Impressions - March 2019 - 36

Working With Your SoftWare
To satisfy your customer's appetite for a luxurious monogram that runs
like a dream without destroying the art's integrity, you should know how
to scale it yourself. Figure 2 shows the digitized commands or nodes.
This indicates that your system is reading the needed commands and
can accomplish what you need when scaling the design. Below that
same picture you will see how the stitches follow the node's movement,
and beside that, the stitch-by-stitch editing process, where only one
stitch can be moved at a time.

Figure 2
Editing software allows easy scaling.
Here, you can see how the stitches
follow the nodes, as well as the stitchby-stitch editing process.

Small and Wide
To scale this design, the first rule is that the smaller the monogram letter, the smaller the satin-stitch column will be. The
length of the stitch in the column has to be wide enough so
that there is material between the two needle penetrations at
each end of the stitch. If the two needle penetrations are too
close with no material in between, you will lose that stitch.
Also, that wider, longer stitch results in the gloss that makes
this embroidery beautiful. So, as with any satin or column stitch,
scaling down the monogram requires widening the column.
Second, with a wider column, the thread will pull and fill in.
If you don't allow for the resulting increased density, the stitches
will begin to push against each other. This will compromise
the column's beauty and cause it to "wobble." To give those
stitches room, simply lighten the density or increase the space
between the stitches.
You will find that the default density values initially should
be lightened by about 10%.This is because the software usually
reinterprets the column stitch to be about 10%-15% more dense
than the original artist's programming. As you decrease the
monogram's size, the density or spacing needs to be decreased
proportionately.
When you get to the very small column, you will find that if
the default is .40mm, you will be running the column at .80mm.
When shown at 100%, you will see that this fills in nicely and
the design's beauty isn't compromised.
The next step is addressing the column's width.These stitches
love to pull in, which is an advantage. Not only does it allow
you to run a very small column without thread breaks, but the
pulling forces the stitches to fill in and be more rounded, adding
beauty and dimension to the monogram.
To edit this particular monogram effectively, take it color
by color, as each section has a different look or texture and
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i m p r e s s i o n s m a g . c o m MARCH 2019

needs to be addressed separately (see Figure 3). Starting with
the small areas you see in color No. 1, check the density of the
objects within it and lighten that density in proportion to the
size you will be running.
If you have scaled that design down to 50% of the original
letter size, you must lighten the density at least 60% and widen
the column. When measuring the column (the length of the
stitch), if you find that the length is 2.9mm and the needle width
is .8mm, you will have material to work with. But I would still
widen the column by 30% and lighten the density by 60%.
Thus, if the default is .40mm, it should be .60mm.
The objects in color No. 2 are slightly larger. However, they
stitch from the center and out, resulting in a shorter stitch. If
that stitch length is 1.6mm and the needle's width is half of
that, there is no material between needle penetrations - so
widen the column by at least 60%.The density then should be
at .80mm, or a 90% decrease.
The last color, No. 3, is the letter itself. Here, the goal should
be to keep the beautiful sheen.This still will require lightening the density as you reduce the size, but also widening the

When dealing with
stock monograms,
you primarily are
working with a satin
or column stitch.

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Impressions - March 2019

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