EagleDigitizing

A machine embroidered design can be placed on any fabric, including silks and soft wools, but producing embroidery that doesn’t pucker or change the drape of the fabric requires more than just embroidering the design. One thing that we need to realize is not every design should be used on every type of fabric, even with the proper stabilizer. Most digitizers design for a middle-of-the-road fabric type, so unless you have digitized the design yourself for a specific type of fabric, always do a test sew out on the fabric, using the same thread and stabilizer as you will use on the final garment or project. ...

Woven or non-woven material used underneath the item or fabric being embroidered to provide support and stability for the needle penetration during digitizing. Best used when hooped with the garment, but also can be placed between the item to be embroidered and the needle plate on flat bed machines.

Applique is a common digitizing way. Applique means trimming cut from one piece of fabric and stitched to another to add dimension and texture. If appliqué occupies a significant amount of the design, the stitch count is lower.

Complexity is the biggest factor in determining the cost of digitizing. A large circle that is all fill makes the stitch count very high, but the design is simple. A large circle that has a complex design inside, but is not completely filled has a lower stitch count, but is much more time consuming to digitize. ...

Once the image has been digitized, it is exported in a format required by the machine. This file is composed of a series of coordinates and a few other basic commands that tell the machine what order to sew the design, when to stop, trim, and change colors, to name the most common. In the past, machines seldom understood more than one format or language. Today’s embroidery digitizing machines are, well, multilingual and many will read a wide range of formats....