Images October 2019 Digital Edition

www.images-magazine.com OCTOBER 2019 images 51 KB TIPS & TECHNIQUES Y our customer’s text said they were figuring out a full back embroidery. You hoped to receive a large, but otherwise uncomplicated, design. Unfortunately, your hopes were dashed. Dominated by tiny details, gradients, contours, and tiny text, you are staring at well over 300cm 2 of excruciating detail that it’s your job to digitise… No matter how many years I’ve spent salvaging jobs like this after other shops declined to tackle such difficult designs, I always feel a drag on my determination when such a time-consuming piece presents itself. Nevertheless, anyone who can execute a small and similarly detailed piece can learn to conquer larger pieces. Skill is required to digitise any design, but to take on large and difficult pieces also requires a systematic approach. If you can rationally analyse your design, parse it into actionable sub-tasks, and take repeated, measured actions toward its completion, you can overcome even the most daunting designs. This process-based approach, plus some perseverance, will enable you Erich Campbell suggests that a systematic approach is the key to digitising large and complicated pieces of work to make progress on any outsized or outwardly difficult digitising project. Analysis The first step in any embroidery should be the careful assessment of your customer’s expectations. In your initial interview with them you need to gain a solid sense of what’s most important to them – from understanding the desired design size and garment specs to their willingness to compromise when changes must be made. Then you need to analyse the provided art: examine the design carefully, imagining the stitched surface of the final decoration. This is when your core decisions are Howto digitise daunting designs