STITCHES

Fills

Quindy wrote:
I am sewing out a design off a disk that I have purchased. I noticed that some of the designs use a vertical fill angle. I looked in the manual (pg. 189) and it states that you should never use a vertical or horizonal stitch angle. If you were to digitize this yourself the machine would not even let you do it. It would ask you to change the angle or the stitch length. Am I hurting my machine by doing these designs????

Quindy, the reason not to use any more true vertical or horizantal fills than possible is the problems they can cause when stitching knits especially. Your fabric theads run vertical and horizantal. When you put your embroidery at the same angle it can cause the fabric threads to spread apart. This can cause rippling. The angle will not hurt your machine at all. You can even force the program to accept these angles by choosing to change the stitch length OR spacing. Just remember to change them back before doing the next area. Sometimes you will need these angles and it is a good idea to practice using them before they are necessary. Lou

Outline Stitches

Outline stitches are not a mystery, they're just a pain in the neck! It is worth taking time and doing some sort of outline on every project. Designs are OK without, but much more professional with outlining. Satin works for some items, like these big greek letters we're talking about. But the outlines you see most on designs are manual stitches made just inside the outermost fill or satin stitches in a design. When you are following an edge, you put the manual outline on the edge when following parallel to direction of stitch pattern, and slightly into the design when you're going perpendicular to direction of stitching (the ends of rows of fill or satin stitches 'pull' back a bit and you don't want your outlining to be out in space). Watch " stitch length " at the bottom of your screen to make sure all stitches are equal (.5mm for ex.) If you plan to be able to reduce the size of your design at some point in time, do not make .4mm or less length stitches. Generally, do not make 1 mm or larger outline stitches. Use the " shift " key to make straight lines when you can, as you manual stitch. Never use right mouse button when you manual stitch. Use one solid outline color, like black, when the design's all done, or use outlining in color of section while you're digitizing the section in very subtle, realistic designs. This is a very nice effect but a pain in the neck. When you have a nice, solid color outline digitized and it looks good, " select " it, copy it, and " paste " it over itself. Professional designs usually have 2 layers of outlining and this is a great way to do it. Mary

Satin Stitches

Hi Everyone, Just a quick tip. Did you know that after placing your points for satin stitching you can hit ENTER, ENTER twice and the program will take you to MANUAL STITCH to do your tie-off's? Lou at DHD

Real narrow satin outlines sometimes balk when you stitch out unless using 60 wt thread and when you raise densities significantly to account for 40 wt the finished line sometimes looks wavey ... just my observations. Anyway, by zooming in real close and panning to move around the design outline, you can make the actual satin outlines as thin and precise as you wish. If your outlining is following straight lines, remember to hold down the shift button and magically you can make perfect, parallel, inside and outside stitches for your line. On curves, it's harder but use that zoom for closeups! When I use " pan " to get around the design, the scale remains unchanged and my perception of how near to each other the two squares representing satin in-& outside stitches are is quite accurate. When I go back and forth to different scales, full view, etc. my design pays the price.Mary

A question about boo-boo's. I digitized something and started to sew it out and got frustrated with broken threads. The next time I tried " Sew " it said the design was too big for the hoop. Well, when I looked at the screen there was a long jump clear off the hoop, in one of the colors I'd used (several colors back from the end of the design.) I have no idea why it wasn't there the first time. Is there a magic method other than...redoing everything from the point of boo-boo?

You can scroll back to right before those stitches start jumping, " select " just those errant stitches, turn select off, then hit " delete selects " . Those selected stitches will be history, but you may need to move a stitch or two with the move stitch feature to smooth the transition. You can also use remove stitch, but I find it harder. Why does it sometimes add weird jumps? Who knows... Hope this helps. Robin

To Delete Stitches

1. Open file

2. pick which one you want

3. When it is on screen, click on modify - then click on go to start

4. Then with the directional arrows on your computer go 10 sts at a time with the down arrow, if you go too far, go back by clicking on up arrow -- you arrow to the place where you want to start to delet stitches.

5. Then go to modify, click on select.

6. Then go to arrows and arrow to the spot where you want to end the stitches you want deleted.

7. Then go to modify and click on select (checkmark will disappear)

8. Then go back to modify and click on go to end. You will see the stitches you want deleted in black and the rest of the design in color

9. Go to edit and click on delete selects Your stitches you want deleted will now be removed.

If you decide to put more stitches in that spot, make sure you overlap them and also remember that they will not be sewed on EU until all your design has finished. Hope this helps. Gloria

DENSITIES and TENSIONS

Carol, To change the density in a design, you change the values as you have done, then under the edit menu, choose select all and the design will turn black showing the stitches are selected. Then under edit, select change density and the machine will ask if it should. Check yes or OK and then the machine will sit and look like nothing is happening. When it comes back, look at the bottom bar and it will say something about so many stitches in and so many out. If the number out is not less than the # in you will need to change the values to higher numbers. I have had to go as high as 60 to get some designs to take out stitches. Sometimes if you just check " change density " again it will take out a few more stitches. Hope this helps. I think we have all forgotten at times that in order to change something in a CSD design the stitches must be " selected " Lois

If you are using 40 wt thread, be sure that you are adjusting the satin values (density) before you stitch. Donna Lee

If you have upper thread coming through to the bottom, you don't have you upper tension tight enough, or your bottom tension is to tight. I'd start with tightening your upper tension until you get just a little of you upper thread on the bottom. Sue Hager

Changing densities. Changing all or part of a design doesn't matter all that much. Neither does scaling a lot or a little. It doesn't eliminate the root of the problem. The extra stitches you can get by scaling or changing densities are called sprays. We have information on fixing them and are going to put this on the web site. But the short course amounts to this. They are caused by stitch placements or point placement in the original design and show up when you manipulate the stitches after selecting. some computer configurations never seem to have them and others can be a nightmare. To eliminate them:
1. After scaling or changing densities, with the selects still on, zoom in and check the design carefully. Make a note of where they start and stop.
2. Undo! Do all corrections on your original design, not on the changed version.
3. Go to the stitch where the problem seemed to originate. Delete that stitch and the next one. The scale again. Check. If that did not fix the problem,keep trying. Be sure to un do and save the original after fixing.
4. The problem is usually found in the auto center stitches, at the end of satin columns, before a jump stitch or where two parts of a complex fill come together
5. In your own designs it seems to help eliminate the problem if you make sure to place your entry and exit points for your fills slightly inside the perimeter of the fill.
I have found this problem in designs I have converted from other software also, even from commercial designs. Hope this makes some sense to you. Lou

Can anyone suggest some fill and satin stitch values that will be suitable and provide reliable stitching when using 40 Wt. thread. It seems that this weight of thread is more available than the Singer EU default thread 60 Wt. Regards, Tom

Dear Tom, I change the values of both the Satin and Fill to 45-50 then I change the density of designs digitized for 60 weight. If I am digitizing my own I change the values to the same and then digitize. If you change the values they stay the same until you turn the machine off or change them back. There is more information on this on Sheree McKee's page and I'm sure you will be getting more info from others very soon, and some are much more experienced than I. I just happen to be the first one to get and answer your ?? Lois

Tom, I don't change my fill values much. I do change the satin values to .35, except when doing lettering, then I change satin values to .45 Donna Lee

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