May 2009 - Posts

• It seems the art has 100 colors, what is a digitizer to do??!!

  I just had one of those embroiderer and 'can't make up her mind' customer interactions. The antagonist of the story, played by the customer, is a great water color painter -- if you don't believe her, just ask her -- and, she brings in 3 water color paintings.  Well, I couldn't tell if two were water color paintings, or an attempt to use EVERY color in her Brookstone's, Bob Ross Paint-by-Color set that she received for Mother's Day. These paintings would have made Claude Monet wish he were a house painter, or maybe a matador!  However, one of them did catch my eye, and I thought to myself, "wow, she really can paint."  And, at just the moment I'm thinking that, she tells me, "these two are mine, the one you like was my inspiration, and, painted by my sister-in-law.  THE LIGHT BULB WENT OFF!  Her sister-in-law's painting used a few, but effective colors.  They were neatly blended into a beautiful, impressionistic resemblence of the exterior of a gardener's shed.  It was so well done, you could almost smell the potting soil and the musty wood floor.  In an interview late in his life, Monet even mentioned the few colors he used in his paintings, "I use white lead, cadmium yellow, vermilion, madder, cobalt blue, chrome green.  That's all."  All that inspiring art in just FIVE COLORS!!  You kidding me??!! Back to our story .. Ms. Color-icious wants me to digitize the art that SHE created so it can be embroidered on organza and framed.  Her idea is to paint someone's house and landscape and have it embroidered and framed.  Then she is going to sell it to them.  My reply was, "what a great idea, now, tell me, what are we going to do about all these colors?"  She asked, "Oh, what do you mean?"  Now, my life flashed back to my time at the University of Florida when I registered for an Art Appreciation class.  I can distinctly remember asking myself WHY would I EVER have any reason for taking this class other than the fact that I needed one last elective.  Alas, THIS was the time it came in handy, and, I was ready to seize the moment .. Carpe Diem, O Captain, My Captain.  I went on for 10 minutes about the age of minimalism and the transition from realism to impressionism and the difference between Monet and Manet .. yes, there was a difference, and not just one letter.  However, just when I thought I had her understanding me, she went on to a dissertation about the artist's eye, and the artist see's this, and the artist expresses that, and the artist has the hand, and the artist and the artist .. and the artist .. .. and the artist .. So, I cut to the chase.  The cost of her wishes.  Well, the look on her face when I told her the digitizing fee, the actual embroidery fee and that my machine ONLY holds 15 colors, and, if she wanted me to manually change the threads during the run the price increased by X .. her look brought me back to a more simple time, a more innocent time .. .. all I can tell you is her look was the same look as my mom gave me when I told her that we super-glued Richie Cotrels head to the garage door to see if he could hang there like the man on the Super Glue commercial.  Hey, we were 10 years old .. stop laughing, his hair grew back .. though, I believe his DNA became an eternal part of that garage door on Dravis Avenue in Girard, Ohio.  Oh, we would look at it and laugh later in life .. it acted as a gentle reminder of how lucky we were not to kill each other with our hair-brained ideas. Further drifting from the purpose of this blog .. another part of that story just came back to me .. it's 1993, my 10 year high-school reunion, and Eddie Sprovorio brings out a recipe card sized hunk of white paint and wood 'taken' from THE garage door .. and, there was still hair in it!!  When he was able to liberate that from the garage door, no one knows, and didn't ask .. but, what a story.  You can't make this stuff up!! So, getting back to the point of this blog .. so easily side-tracked, we are!  Just as good art is minimalistic and impressionistic in it's presentation, so is good embroidery.  The more colors you add, the more confusion you add to your embroidery.  Here is a good example.  When I create leaves, if there is room for 2 colors, I only use 2 colors .. but, I change the stitch direction on both sides of the leaf so I give it some direction and the light catches the thread at different angles creating the look and feel of more than just one or two colors.  Stitch direction, stitch length and how it reacts to the light can highly influence the look and feel of the design.  The second color of the leaf is used for highlights.  The second color is usually in the same color family of the leaf, just a bit lighter.  I use the same technique when it comes to flower petals, as well. Look at the embroidery below.  Notice how gentle the secondary color is added.  Notice the stitch direction changes and the subtle highlights.  If you use the "less-is-more" philosophy, you can create beautiful embroidery very easily.  Many reds can be reduced to ONE or TWO reds, and the same goes for any design with a plethora of colors. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it .. Best regards, Rick Macali / 407 509-2400 www.inhousedigitizing.com www.embdesignsnow.com Posted May 22 2009, 11:30 AM by RMacali with 4 comment(s) Filed under: rick, digitizing, macali, digitizing art, digitizing training

• Freestanding lace ~ how, why .. where??!!

  First, I must announce the new site that has been 18 months in the designing, redesigning and making:  www.embdesignsnow.com. (Site should be up and running on Monday) ANY and ALL embroiderers should really take a look at what this site is offering.  In short, this site is our customers site.  We have taken recommendations from our customers, we have incorporated 3 wish lists from our customers and my competitors customers have asked, "why don't you do something like this?"  WELL, we did it .. ENJOY. NOW, I have spent the last 4 weeks learning lace, digitizing for lace, running lace and making free standing lace.  It is amazing what an old-dog can learn .. and, really enjoy .. Freestanding lace (FSL) designs are embrodery designs that are stitched on a special stabilizer that dissolves in water .. what you are left with is the FSL design or designs.  Digitizing for lace is much different than digitizing for standard embroidery designs.  Only designs digitized for freestanding lace designs will be stable after the stabilizer is washed away .. other designs will typically fall apart. FSL designs have much higher density segments, or a much higher stitch count versus non-lace embroidery designs.  A digitizers goal with non-lace embroidery designs is to create a beautiful piece of embroidery with as few stitches as possible, when digitizing for lace, the stitch count is incredibly higher.  If you see spaces between your stitches, that is a tell-tale sign that your lace won't hold up when the stabilizer is removed.  The satin, or zigzag stitches need to be tight with a high stitch count.  Some embroiderers rely upon the weave of the fabric to support the segments, but, I like to digitize a run stitch under the satin segment and that will support the lace.  My water-soluble stabilizer of choice is Vilene.  It is extremely thin and a non-woven .. this is why I build my support with underlay.  Because Vilene is so thin and depending on the complexity of the design, I may opt for 2 pieces of Vilene.  So, I hoop my water soluble stabilizer, place the hoop on the machine and now I should be ready to create my FSL.  But, before I begin to sew, I should know what look I am trying to achieve.  For fine delicate lace, I will sew both top and bottom thread with bobbin thread.  For a heavy looking lace design, typically for bowls or doilies, I'll use 40# embroidery thread for my top and bottom thread.  But, typically, a medium-standard lace look is my goal and I'll use embroidery thread on top and bobbin thread on the bottom.  Remember, if you are doing bowls or doilies, you will want the top and bottom threads to be the same color, so spin some bobbin thread from your embroidery thread cone. The design I will run is a repeating pattern, or series of patterns that have been digitized for FSL.  Running the design is the easy part.  Load the design, press start and let it run until the design if finished.  Tips on "tools" to use:  I use a 75/11 ball point needle to sew FSL.  I like to use size 65/9 for my embroidery because they are finer, and less intrusive on the garment, but for lace, I need a larger needle that will help cut the stabilizer during the sewing process. Once the design is finished sewing, trim all the excess water soluble material and soak the embroidery in a bowl of luke-warm water .. hot water will dissolve the stabilizer faster, but you run the risk of shrinking and distorting your FSL .. something I learned the HARD WAY.  After about 15-20 minutes, take the embroidery from the bowl and leave the slippery "junk" in the bowl.  Then, I will place the embroidery under cold running water, I use my fingers to remove any residue left from the stabilizer.  The longer you rinse the embroidery, the softer your lace will be.  For stronger, more firm lace, I recommend a little starch, OR, if you are willing to take a chance, reduce the time the embroidery is in the water by half, and don't rinse under cold water.  The stabilizer will stiffen as it drys.  After you are happy that all the stabilizer is gone, place the embroidery on a couple layers of paper towel and left to air dry .. I don't like to use cloth towels because your embroidery can pick up lint, or, if the towel is not white, it may take on some of the color of the towel.  Now, you're going to laugh at me.  When the embroidery is almost dry, I place it on a $2500 heat press that we use for printing t-shirts and press the heck out of it !!  BUT, it is flat and dry after about 20 seconds.  THIS is how I make FSL, and the best tips a beginning "lacer" can give you .. and, for a life-long commercial embroiderer, it is a blast to create this.  I add lace to TOURIST t-shirts and they love it.  Lastly, your lace does not have to be free standing.  You can take FSL designs, arrange them and sew them directly on garments or non-wearables. I hope this helps, and answers Maria van Duinhoven of Windsor, Ontario. Best regards, Rick Macali / 407 509-2400 www.inhousedigitizing.com www.embdesignsnow.com <-- new site for all home and commercial embroiderers Posted May 15 2009, 11:30 AM by RMacali with 11 comment(s) Filed under: rick, digitizing, macali, free standing lace, FSL

• Digitizing Training ~ The RUN Stitch

  Sorry for taking the week off .. I really like to prep for Mother's Day .. after all, my Mom is THE Queen and I really like to dedicate the whole weekend to her .. cooking, cleaning, taking her shopping and and out to a nice dinner and maybe a movie (though there isn't much at the movies her or I feel comfortable watching together these days!).  There is an interesting wrinkle in this year's Mother's Day .. my mother-in-law to be ..  I'm not sure about protocol, so I will be looking to YOU for some guidance!!  DON'T steer me wrong here people!!  We're not getting married until September, but, do I still graciate her with a card, present, phone call??!!  HELP !! Oh well, on to the important things at hand.  This is a quick lesson about the run stitch, it's properties and proper usage. Q:  What is a run stitch? A:  The run stitch can be called many different names:  run, travel, walk, basting stitch, etc.  We use the Run Stitch for digitizing lines, moving from one segment to another, it is used as underlay for fills and satin stitches.  Run stitches can also be made bolder by doubling up or even tripling up.  We call the doubling up of a run stitch a repeat, this is where we run from point A to point B and then back from point B to point A.  You can triple up the run by then again going from point A to point B again, or, when you triple a run stitch, we typically call this a bean stitch and we use a different tool and digitize it exactly as we do a run.  You typically repeat a run or use a bean for outlining areas.  The run stitch is, as mentioned before, is a row of single stitches along a line, straight or curved.  The distance that each needle penetration is apart is set by digitizer if the default set by the software manufacturer is not proper for the run stitches application.  The run stitch measurement is typically in millimeters.  If the area the run is to be used is a tight fitting area, a smaller LENGTH will be used, but if it is roomy or the run stitch has to travel from one end of the design to the other, the length will be longer.  The minimum and maximum lengths I try to "abide" by are 1.8 mm and up to 5.0 mm.  Five millimeters is just smaller than 1/4 inch, and that is quite long for a run stitch by itself.  The diagram below shows the makings of a run and a bean stitch.  The run stitch is pretty self-explanatory, so, let's disect the bean stitch. You'll notice that the first stitch [1] moves from west-to-east, stitch 2 back from east-to-west and stitches 3 and 4 make two moves from west-to-east at a length determined by the segments parameters. There are so many uses for the run stitch:  Travelling from one part of the design to another, used as underlay under satin stitches as an edge walk or center run, used as underlay under fill stitches as a light density fill or doubled up at 90 degrees to make a lattice underlay. It is safe to say the run stitch is the base of all your embroidery designs and the most used of the three stitch types. If you have any questions about the run stitch and how it is best used in different situations, please don't hesitate to post a question below. Best regards, Rick Macali / 407 509-2400 www.inhousedigitizing.com www.embdesignsnow.com <-- new site coming May 11 / don't miss this site if you are a serious embroiderer Posted May 08 2009, 11:00 AM by RMacali with 4 comment(s) Filed under: rick, macali, run, stitch, designs