Sometimes Less is More

Contrary to popular belief embroidery digitizing is not tracing.   While it is true we lay stitches on top of your original art this is where any similarity to tracing begins and ends.  Digitizing is an art and a science.  A good digitizer will not only have an artistic eye she will also have an understanding of how stitches will affect the fabric substrate they are sewn in to and how to compensate for the vagaries of the equipment and the fabric.Probably the most challenging aspect for even the most experienced digitizer is lettering.  Letters, be they big or small they must be perfect.  The reason for this is everyone knows what a letter looks like.  If I were to program a capitol letter “A” everyone reading this will know how it should stitch.  If I digitize the whiskers of an old prospector I can have a few stitches out of place and no one will ever know.    This concept is vital to understand for quality embroidery.  Every single day we are presented with designs that are not technically possible at the size requested.

For instance the image shown here was requested at a 4” width.  As much as I hate to refuse work this simply cannot be done with quality stitching as shown.   This is important for the sales person selling the job because he will be forced to go back to his customer and discuss how to simplify the logo.  If that conversation can be had up front a great deal of time and cost can be saved for everyone.

Here at Qdigitizing we don’t want to be the bad guys.  We want to make sure you look your best.  And whereas I don’t like to use the word “refuse” if I were to accept this job as presented I would not be doing my customer any favors.  In fact, I could potentially cost them a customer.  If I let my staff digitize this design as shown, at the requested size I would stake my reputation that it would not turn out well.

But before I close out this blog I am going to complicate this issue.  While I am confident this design will not work on any knit shirt at the requested size it “might” work on a poplin jacket or a nylon windbreaker or another product where there is no stretch in the material.  IN this case our customer did not specify what the design would be going on. 

We understand you don’t always know…but when you do it is vital to let us know because that might be the difference between a “yes this will” or a “no this won’t” answer when we review your project. 

Lots of letters make any digitizing job difficult.   Whenever possible try and delete “tag lines” from embroidered logos.  I have been doing this more than 20 years and I can assure you from a marketing standpoint your customers brand is what sells, not the tag line.  In the image below, The Frame Shop is what should be remembered.  The tag line and the web site are completely unnecessary for your customer to sell their brand.  We know your customer might want it, but if you can sell them on keeping their design simple, in the long run you will be a hero because your customer will end up with a product that will be much nicer and a more effective tool for building their brand identity.

Next month I am going to talk about “color blending” in embroidery patterns.  In the meantime, if there is anything you would like me to talk about please reach out to me here or send me a message at steve.freeman@qdigitizing.com