine that will be used in the embroidering process, the fabric where the digitized embroidery design will be placed and the design density. There are a lot of practices used in stabilizing fabrics, but the most common one is by using stabilizers or interfacing which are added either on top or beneath the fabric. Sometimes, embroiderers choose to add stabilizers both on top and beneath the fabric. Once the fabric is stabilized, the embroidery process is done and can take either only a few minutes to over a day, depending on the design. Also, depending on the type of machine you have, there might be a need to change thread colors if the design to be embroidered has multiple colors in them. These kinds of machines are called home machines, and they usually make embroidering a little tedious compared to commercial machines, which have multiple needles.
Why Use Digitizing Embroidery
Most people who practice the art of embroidery are keener on using old embroidery techniques such as embroidering their designs by hand or by using their old sewing machines. If they are capable of doing it with their own hands or sewing machines, why bother with digitizing embroidery?
The answer to that question is simple; digitizing embroidery takes less time than manual embroidering practices. Aside from this, by using technologies such as digitizing embroidery one is catapulted into the 21st century by using new technologies that not only make their lives easier but also increase efficiency since more embroidered fabrics are produced per day as compared to when they still used only their hands and sewing machines.
Aside from the fast production rate, the accuracy of the design, as well as its exquisiteness and intricateness, is much more ensured through the use of digitizing embroidery. Since it is a computer performing the embroidery process, which means there is a much lesser room for error as compared to when humans do the embroidering (humans get tired easily, computers don’t!).
By using embroidery digitizing, businesses may produce more quality embroidered products faster as well as ensure the satisfaction of both their employees and customers. Digitized embroidery designs are the new frontier for embroidered fabrics and through digitizing embroidery more and more beautifully embroidered fabrics are produced daily.