The Sewing Place

Lining up embroidery designs

Lachica

Lining up embroidery designs
« on: June 17, 2018, 21:04:31 PM »
My Pfaff makes a corner mark to enable accurate registration when embroidering repeat designs. Allegedly. However carefully I follow the instructions for setting locking points etc, the designs don't quite meet up. Any ideas? I spent all of yesterday embroidering the skirt for this toddler dress for my granddaughter's friend. There are 3 and a bit pattern repeats and a small step in the design each time. It's not visible when worn (pic of GD) but I'd like to master the technique.  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]    [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]    [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Acorn

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2018, 21:15:15 PM »
I can't help, but that is a gorgeous dress, and an even more gorgeous granddaughter!   :loveit:
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

Lachica

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2018, 21:22:35 PM »
Thanks, @Acorn.
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

sdBev

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2018, 02:15:20 AM »
Ive had, Bernia, Janome, Viking and now Brother embroidery sewing/embroidery machines.  There are just too many places things can go wrong for me to blindly trust their re-align procedures.  When I have to align, I make sure I am able to use a hoop larger than my design so I can use the built in functions to move the design around inside the hoop. Before I get to the machine, I take my design into the digitizing module (I use Embird but all the digitizing programs will work), and add stitches to outline the end and beginning of my design. At the machine I thread water soluble thread in the needle. Then I stitch out the end and beginning that I just digitized.  Its like previewing exactly where the design will stitch in relation to where the previous section stitched.  Now is the time I use those arrow keys to fine tune the placement of the next stitchout.  If my process is of interest, you will have to spend some time testing it, my procedure, before using it on a a real project. Oh, you dont have to use WST but its a whole lot easier to spritz away WST than unpick thread.

Lachica

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2018, 08:37:20 AM »
@sdBev thanks for that. I haven't got to grips with the software package that came with the machine, just never got around to it. I'll need to get a laptop to run it on first. It's good to know someone more experienced has the same trouble. Thanks for the WST suggestion, I didn't know there is such a thing but think it would be very useful. I've tried stitching out the first and last parts of the design without thread but it's hard to see if it's exactly lined up. The answer, of course, is not to attempt repeat designs...........
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Ohsewsimple

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2018, 19:10:16 PM »
Very clever idea! 

Acorn

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2018, 19:27:31 PM »
I've never had to line up a design as precisely as that one, but when I have used a repeating design I've drawn a line at the top and bottom inside the hoop (with soluble pen or tailors' chalk) before moving it along, and then aligned the hoop with these for the next repeat.
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

Lachica

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2018, 22:08:17 PM »
Because the machine stitched corner marks and I lined them up with the next pattern repeat carefully I really didn't expect to see a step in the finished design. It was one of the pre-loaded designs on the Pfaff, so I trusted it to line up.
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

sdBev

Re: Lining up embroidery designs
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2018, 13:40:55 PM »
@sdBev thanks for that. I haven't got to grips with the software package ...The answer, of course, is not to attempt repeat designs...........
understand about the software. It isn't intuitive. I mean you cant just look at the screen and know what to do.  Ive sat down and worked my way through 2 tutorials just about the digitizng portion. Each time it took me a full work week. Have also paid for and used several short tutorials that covered a single topic on which I still needed more help. After all that,  I mostly edit colors and create alignment marks.  But I do think the software was worth my time and $$$ especially for aligning designs.  Thank heavens, most of the time it doesnt matter if I am a little off.  But when it does, I have the tools for perfection.