ImagesMagUK_August_2021

www.images-magazine.com 86 images AUGUST 2021 TIPS & TECHNIQUES Small type doesn’t need to be tricky providing you follow these straightforward tips, says Dominic Bunce of embroidery digitiser David Sharp S mall text needn’t be a daunting subject – with the right materials and digitising settings, you can produce clean text at small sizes. This unique piece featuring tiny text was produced for a customer of US-based CSM Screen Printing. With the small text coming in at 3.7mm, we knew regular 40 thread wouldn’t be suitable for the job; we used Madeira Polyneon 75, but the 60 range would also produce a neat job for this size type. The 75 Polyneon thread is very strong and much thinner when compared to the 40 thread range, and needs to be digitised differently to suit the thread type. Our technical setting for the 75 thread is 0.2mm stitch spacing. This is the standard when using the 75 thread range, and that puts it approaching double the normal stitch density of normal text settings Normal practice when setting up embroidery files is to delete all of the very small stitches from the design. This helps to prevent threadbreaks, bird-nesting and stitches pushing out. We usually remove stitches below 0.5mm in length and under, but when running thinner thread you want to reduce that so you’re only removing small stitches below 0.3mm. The reason behind this is that thinner threads are mostly used for small, detailed text and designs where it is capable of sewing much smaller column widths – by only removing stitches smaller than 0.3mm, you won’t then see parts of the small text and/or details disappearing. Why not set up a needle or two on your machine always for use with the 75 thread range? This way you can ensure the maximum quality output – but remember, it is always important to let your digitiser know when you are using non-standard thread ranges! If the design hasn’t been digitised with the knowledge that 75 thread is being used then it simply will not work, and instead will appear poor in quality with a lack of stitches. This 136,000-stitch design was carried out on a Melco EMT16X, using 75/11 sharp and 65/9 sharp needles. The 260mm by 220mm design took two hours and 28 minutes to stitch out on a Graduate Heavyweight Hoodie (JH101) from Just Hoods by AWDis. www.davidsharp.co.uk Watch the video clip Go small or go home! The text for the 136,000-stitch design was just 3.7mm high Only stitches 0.3mm and under need to be removed when using 75 thread