Impressions - August 2015 - 46

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Embroidery Design & Digitizing

Anticipate 'Push-Pull' in Designs
Know the properties of the single stitch to use this
phenomenon to your advantage in digitizing.
By Lee Caroselli-Barnes, Contributing Writer

Figure 1. Here, you can see
three column stitches with an
edge-run underlay. As that underlay
gets closer to the center of the
column, the overlying stitches will
pull in against the underlay and be
anchored by it.

w

hen you create a digitized design, it is important to know
what will happen with the
stitches in your sewout. There is nothing
worse than painstakingly following all the
rules, only to find that the design looks
perfect on screen, but flawed when it's
stitched. This phenomenon varies from
garment to garment.
The main cause of this frustration is the
distortion that results when stitches pull
in at one part of the design and push out at
another. Compounding this is the need to
find the perfect underlay that will prevent
this distortion.
Both the "push-pull" phenomenon and
underlay have become the biggest digitizing mysteries. These variables take away
the joy of creating a design and cause
apprehension. If you learn to anticipate
the push and pull in your design, you can
digitize with confidence.

in. All three "groups" of stitches - running, column/satin and fill stitches - are
comprised of single stitches. Therefore,
all three groups will be influenced by this
property to a certain extent.
In the case of the running stitch, the
longer stitch in a design's detail will result

in distortion. Anticipating this means simply shortening the stitches in that area.
In the case of the fill or tatami stitch,
an object with longer stitches - while
providing more gloss - will pull in more
than an object with shorter stitches. That
means that in a traditional fill, you will
have to anticipate more distortion to that
shape with the longer stitch, add to the
underlay to control it and adjust your outlines. This will vary with different fabrics,
as well as the overall design's size.
However, if that same object is done
with a layered fill, with only the final layer
having a longer stitch, it will have no pull
or push, but still will have the gloss. So, in
the case of the fill or tatami, you will have
ultimate control of the object by stitching
three layers of a fill that are each one-third
of the total density. Doing this will result in
no push or pull and there will be no need
to anticipate the amount of distortion.
(Editor's note: For more details on this technique, read "How to Work With Push-Pull
Compensation" at impressionsmag.com.)
This leaves the column or satin stitch
to address. A wider column stitch, which

Figure 2. If you want a
glossy, flat column stitch - as
in the Balboa letters shown
here - position your underlay
close to the edge.

SINGLE-STITCH PROPERTIES
A single stitch has one property: length.
The longer the stitch, the more it will pull
46

Impressions | August 2015

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Impressions - August 2015

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