Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.

Training:
Stitch & Sew 2.0
Learning Workbook for Studio and Studio Plus-Levels
– Digitizing Basics 2
• 2 Very Important Ground Rules about Stitches,
Stitches Stitch File Types
– Starting Up Stitch & Sew Program 4
• Software Key (dongle), Other basics
– Stitch & Sew Program Window 5
• Important features
– Customizing your Stitch & Sew Program 7
• System Parameters Tabs
– How Stitch & Sew Manages Embroidery Designs 9
• Viewing the sewing order, connections between stitch blocks. Controlling with the object list
• Using the grid to check embroidery limits on size & detail 11
• Color in Stitch & Sew and thread libraries 12
• Embroidery settings 13
– Creating Embroidery Lettering with Stitch & Sew 14
– Saving Your Design & Sewing 16
– Working With Imported (Stock) Designs 17
– Exercises 18
– Digitizing Shapes 22
– Importing Artwork to Trace 24
– Digitizing Strategy 25-26
– Basic exercise for digitizing 27

Updated August 9, 2011: practical exercises added

1
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Digitizing
g g Basics
A #75 needle
Important! Stitch Length Limits: All stitches in a design must be between: should move at
least 1mm
Shortest: At least 1mm long (.04 inches) which is about the width of a needle. The between
thread must be allowed to travel at least 1 needle’s distance from 1 hole to another. penetrations to
Longest: No more than 10mm (.4 inches) long. Longer stitches (longer than 4-4mm) allow for a clean
tend to be looser and more vulnerable to p physical
y wear. Most embroidery y machines stitch.
and software cap this limit at about 10-12mm or about ½ an inch.

2 Types of Stitch File Formats in Embroidery

There are 2 types of stitch file (design) formats in embroidery, meaning that you’ll often have 2 versions of the same design: (1)
the condensed format called CHE that has special information that makes it easy for the digitizer to build on or edit edit, and (2) the
expanded format that’s simplified for an embroidery machine to read, the most common of which is DST.
How this works in Stitch & Sew
- CHE file: When a section of stitching is created in Stitch & Sew, the program generates more than just the stitching: it
remembers the shape (or framework, or “mold”) that was used to shape the stitches, whether the shape of a letter or part of a
logo. It also remembers settings the digitizer used to create those stitches, like color, stitch density, type of stitch and any other
special instructions needed to build that section of stitching. This information is kept with the stitch design to make it easy to
make changes or edits. For example, changing the outline shape of part of a logo automatically re-builds stitches to conform to
the new shape. Or choosing a different fabric setting causes Stitch & Sew to change settings like density, angle, and more to
adjust the logo for that type of fabric. Stitch & Sew does this on-the-spot, meaning the digitizer doesn’t have to re-build that part
of the design from scratch. All this extra info is kept when the digitizer saves the design in .CHE format.
- DST is a universal design format that all commercial embroidery machines can read. It contains a simplified version of the
design (compared to the CHE version above). It lacks all the special information added in with the stitches that make a CHE file
so easy to edit. In the .dst version, only the stitch information remains – the pure, raw instructions required to tell an embroidery
machine to sew the design.

What to do with these 2 files in Stitch & Sew: Digitize the job and save it in CHE format on your PC (in Documents). To
embroider it
it, transfer a copy of the design in .dst
dst format to your machine (File
(File…Save
Save As) For any fixes or adjustments
needed after that, edit the CHE file, then re-sew by making a fresh dst copy of the edited CHE file.

2
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Digitizing
g g Basics
Some Embroidery Basics: The 3 Basic Stitch Types
All designs are made up of small and large shapes. There are 3 basic types
of stitches that can be used to create these shapes:

- Fill Stitches
Stit h – Useful
U f l ffor filling
filli ini wide
id areas withith color,
l wider
id th
than 10
10mm ((.4
4 iinches)
h ) – areas too
t wide
id
to be filled in with satin stitches. Sit flatter and don’t have the same sheen as satin stitches.
- Satin Stitches – Excellent for narrow detail like lettering stems, vinework, borders. But can be no
wider than 0.4 inches (10mm) and no narrower than 1mm (0.04 inches).
- Running Stitches - used for drawing fine detail. .

satin stitch detail

running stitch detail

fill stitch background

3
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Starting
g Up
p Stitch & Sew
On this page, We’ve pointed out some useful tips to follow when getting started with Stitch & Sew 2.0

1. Software key (dongle). Upon installing your Stitch & Sew 2.0 program, you’ll need to have the software key
(dongle) connected to a USB port in order to run. They key, shown actual size below, is plastic – take care not
to damage it!

2 Launching the program

2. program. Find the program icon shown here and launch Stitch & Sew by double
double-clicking
clicking on itit.

3. Tip of the day. Until you get to know Stitch & Sew 4. Choose an option based on what you want to do.
well, this is a good way of learning things about the When the program starts, you can jump into a job from
program that you might not otherwise pick up during your the menu that appears below, or you can close this by
own study. Uncheck the box “Show Tips” when you wish clicking on the x at the top right.
to disable this feature.

4
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Program
g Window
Shown below is the Stitch & Sew 2.0 program window and important features to familiarize yourself with.
Current color Current stitch
Ruler tool Zoom controls
count

Main
toolbox

Design,
shown in
Realistic View
mode

Design
center
mark

Grid

Shows
distance
measured
Object List by ruler tool

5
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Program
g Window ((continued))
Some notes about the parts of the program window shown on the previous page.

Ruler tool - Lets you measure parts of a design in “tape measure” fashion

- Current color - any stitches generated will appear in this color

- Current stitch count - Updates continuously as you add onto your design. Important as an indicator of how long a
design will take to sew.
- Zoom controls – Learn to zoom in/out. Digitizing is more accurate when zoomed in as much as practical
(around 600% for example). Zoom out as necessary (100%) to make judgments about detail/overall size.

- Main Toolbox - Puts the program into 1 of 4 modes: Digitizing, Lettering, Editing, or a “general operations” mode when
neither of these 3 buttons are pressed. When Digitizing, Lettering, or Editing is selected, the related tools for that mode
appear to the right.

Realistic view mode - simulates the appearance of the stitches as they would appear in 3-D. You can toggle this on
and off from the View menu.
menu The alternate,
alternate normal view shows stitches as thin lines,
lines which is easier to work with when
viewing other detail like stitch angles or the tracing artwork underneath.

Center mark – shows where the center of the hoop will be when you sew the current design. To auto-center the design
over this point, go to Design . . . Center Design.

Grid – When turned on,

on gives instant idea of the size of different elements of a design.
design The default 10mm (0
(0.4
4 inch grid for
example is a good measure of max satin stitch length. A 1mm (.04in) grid shows min. lengths.

Object List – Breaks down the design into thumbnail views of each part, in the order each will sew. You can change
sewing order, color and connection types directly with this list.

6
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Customizing
g Stitch & Sew to your
y Preferences
You can customize your Stitch & Sew program to your preferences. Go to Tools, then System Parameters to
show the settings you can adjust below.
Language Swap between
“BASIC” Tab mode in & mm
This is the first tab in the dialog box
where you can set language,
language units,
units
background color and toggle the cursor Background
color
crosshairs.
Toggle crosshairs
on/off

“EMBROIDERY” Tab
This is the second tab in the dialog box. For
greater control as you digitize, check both of
these boxes. The first one lets you enter angle
and entry and exit points for stitch blocks as you
create them, rather than have the program set
them automatically. This results in better-flowing
stitches with fewer jumps, and more creative
control (stitch angle) over blocks created by the
Freeform tool.

7
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Customizing
g Stitch & Sew to your
y Preferences
Shown below is the third tab in the System Parameters dialog box.

“Miscellaneous” Tab
Adjust this based on your screen resolution if your
images are distorted (i.e.
(i e circles appearing as
squashed ovals, squares appear as rectangles). If
your monitor is traditional 4:3 (not wide screen, i.e.
1024x768, 1280 x 1024, 1600x1200) set to 4:3. If
you have a wide screen monitor, try wide screen
mode 16:9. If neither of these work, you can enter
custom
t resolution.
l ti Also,
Al to
t show
h ad
design
i att it
its
true size when viewed at 100% magnification,
measure your diagonal screen dimensions and
enter them in “Screen Active Area”.

8
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

How Stitch & Sew Handles the Embroidery

y Part
Stitch & Sew and other embroidery digitizing programs have some things in common with graphic drawing/design programs like
CorelDraw or Photoshop or Illustrator: All are programs that use tools to create shapes in different colors to create or modify an
image. However, there are some important additional characteristics about embroidery:
1. SEWING ORDER is important. Embroidery designs sew 1 stitch at a time, 1 color at a time. As the digitizer, you can control
the sewing order to affect how efficiently the design sews, create 3-D “layering” effects by choosing to sew some parts of a
design on top of other parts.
2. TRANSITIONS BETWEEN SECTIONS are also important. When one part of a design is finished sewing, the machine can
move to the next part either by (1) trimming the thread, then moving, or (2) continuing to sew a running or pathing stitch to the
next location, or (3) “jumping” to the next location (leaving a thread). All 3 have their advantages.

Viewing/Understanding the Sewing Order of a Design in Stitch & Sew

Variable-speed (slow) Redraw – (SHIFT-R) –By entering Redraw mode with SHIFT-R, you’ll be able to see the
design “sew” stitch by stitch at any speed you wish sequence by manipulating the controls that appear (shown below).
The re-draw will show not only the order of each block, but the sequence/direction of stitches as they fill each block
with stitching.

Connection Policy: How Stitch & Sew controls the connections between each section in a design
Transitioning between each stitch block is controlled by a “Connection Policy” in Stitch & Sew (Go to Design . . .
Connection Policy to view the overall (Global) connection policy:

Trim Always – tells the machine to cut the thread between the section and the one
before it.
Trim if the Stitch is longer than – Usually the best option, trims only if the the gap
between sections exceeds a set length.
Never Trim - third option.

9
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

How Stitch & Sew Handles the Embroidery

y Part (continued)
( )
Another important tool shown on this page is the Object List.

Object List – Shows BOTH the sewing order, block by block, of a design, and the connection (and also the color
sequence)

“STOP” Scissors indicates a thread trim, knot icon

indicates a indicates a tie-down stitch
color change
Right-clicking on a frame gives options to:
- Change connection policy for the selected item
- Change the sewing order
- Delete the block
- Remove the color change (stop) or add one

10
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Using
g the Grid to Measure Size & Detail
The Grid tool (press “W” to toggle it on and off) lets you see immediately how large each part of a design is. This is particularly
important when deciding if parts of a design should be sewn as satin, fill (step satin) or running stitches. The default grid (0.39
inches, which we’ll call 0.4 inches) is a good way to check for areas too wide for satin stitches.

Viewing with the Grid at 0.4 inches (10mm)

The areas of the “S”S and “R” R are wide
but not too wide for satin stitches,
according to the 0.4 inch grid blocks
shown here.
The large background fill is wider than
a grid block, showing that it should be
rendered as fill (step satin) stitching.

View this design again with the grid set to

0.04 inches to see if this satin border is too
narrow.

Change grid size from

Tools . . Set Grid
Size.
Viewing with the Grid at 0.04 inches (1mm)

Good: With a .04 inch grid set, you can see

that “ALLIED” is not too narrow and not too
wide for satin stitching.

No Good: While the satin stems of

“Trucking International” are too narrow
to sew well
well.

11
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Color in Stitch & Sew

With Stitch & Sew 2, it’s possible to select a thread library based on the brand of thread you use, from Tools . . . Stitch Colors. By
changing to your preferred brand of thread, the Embroidery Settings box (with neither Digitizing/Editing on) shows the thread color
numbers to make it easier to select thread to sew your design.

Current Thread Pallette is visible in General You can choose a thread library by opening the
Operations mode when you open the Embroidery Stit h C
Stitch Colors
l di
dialog
l b box (CTRL + K) andd choosing
h i
Settings dialog box (press the letter “G” to toggle your brand of thread from “Current Pallette”.
it on and off

12
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Embroidery
y Settings
g
What Stitch Settings Are: As discussed back on page 2, Stitch & Sew fills in the shapes you create (using the Lettering or
Freeform or Column tools) with stitches. Because of the wide variety of fabrics and differences in the way they behave when
stitches are applied to them, it is important to be able to adjust HOW the stitches fill these shapes. The Embroidery Settings
dialog box controls a lot of this, especially these 3 key settings:
- Stitch density (3.5 to 4.0 is normal, 2.0 is heavier density, 5.0 and up is lighter density)
- Underlay - how much and what type of supporting stitching (known as underlay)
- Stretch - The amount of overlap that an area of stitching needs to sew beyond the shape of the objects.
Generically in the industry this is known as “Pull Compensation”.

Customizing
C t i i Your
Y Own
O Stitch
Stit h Recipes
R i
3 options: As you become more experienced with Stitch & Sew,
- manual you can create your own library of fabric presets by
- preset fabric choosing the 3rd option in the Embroidery Settings
- custom Dialog box, “Custom Settings”.
settings
Key settings

Border width
is measured
in tenths of a
millimeter

Viewing Embroidery Settings are in Stitch & Sew: When in Digitizing, Lettering or Editing mode, pressing the “G” key on your
keyboard opens up the dialog box shown above
above.

13
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Lettering
g in Stitch & Sew
What Stitch Settings Are: As discussed back on page 2, Stitch & Sew fills in the shapes you create (using the Lettering or
Freeform or Column tools) with stitches. Because of the wide variety of fabrics and differences in the way they behave when
stitches are applied to them, it is important to be able to adjust HOW the stitches fill these shapes. The Embroidery Settings
dialog box controls a lot of this, especially these 3 key settings:
Click on this to enter lettering mode Bold and Italic options
3-letter monogram input Text rotation in degrees
g Name Drop
p feature

Type text Font list: 100

here. fonts for SNS
Frames options – 9
Studio Plus, 72
for Studio,
Studio 30 for
for Studio.
Plus
NORMAL LETTERING
Lettering is straightforward: Once in lettering mode, follow the lettering control panel (shown above)
from left to right as follows:
1
1. Click on Lettering causing the lettering controls to appear (shown above)
2. Frames options Enter text as shown above in the window. Letters appear over the
center point
3. Choose font – You can choose from one of the built-in fonts in the programs. (To use
TrueType fonts, exit Lettering mode and click on Design . . . Hyperfont Wizard).
4. Set heightg and spacing,
p g, italic/bold – The units for size can be in metric or inches,, depending
p g
on what you’ve chosen in Tools…System Parameters
5. Justification: left, center, right – This is useful if you’re typing more than 1 line of text at the
same time, or use “Center” to center multiple names in “Name Drop”.
6. Frames – allows you to place envelope around the text and force into different shapes including
arcs, bridges, circles, rectangles. There are 9 frames available with Stitch & Sew Studio, 30
f
frames with
ith St
Studio
di Pl
Plus.

14
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Working
g with Imported
p Designs
g in Stitch & Sew
Importing pre-digitized stock designs is a great way to create custom logos without having to digitize.

Opening and Setting Up Stock Designs

Explained below are the steps for opening up a stock (pre-digitized) design before
working on it.

When ready to sew your design, always be sure to take the following steps,
which all take just a few seconds:|

1. Open the file. Click on File..Open. The dialog box at the right appears. As
shown, choose the drive and directory where the design is (your CD ROM for
p ), the format that the design
example), g is in ((such as .dst or .hus).
) Then,, highlight
g g the
design and click OK.
Open Design

2. Set the Colors of the design. Designs in most common formats (.dst, .exp) do not
have any information about what color each stitch block is. This should be provided
by the seller of the design. You can do this from the Object List.

Setting up colors: Click on a frame to

3. Re-size the Design as necessary. You may want to re-size your stock design. highlight it, then choose a color in the toolbar
To do so, follow these steps: at the top of the program window.

a. Select the stitches of the design using the select tool. If they are the
only
y stitches in the window,, you
y can simply
p y Select ALL (CTRL+A).
( )
b. Click on Design…Change Size. The dialog box shown on the right
Change Size
appears.
c. Choose Units – inches or mm.
d. enter new dimensions. In the dialog box, enter the new dimensions in
inches, mm, or by percentage.
e Press OK to resize.
e. resize Using this method
method, Stitch & Sew resizes the stitches
AND adjusts the stitch count accordingly.

15
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Working
g with Imported
p Designs
g in Stitch & Sew
(continued)

CAUTION! Resizing a design too much can lead to problems relating to

the limitations of that design with satin stitch detail becoming too large or
too small
small. ItIt’s
s a good idea to check the width of any satin stitches using
the grid tool after you’ve re-sized the design.
Choose units.

You Add text if you like to customize the design.

design Use the previous
lesson on lettering to add text anywhere in the free space around the
Be sure this is checked.
design.

16
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Saving
g Your Design
g and Sewing
g It
When ready to sew your design, always be sure to take the following steps, which all take just a few seconds:
1. Exit any editing/lettering/digitizing mode.

2. Compensate for fabric. If you haven’t paid any attention to Embroidery Settings, click on Design, then Apply Fabric and
choose the fabric type of the garment on which you intend to sew. This helps better ensure good sewing quality.

3. Center it in the hoop. Click on Design . . . Center Design and click OK in the dialog box that appears. The default setting
(Center Frame) automatically assures that the design will sew in the center of the hoop if the embroidery machine is set up
normally.

4
4. Minimize Thread Breaks Click on Design . . . Optimize Design and click OK – this removes “trash”
trash or “short”
short stitches that
may cause thread breaks

5. Save the design to .dst format for sewing

6. (Optional) Save a “master” copy in .CHE format if you think you’ll need o edit your design later. This is especially
important for a logo you’re digitizing yourself from the ground up.

17
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Practical Exercises
Use what you’ve learned so far to try the exercises below. These have been
set up like a lot of real-world embroidery jobs to give some useful practice.

Exercise 1: Basic Lettering Exercise.

Use the lettering tools to create a 2-line text logo in typical left-chest style with
2 different font styles. You can try the text arrangement on the right or use
your own. Use the grid to make sure the lettering stays within sewable limits. Try to set up this text for exercise 1.

1. Click on Lettering to show the lettering control panel.

2. Set up the first line of text which in this case is the company name. Set it up as shown below.

Enter text here Choose font. If trying Letter height: For step 2, set the The text will appear in outline form
the example, choose 1st line of text t 0.6in. That as you type it, as shown above.
Times Large in step 2. should put the letters about 3.5”
wide – perfect for left chest.
3. Try fine-tuning the spacing. – Sometimes the individual spaces between letters need to be adjusted (called Kerning) for
aesthetic reasons or to avoid letters from bunching (sewing) together. Right-click on the text and select Advanced Spacing.

Right-click, select Opens this dialog box where you can set individual values between
Advanced spacing letters to fine-tune spacing. Click OK when finished.

4. Generate the stitches for the 1st line of text. Either press ENTER or click on the STITCH IT! button at the top right. This
will fill in the text outlines with actual stitches.

18
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Practical Exercises – Lettering

g & Editing
g
Exercise 1: Basic Lettering Exercise (continued)
With the first line of text finished, now create the second line. Try to
understand why this might be more challenging due to the text size.

g the 2nd line of text

Creating
5. Click on Lettering if you’re not still in Lettering mode.
6. Set up the 2nd line of text. Set it up as shown on the right. In this typical example, the 2nd line of text is a sub-title, description or
slogan, which often means there’s more text, forcing it to be smaller if the customer wants it to line up with the text above it.

If following the above exercise, choose Letter height: Set to ¼ inch, or 0.25. Notice how the
Helvetica Small for the second line of text. smaller letters now fit better under the large text.

7. Use the grid to see if the letters will be OK at the given sizes. Referring to page 11 as need be, set up a 1mm grid and look
at the text (both lines of text) and see if they will be OK to sew for satin stitching. Will they be OK? Why or why not?

Be sure to zoom in at least to 300% to have a good look at the lettering

stems. Will these letters be OK at this size? (shown is a 1mm grid).

8. Generate the stitches on the 2nd line of text. Just like with the 1st line, press ENTER or STITCH IT! .

9. Try changing colors: Exit Lettering mode, and try selecting different parts of the text, right-clicking
and changing colors.

10. Center the design and pick a fabric. (Page 17). Don’t forget to do this before sewing!

Additional Thought: Try other fonts on the lower line of text. Which seem to work better?

19
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Practical Exercises
Exercise 2: Other Common Text Arrangements
In this exercise, use some of the other lettering tools such as Frames to create these text effects.
The Frames options allow some of the
Vertical arch text effects shown here. There are 30
Text normally appears in a rectangular envelope (like in f Pl
for Plus, 9 for
f Studio.
S di
Exercise 1).

Try this arch tool, and drag the top center control point Top arc: Upper and lower arc:
upwards to get this popular text effect: The Frame tool shown above places Usingg this tool, 2 lines of text separated
p
the text in a circular template, making by the ENTER key lets the program
it easy to set up arced text. centers both lines as shown below:

3-Letter Monogram
Find this monogram tool which opens this box:

Which makes it easy to create effects like this:

20
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Practical Exercises
Exercise 3: Editing Embroidery Settings to Control Quality
In this exercise, learn to use Editing mode to modify any text you’ve created. How does each setting affect
the sewability of the design/letter?

Original More underlay

Stretch More density

21
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Digitizing
g g Shapes
p (satin,
( , fill & running
g stitches))
The first part of learning to digitize is learning to create your own shapes using the Freeform tool and the Column tool. You can
draw these shapes either on the blank canvas free-handed, or import an image and trace the shape(s) on it (we’ll get to that on
the next page).
This toolbar appears when the Digitizing button is pressed

Fill Method for the Freeform tool: Controls Generate stitches

Click to enter Digitizing Mode Freeform tool Column tool
how Stitch & Sew fills your shape with
stitches.

General Rules on using the Freeform tool

U th
Use the F
Freeform
f tool
t l to
t createt fill stitches.
tit h You’ll
Y ’ll also
l fifind
d th
thatt you can use it tto create
t running
i stitches
tit h and
d satin
ti stitch
tit h
(borders) but you’ll primarily be using it to create fill stitches especially as you first start out.
1. Draw by clicking along the edges of a shape.
Start at almost any point and proceed clockwise or counter-clockwise, moving further along the edge of the
shape and placing the next click. A black control-point will appear everywhere you click, and a curve or line
will connect each new ppoint to the p
previous p
point yyou set.

2. You can set either corner points or curved points with the CTRL key.

3. You don’t have to be perfect – you can fix your mistakes on-the-fly as you draw
You can do 4 things to your drawing even before you finish the shape:
- Press Delete to un-do
un do your last mouse
mouse-click
click. You can go back as many clicks as you wantwant. (pressing
ESC erases the shape completely if you haven’t finished it, and you can start all over)
- Move any control points you’ve already created by clicking on them and moving them. This changes
the shape in case you’re not happy with where you’ve placed that click.
- Adjust the curves and lines that connect each control point by clicking and dragging on those lines.
- CTRL-click the control points to change the state of that point from curve to corner or vice-versa

22
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Digitizing
g g Shapes
p (satin,
( , fill & running
g stitches))
(continued)

4. Finishing the shape:

- Close the shape: When you’ve set points all the way around the shape and you’re 1 click away from the first control
point you set, you can join your last point with the first point. To do so, right-click to show a menu of available options
and un-check the option “Opened Curve”.

- Set the angle of the fill stitch using the blue line by dragging either of its endpoints. The blue bar appears
automatically as you start drawing a shape with the Freeform tool

- Set the entry and exit points of the shape with your mouseclicks

- Fill in the shape by pressing “Stitch It!

Setting Up Your Program for Manual Input

For better control of stitch direction and the
ability to set the entry and exit points of a
stitch block, go to Tools… System
Parameters and check this box. After this,
clicking on “Stitch It” will no longer
automatically build the stitches – the program
will instead prompt you to input first the stitch
angle (or press ENTER to leave at previous
setting) then the Entry and Exit points.

23
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Importing
p g Artwork to Digitize
g
You can bring artwork into Stitch & Sew from the Create menu by choosing Import Image as shown below.

You can size the image in

this dialog box that
appears . . .
Bring images into
Stitch & Sew in from . . . by pressing this
“Import Image” button.

TIP: get the size correct at this stage! Remember that you’ll be making decisions on digitizing your design,
such as deciding stitch type and detail level, based on the size of each part of the design.

TIP: U
TIP Use ththe G
Grid
id tool
t l to
t quickly
i kl evaluate
l t theth sizes
i off different
diff t elements
l t off th
the d
design
i suchh as lletter
tt
stems, areas of the design to decide which areas are too small for satins (i.e. tiny letters), which are too large
for satins, which are better as fill (step satin) stitches and which are better as running stitches. The general
rules for this are discussed on the next page. (tap the “W” key to toggle the grid on or off).

24
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Digitizing
g g Strategy
gy
Once you know how to create fills and satin stitches using the drawing tools, you’re ready to understand the entire digitizing
process.

1. Getting Digitizing Jobs from Your Customer

It’s important to get ALL the necessary information from your customer about a job before digitizing it.

a. Artwork – If possible get it electronically (as a CLEAN image, in jpg, bmp, tif, photoshop PSD) or get it on paper as
large as possible. Sometimes this is not possible. Be sure to get color information especially the number of colors i.e.
specific thread colors. PMS matching.
b. Garment – Type of garment will determine how you digitize the file. For example, hat designs need to be digitized
completely differently. Other types of garments such as fleece or pique need different recipes.

c. Size of the design – this will determine the type of stitches to use and the amount of detail.

Unusual/Special requests: Take a good look at the design to check for anything unusual or open to interpretation.
For example, are all areas of the design to be filled in with stitches? The logo below for example may or may not
require that the interior white areas be sewn
sewn.

Areas wider than ½

2. Digitizing Strategy: Breaking Down inch square, or areas
Artwork into Elements Ready for Digitizing that you want to stand
out less, are done in
Logos and other artwork can be broken down mentally fills.
and planned out as shown on the right, based on the
few simple rules shown on the next page.

Lettering, as long as the

columns (stems) are > 1mm This narrow area, as
wide but no wider than ½ inch, long as it is no wider
is generally rendered in satin than ½ inch, would
stitching. normally
ll bbe rendered
d d
as a satin stitch border.

25
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Digitizing
g g Strategy
gy
(continued)

Key Rules in Planning Digitizing

Follow these general guidelines when digitizing a logo or artwork.

1. Decide on the Stitch Types to be used based on the size of each element in the design. Fine,
narrow detail can be rendered as running or satin stitches. Wider parts of a design may need to be
rendered as fill stitches.
2. Group everything sequentially according to color, if possible. Eliminating unwanted color changes
i ad
in design
i willill make
k your machine
hi run th
thatt muchh ffaster.
t
3. Choose the sequence based on the layering order of the design. The “S” in the Speedy Services
logo on the previous page, for example, should appear on top – so it must be digitized to sew last.
4. Transition smoothly between stitch groups – A design sews more smoothly (fewer unnecessary
jumps, trims & running stitches) when each stitch block starts closest to where the last one ended, and
ends closest to where the next one will begin
begin. Also choose carefully which way to connect between
each stitch block: by stitch, by jumping, or by trimming. Use the Connection Policy to manage this.

5. Anticipate and understand what happens where stitch blocks overlap or abut each other.
a. Stacking stitch groups (i.e. a satin on a fill or a satin on a satin): The difference in angle between both
stitch
tit h blocks
bl k isi important.
i t t If the
th anglel is
i different,
diff t the
th upper group stays
t separate
t from
f the
th one underneath.
d th
If the angle is the same, both stitch groups blend into each other.

b. Adjacent Stitch Groups – (i.e. stripes of satins as in the American Flag, or the edge of a fill stitch and its
satin border) – often will pull away from each other and leave a gap. Be sure to add enough pull
compensation ((stretch).
)

26
 Education Department Training Workbook: Stitch & Sew 2.0

Practical Digitizing
g g Exercises
Use what you’ve learned so far to try the exercises below. These have been
set up like a lot of real-world embroidery jobs to give some useful practice.

Exercise 1: Practice with the Freeform and Column tools

These 2 powerful tools by themselves let you build any shape, any logo or design, no matter how simple or complex. Master
these to put high quality digitizing within your grasp
grasp. Tr y to draw the first row of shapes using first the Freeform
Freeform, then the
Column tool. Notice the correct click sequence for drawing the “S” shape with the column tool.

Correct click sequence

for the column tool
tool. Why?

Exercise 2: Now try these shapes with the Freeform and Column tool.
Understand the answers to the questions below each shape for a better understanding of how each tool works in digitizing..

Why does the “X” shape not work as a The star works well drawn with the
Why is the Freeform tool better than
single shape with the column tool ? How both tools. How would you create this
th C
the Column
l ttooll ffor thi
this shape?
h ? (hi
(hint:
t
should the X be drawn with the column with the column tool? (hint: similar to
multi-segment fills)
tool? (hint: multiple sections) the “X” shape)

27