How to Digitize Designs for Embroidery

Promo items are one of the best ways to build goodwill with customers, keep your brand front and center, and spread the word with walk-up advertising. When you digitize your logo and/or slogan on a piece of clothing or other merchandise, it needs to look perfect. Eagle digitizing will discuss how to do just that.

What is Embroidery Digitization?

Commercial Embroidery Machine File Types

What are the steps to digitization?

Where will the logo/image be placed?

How complex will the design be?

How big will the design be?

what color do you need?

What fabric do you use?

What pins are you using?

What is Embroidery Digitization?

The term describes the process of converting artwork into a digital file compatible with embroidery machines, so the machine knows how to guide the needle's path to recreate the image. Even in today's high-tech world, digitizing embroidery is still an art because it has yet to be automated. Digitizers must make specific decisions based on the type of material, type of stitching, and how they ultimately want their logo or imagery to look.

Once the logo is ready, the process itself is relatively simple. On the sewing end, the embroidery machine uses a software that runs the sewing according to the instructions in this file. It won't work with the files your computer uses, so you'll usually need to start with a PNG or JPG file of your logo, then convert it to an embroidery file. How do you know which file to translate it into? It depends on the computer used with the printer. Here's how it works:

Commercial Embroidery Machine File Types

Before starting the process of sending your files, check with your printer to find out what type of embroidery machine they will be using. This list covers the file types compatible with the most popular brands:

.dst: Tajima Commercial Embroidery Machine

.exp: Melco Commercial Embroidery Machine

.jef: Janome Commercial Embroidery Machine

.kwk: Brother Commercial Embroidery Machine

.dsb: Barudan Commercial Embroidery Machine

.tap: Happy Commercial Embroidery Machine

Depending on the computer, you can start converting to that particular file and sending it to the printer. Which brings us to....

What are the steps to digitization?

Before starting, you need to consider all parameters. By following this progression, you'll create clear designs that perfectly reflect your brand. Since you're converting a 2D design to a 3D design using a different material, it's helpful to take a step back and fully understand the design you'll be creating. Here's how to digitize embroidery. Decide on the following:

Where will the logo/image be placed? Is it on the left breast of a T-shirt, the face of a trucker hat, or the front of a bag? Each of these locations will determine other factors, such as the size and complexity of the embroidery.

How complex will the design be? How detailed would you like your recreated images to be? Depending on the limitations of your sewing machine, you may need to make adjustments to accommodate your font, logo, or other imagery, so make sure you know how to change an image while maintaining its clarity and integrity. Often, digitizers must remove elements from the original and refine the design. Processing such as outlines may be removed, and smaller text in 2D may be increased and moved to fit better. The overall logo/image may be reduced to an embroidery, but in the end it needs to look as close to the original logo/image as possible to align with your branding strategy.

How big will the design be? It depends on where the image is located and how the image is used. If you want an image to be legible from a few feet away, it may need to be larger than what you're used to making for your website.

what color do you need? While you may not be able to exactly match your logo color to the thread, there are so many options in embroidery thread that you should be able to find something comparable.

What fabric do you use? Some designs look great when the fabric shines as a background color. Some don't. Depending on the design, you need to choose fabrics that make sense. Also, the fabric itself will help you choose the type of stitch. The "push and pull" of a garment refers to how it moves as it is sewn. This can affect stitching, especially if you're working with long stitches, bulky fabrics, large thread areas, or even tighter thread spools. Because these movements affect the final stitch, push-pull variables need to be considered when choosing a stitch type.

What pins are you using? There are so many great stitch types to give your embroidery a different look. Like paint strokes, they replicate an image with movement and varying thickness. When choosing a stitch type, you need to keep in mind that each stitch has a maximum stitch length, which will be affected by the "push and pull" we just discussed. Wondering which to choose? Here are three popular pins:

Satin Stitching: This is most often used for text, as it has a longer thread length, looks shiny, and does a great job of printing text. It's perfect for any text and words, borders and anywhere you want a shiny finish.

Line Stitching: This basic building block uses straight lines repeated many times to create an image. By adding more straight stitches, you can make thicker lines. They can also be used to construct curved lines and other non-straight lines. You'll use straight stitches to outline any letters or objects, create shadows and finish any smaller detail work. They give you fine control over how to shape your image.

Fill Stitch: As you might imagine, fill stitches fill in an image. Also known as cut stitch or tatami stitch, it runs alternating lines that appear to be knitted. You'll see it used for textured embroidery, large designs, filling backgrounds, and where more durability is required as it strengthens the design.

Learning how to embroider digitally is important, especially if you've never done it before. We can help. Ironmark works with professional digitizers who know how to convert regular logos or images into embroidered ones. They know which stitches to use, what direction to set them in, how they interact with the fabric, which colors work well, and what sizes are recommended. They also know how to handle color changes and how to achieve this look.

Talk to us today about turning your logo into something more. With so many exciting sale items on offer, the possibilities really are endless. Our comprehensive creative services team can assist you from start to finish, helping to design a piece of art and make it production-ready, no matter what medium it is applied to. Let us help you make it happen!