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| Buying New
Fonts for Stitch & Sew |
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| It's now possible to
purchase new fonts from Stitch & Sew from Compucon's website,
www.embmarketplace.com.
Over a hundred fonts are listed there including some additional
monogram fonts (NOTE - existing Stitch & Sew fonts are there, so take
care before purchasing that you don't already have the fonts
yourself.) |
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Training
Workbooks |
| Download
and print the same training workbooks we use in Stitch & Sew classes.
These help explain practical fundamentals of embroidery stitch theory,
lettering, and digitizing to help give you a good foundation to do
quality digitizing in Stitch & Sew. |
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Section 1 of 2: Basics and Lettering
This workbook touches on
the topics below. By learning the significance of each,
you'll find yourself with the right kind of foundation to
understand what quality embroidery is and how to get it
yourself.
| 1. KEY
FUNDAMENTALS about embroidery stitch theory -
understanding these basics will keep you out of a LOT of
trouble. Pay attention to why stitches have a
maximum and minimum stitch length. What
happens if you exceed those limits? Try to learn the
consequences. Then, try to understand the 3
fundamental stitch types - Satin, Fill, and Running
stitches. How do those 3 types relate to the maximum
and minimum lengths for stitching? What is the
difference between the 2 key fundamental file formats -
expanded (DST) format and the condensed (CHE) format. |
2. GETTING
TO KNOW THE PROGRAM WINDOW: Learn and understand why
the Stitch & Sew program contains the features that it
does. When you're finished, ask yourself these
questions:
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- What 4 modes can
the program be placed into? What
certain things can be done ONLY in each particular
mode and why? (4 modes - Digitizing,
Lettering, Editing, & General Operations mode) |
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- Why are there so
many different ways to view a design in Stitch &
Sew? What is the purpose of each?
Understand not only the views in the main design
window (redraw mode, realistic mode, and filters to
view only satins, fills, needle points, etc) but
also the Block List. |
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- Learn why
it's important to be able to view a design at
different zoom views, and be able to see at-a-glance
how big or small each part of a design is.
Close zoom for more exact editing & digitizing.
100% view to assess the design overall.
Understand why the Grid tool is useful at the
default 10mm (.4 inch) size and why it's also
equally useful to view a design at the 1mm (.04
inch) size. |
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- Understand the
Embroidery Settings Dialog Box - and why its
special adjustments are available at only certain
times (and never available in a .DST file) |
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3.
ALL ABOUT LETTERING. Get to know how to create
lettering. It's easier to create than digitizing
custom logos, so it's a good place to start your
digiziting career. Plus, you can do a lot of embroidery
for customers using only the lettering part of Stitch &
Sew without having to learn to digitize.
Furthermore, what you learn about lettering applies later
when learning to digitize custom logos and art, or in
digitizing your own lettering.
| -
Learn the basic steps for creating lettering.
When choosing fonts, understand why some
fonts are better in certain situations (i.e. sizes)
than others. Try the 3-letter monogram fonts,
the multi-colored fonts, and the decorative fonts.
Learn 2 different ways to arc lettering using the
Frames control. |
| -
Understand the difference between satin and fill
(step satin) lettering and when to use each. |
| -
Embroidery Settings for Lettering: Now that
you know how to create something and put stitches on
it, understand why it's necessary to adjust the
settings for different types of fabrics and
different sizes of lettering. Learn how, in
Editing mode, you can add a running stitch or satin
stitch border to just about any lettering. |
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| 4.
FINISHING UP A DESIGN: Learn train yourself to
perform these steps when finished with every design:
Apply Fabric, Center Design, and Optimize Design to help
your sewing go more smoothly. |
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Section 2 of 2: DIGITIZING LOGOS
This section helps you
work through the process of digitizing a logo, no matter how
simple or complex. The rules described in the workbook
apply universally to the full range of embroidery digitizing.
Understand the concepts below and how to apply them, and you're
on your way to becoming a professional-quality digitizer:
| 1. WORKING
WITH STOCK DESIGNS (or EXPANDED [DST] DESIGNS IN GENERAL:
Even experienced digitizers find it useful and
time-saving to rely on stock designs or hire a digitizer
on occasion. Learn in this section the types of
editing and clean-up you can do to these types of designs. |
2. KEY
DIGITIZING (DRAWING) TOOLS: One of Stitch &
Sew's greatest strengths is its easy-to-learn drawing
tools. Learn:
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- How the drawing
tools work in general. Learn how to
build shapes click-by-click, how to adjust a shape
as you go (no need to be an artist!) and using the
CTRL key to change between corner and curved points.
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- The Freeform
Tool Create some shapes with the
Freeform tool. Understand how to create both
Open and Closed curves and why each is important.
Learn to realize how the Freeform tool is used
primarily to create "blocks" of fill (step satin)
stitches. |
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- The
Column Tool. Understand how the
Freeform tool builds shapes vs. the Freeform tool.
Understand why it's better suited for satin stitches
than the Freeform tool is. Learn that you can
build both satin and fill (step satin) stitch blocks
with the Column tool. |
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Understand more about stitch blocks.
Once you understand that each logo is created in
sections called "blocks", next understand that the
blocks sew in a given order - and that planning the
sewing order carefully can make the difference
between a poor design and a quality design (poor
sequencing can result in longer run-time, reducing
your profit, and also more-frustrating post-sew
processing like cutting jump stitches)
Why is it important to understand to set the Entry
and Exit points of each stitch blocks carefully?
Also understand how you can control the angle of the
stitches and other settings with each block and what
that does to the look and quality of your
digitizing. |
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3.
DIGITIZING FUNDAMENTALS: Once you understand how
to create stitch blocks using the Freeform and Column
tools, learn how to break down designs and logos, whether
simple or complex, into shapes or blocks of fills and
satin stitches.
| -
Get these important bits of information for each
job: It's important to get (1) quality
artwork from your customer, (2) the finished
(embroidered) size that your customer needs the
design sewn and (3) the type(s) of garments/fabrics
that the design will be sewn on. Image
quality, finished size, and garment type can
drastically afffect digitizing strategy and the way
a design is created. |
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Start off by evaluating the design when importing it
into Stitch & Sew: Use the Import
Image dialog box to import the image to the correct
size. Understand the kinds of problems you
might have if this isn't done. View your
imported image with a 0.4 inch grid, then a 0.04
inch grid to make important decisions about how the
design should be broken down into different pieces
(blocks) and what type of stitches are appropriate
for each "block" or design element. |
| -
Carefully plan the sewing sequence, block-by-block,
and where to place the Entry and Exit points for
each block : When creating lettering, the
sewing sequence and the Entry and Exit points are
programmed automatically. When digitizing
yourself, you set this manually (although Stitch &
Sew automatically sews each block in the order that
you create them). Understand how sequencing
carefully to eliminate unnecessary color changes,
trims, and jumps makes a design run more efficiently
(to cut down on produciton time for large runs) and
cleanly (eliminate unnecessary, ugly jump stitches
criss-crossing a design). |
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Understand what happens where stitch blocks overlap,
sit on top of, or sit adjacent to each other:
You'll quickly learn that whatever you create can
sew a little differently than what you see on the
screen, due to the effects of the stitches sewing on
different types of fabric (lettering often sews more
narrowly, or squares become rectangles, circles
become ovals, or gaps appear between sections). Once
you learn how stitches behave on fabric, and what
they do when layered on top of each other or
adjacent to each other, you'll better be able
to control the finished look of your digitizing. |
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| 4.
FINISHING UP A DESIGN: Learn to train yourself
to perform these steps when finished with every design:
Apply Fabric, Center Design, and Optimize Design to help
your sewing go more smoothly. While we mentioned
this in the Lettering section, these 3 steps are important
when outputting ANY design in Stitch & Sew. |
| 4.
DON'T FORGET TO SAVE IN CHE FORMAT AS WELL AS DST FORMAT:
Learn train yourself to perform these steps when
finished with every design: Apply Fabric, Center
Design, and Optimize Design to help your sewing go more
smoothly. While we mentioned this in the Lettering
section, these 3 steps are just as important when saving
any designs. |
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Common Questions/Problems Starting Out |
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