Letter Perfect

April 1, 2008

Font selection is important with small letters. Here, No. 1 is too thin, while No. 2 is too fat, causing letters to close up when sewn. No. 3 is acceptable, but the letters should be wider. No. 4 is the optimum font — it is wide enough and properly spaced.

Digitizing small lettering can be a challenge, but it's important to remember that every stitch in a small letter matters. Stitches must be perfectly placed and connected, including the tie-off stitches. It has been said that a good digitizer can digitize small letters with any digitizing system. However, some digitizing packages do this better than others, depending on the mathematical formulas programmed into the software.

Stitches tend to become erratic and don't hold consistent length or spacing on extremely narrow or short columns, or when going around a curve or a corner. On the other hand, if a digitizer knows what the stitches should look like, he can make adjustments in the software or manually digitize the stitches to sew properly. Here are some other helpful hints for solving small-lettering issues:

• Choose a font with column strokes that are neither too wide nor too narrow. Fonts with thick column strokes cause the inside of small letters such as "a" and "p" to close up, causing a hole in the garment. Fonts that are too narrow can look inadequate, even if they are digitized well.

• Carefully digitizing corners also is important. Keep in mind the pull effect of the top and bottom threads, and make sure to exaggerate the inside and outside of corners. By placing inputs slightly "in" on the inside corners and slightly "out" on the outside corners, you'll notice a world of difference with finished products.

— From the EMB archives

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