Small font

[crossthread]

I am using the Melco small font .25 and it looks great when I stitch in out. However, on some of the items, polos and knit, the letters will be distorted or buried.
I am using a cut away stabilizer and it seems to hoop ok. Any suggestions on what I can do. Thanks!
Pam
Crossthreadembroidery.net

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Pam,
How many layers of cut-a-way are you using?
Ed

[Impressive Threads]

You might want to increase the minimum width of your columns and try some solvy on top.

Cindy in Phoenix

[signman]

Besides your backing and solvy...don't stretch the material when you hoop it! The 'weave' on pique and knits is like old fashioned cordoroy pants-it is ridged with defined 'highs' and 'lows'..so your stitching is going up and down on that fabric. Nothing you can do about it-you are sewing on a moving target! Good backing will hold the material in place, not stretching the material will keep the stitching 'in one place' and help, solvy on top will keep the stitching 'up' on the fabric and when it dissolves later, the thread isn't pulled tight down. Increasing minimum width (and it means REALLY increasing it-130 is a starting point) for tiny letters isn't a heck of a lot-think about it...and the font makes a difference. Forget small letters with 'serifs' (like the 'times' font in this message). Basic 'helvetica', arial, avantegarde, just a plain old straight line block font is the best you can hope for.
I had a school logo that has all small lettering- .18 or so-and not a font worked. I ended up manually 'creating' the font with 12 point normal stitch line-just sat and 'drew' the lettering. Threw away the font, and it sews great. Tedious but when it's the only way to do it...on other problem fonts (small ones) I can use a single line stitch-8 pt width I think is as fine as I go.

[Barbara Bunker]

Great tips, signman! I almost thought you were Fred for a minute, but he would have mentioned mesh stabilizer. One of my first jobs was small lettering. After getting some great mentoring from Pineapple (Herman and Hazel), I finally got it. Increasing the minimum width has saved many a shirt!

Have a great day!

Barb in Broomfield, CO

[signman]

Fred is dead on for recommending 'his' type of products and does have the experience to go with it-not just a 'salesman'. Have talked to him and emailed him couple times. The mesh stabilizer I didn't think would work-the whole concept of a 'bug screen backing' working better than 3 oz. backing was backwards to me..until I tried it like he said. Fine detail, small lettering on teeshirts is no longer a lousy looking mess!
He's great with sending out samples fast to help us here.

[crossthread]

Thank you for all the tips. I have been using 1 layer of cutaway and a solvy top.
I have increased the width to 10. I have found the pull compensation to widen the columns too. I have this set at 1. should I put it back to zero?
This melco small font is digitized for small lettering. I was hoping not to have these problems with it. Keep the advice coming, you are all so GREAT!!... Thank you very much, I appreciate all the helpful tips.
Pam
Crossthreadembroidery.net

[Rod or Sharon]

Pam,

The "minimum column width" is a form of pull comp also. It only affects those areas of the column that are less than whatever number you place in this box. If you select 10 pts, for example, then no part of the column will be allowed to be less than 10 pts wide. It does not affect any part of the column that is already wider than this 10 pt figure. This applys to any satin stitch column, regardless of whether is is in lettering or just a satin column in a design.

There are two areas of pull comp, one by percentage and one by X and Y. Percentage will visually grow or expand the fat sections of the columns faster than the skinny sections. For instance, if we use the numbers 100 and 10 in regards to column width. If we take 10% of 100, you get 10. If you take 10% of 10, you get 1. In this example, the fat number(100) is growing 10 times faster than the skinny number(10).

X & Y....if you add 1 point and have the lock box checked, then this form of pull comp will add 1 pt of width to EACH side of the column regardless of how wide it is to start, giving you a 2 pt increase. If you add 2 pts then you will get a total of a 4 pt increase overall. Take the number 100 and 10 again. If we added 2 pts in the X and Y, then you will add 2 pts to each side of the 100....(2)100(2).... to get a 4 pt increase in the column width or 104. If you add 2 pts to the number 10....(2)10(2)...., then you will get a total column width increase of 4 or 14.

These are things that must be [played with to acheive the required results. Sometimes a combination of both % and X,Y work the best. Sometimes one or the other work best.

As far as Minimum column width is concerned, 10 pts or above should be the rule of thumb used for column width. A 10 pt column is only about 40 thousands of an inch wide. That is less than 1/2 of 1/10th of an inch.

Hope this helps to understand the pull comp tools a bit more....

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[crossthread]

Thank you for the information Rod. I appreciate you explaining it..Just when I think I have a handle on things something else comes up. In this business you are always learning.
Thank you so much for the knowledge you give! [img]smile.gif[/img]