Cap Digitizing in order to achieve best Embroidery Styles
Cap digitizing is a standard technique in embroidery and especially when people want their hats, caps or any head wear item in custom made style. It is a process of converting graphic or image that you want to be embroidered into language or format that is readable by the embroidery machines so as to be able to produce detailed designs on fabric. In this article we’ll discuss how cap digitizing is done, why it’s crucial in reproducing quality embroidered caps, and how to get the perfect embroidery designs on caps. Here in this article, we’ll make you aware about the cap digitizing basics and some advanced techniques too. What is Cap Digitizing? Cap digitizing involves the skill of converting simple images or designs in to stitch types that will be understandable to an embroidery machine, and can be sewn on the cap or hat. This is not the same as most other embroidery digitizing due to the fact that it considers the shape, curvature, as well as fabric of caps. Caps are not plain jerseys; they have more dimensions, or indeed the structure of a cap is curved and when sewing seams one must match these curves perfectly. The process of cap digitizing multi-steps, which select a suitable stitch types, change direction of these stitches, or choose the density of the threads. Digitizers employ a software where they design a file that contain information on where on the fabric the embroider machine is to sew, what kind of stitch is required and how the machine is to be maneuvered. If the digitizing of the numbers on cap is not properly done, the design may come out all distorted, the quality of the design might reduce or the stitching on the cap may not even be proper. Why is Cap Digitizing Important? Again, cap digitizing is another important step to make sure that your design is the best that you want on a cap. Here are several reasons why cap digitizing is essential for perfect embroidery: Custom Fit for Curved Surfaces: Caps, however, have curved surfaces and the stitching patterns of caps need adjustments than flat fabrics. With digitizing, your design will not blur as it curves around the crown and the brim of the cap. Preservation of Design Integrity: When a design is digitized for a cap, the file created will capture the characteristics of the cap material and will not distort or wrinkle or be less clear when embroidered. Efficiency and Accuracy: The proper cap digitizing ensures that the embroidery work is conducted fast enough. The machine is fully aware of where and how to sew in the parts of the design and therefore results in less errors. This results in increased production rates and the quality outcome. Durability and Longevity: The intended designs can easily survive the worst of caps due to proper digitization. Lack of digitization may cause the thread to unravel or become undone after some couple of uses and ultimately impact the longevity of the design. If digitization is done correctly it will help to reduce distortion and make the embroidery more lasting. The Process of Cap Digitizing Cap digitizing can only be done with the expertise of technical input, imagination, and using several tools and applications. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how the process works: Design Preparation Cap digitizing’s initial procedure is the preparation of design. This includes using the artwork or logo and scanning it or entering into a form that will be recognizable by the digitizing software. If the design is a logo or an image it has to be scanned in a graphics application such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW to eliminate all the unnecessary details and to simplify the design. The cleaner the image, the better are the results when digitizing the image. Choosing the Right Stitches To achieve the desired result embroidery digitizers should choose the correct type of stitches for different parts of the design. Standard forms of stitches include running, satin and fill stitches. As mentioned earlier, stitch type depends on the complexity of the design and the fabric on which the design is to be printed and the area on the cap where it is to be stitched. For example, if the design has small logos with edges, then these will need to have clean satin stitches to provide the sharp outline ; larger fields of the design might also be filled with fill stitches. Other stitches also facilitate the design to hug the curve of the cap even better. Adjusting for Cap Curvature Another issue, which rises with the cap digitizing, is the curvature of the cap. On the flat piece of fabric, light distribution is different from that of a curved cap shape which is another requirement of the design that has to be meet by the digitizer. This may require manipulating the stitch direction and angle or the sequence in which a stitch is created in order to have the stitches flow properly across the fabric and to make a correct proportion of the design when embroidered at the cap. Thread Density and Tension What the term thread density means is the number of threads used in the fabric per unit of area either in the warp or filling direction. This way, excessively high density can cause puckering or distortion, while low density may fail to reproduce the design clearly or at all. A competent digitizer varies the thread density with regards to the cap’s material and design requirements. Other parameters such as tension settings for the embroidery machine are also set appropriately so that it doesn’t get either too tight or too loose during its operational requirements. Translating the Design into Machine Use Upon digitizing, the design is stored in a file format suitable for the embroidery tool to read; usual formats include .DST, .PES and .EXP. This file is then carried to the embroidery machine that will in turn translate it and sew the design stitch by stitch. Advice on