Embroidery Digitizing Blog

So I figure I will try to write to this blog a couple times per week. I will focus on Embroidery Digitizing, Embroidery techniques and processes as well as tap into some stuff about website design (as much as I know anyway) and screen printing. But lets start at the beginning.

My name is Jim Schuett. I have been in the embroidery business for over 12 years. It started out as a part time job and hobby and quickly grew into a passion. The beginning for me was Digitizing! I thought it was fascinating and I have always had a creative side. The whole thing seemed like one of those big brain puzzles where you also got to throw some artisitc flair into it. I “punched” my first design back in 1995 and I was hooked from then on.

Back then we digitized or “punched” designs using a large magnetic tablet much like a cad table you would see today and we were lucky to have a DOS based Data Stitch digitizing software. Prior to that time digitizers actually “punched” holes in to long ribbons of paper (much like a player piano roll) called “tapes”. This is why you will still hear digitizers refer to “punching” designs or someone saying they need a “tape” in reference to an embroidery design. I was happy not to be a part of that generation but I sure have respect for the craft that they mastered.

Now I use Wilcom Embroidery Digitizing software on a toshiba tablet pc and I digitize in a recliner (great for ergonomics). We sure have come a long way since the days of taping the artwork to CAD tables and “punching” Melco corners for condensed files (more about that later). I am VERY happy to be using the new technology of today.

So where do I want to go with this blog? That was the original question. I think in order to start at the beginning I will approach this the same way I do with any of my apprentices. A complete introduction to digitizing, followed by fundementals and then techniques and details. If any of you are way ahead of that please catch up in a few weeks (or months) when we are approaching your level. For now I still get alot of questions from people with no experience and the beginning always seems a good place to start.

Lastly, I am not intending to sound preachy or like a know it all believe me. I still learn about this craft every day and I always want to learn new things. So please feel free to suggest things, ask questions, correct me where I am wrong or whatever. I just want ot share what I have learned and maybe be of some help along the way. I feel very fortunate to be in the embroidery industry and I love digitizing.

So next up. What is digitizing?