February 2011 - Posts

• A Free Calculator and Reverse Engineering a Design in AlphabetXpress

  I have never been certain why Microsoft does not place a calculator on a computer screen. There are a number of them on the Internet, and I have one that I like for several reasons. For one, I can turn off or on the keyboard. With the keyboard off, I can just use my computer numeers. You can find it here.   When you first saw machine embroidery, it was probably done by a sales person who just pressed a couple of buttons and made magic!  Just like Dorothy, you must be warned not to believe all that you see. The Wizard of Oz can be tricky.  The good news is that you can learn all that trickery, alas at the expense of time and effort - OR by reading the Forum and the excellent blogs offered by AnnTheGran. As each facet of embroidery is mastered, your projects become more and more professional and beautiful.  Look back at some of your original attempts (I hope you keep them, they can be very educational!!) and see that you have progressed. Here are my tips (in no particular order): Make sure the design fits both your hoop and the project. I have done some items only to find that they were too large or too small for the area. Color changes can be exorbitant for a design. Keep in mind that more color changes means more detail and vice versa. But if you have to gather 23 colors, including 8 colors of blue, it can be a problem. For one thing, those blue colors may need to blend but not be too close in color. They may need to be highly contrasting and that could be very difficult. Stitch count can cause issues in that a light fabric with a heavy stitch count can be too heavy for the fabric.  It can be too dense and cause what is known as ‘cast iron embroidery.' You have heard your machine sound like it was pounding rather than piecing the fabric. That can be the result of a poorly digitized design or too much stabilizer. And here is my favorite -   Take a good look at the underlay and the over-all layout of your stitches. You may find that a design is not as great as you may have hoped. It could be skimpy and have the background fabric appear; or it could be too dense and be a sewing nightmare Starting in Alphabet Xpress, look at the stitching underlay.   The first design I selected did not even have an underlay. It went directly from the writing (which may or may not have underlay) to the eyes.     I selected a second design that does have an underlay and started (lower left corner) to check the stitching of the words.    And I could see that as I move the indicator, the underlay of the first balloon starts as does the second balloon. I am looking to see that the underlay is light and great for the design. Some underlay will be heavier for various digitizing reasons.           I guess thats another reason why I just love Alphabet Xpress.   And, you may have noticed that Catalog Xpress is offering a super deal this week! Check it out! (You can get two free Morango Design Collections.  That is Collections which are dozens of exceptional designs, not just a design or two.   Posted Feb 25 2011, 02:15 PM by TheComputerist with 5 comment(s) Filed under: catalog xpress, designs, color changes, digitize, stitch number, Alphabet Xpress, underlay, give away, Morango Collections: Alpha Xpress, calculator

• Increasing Computer Speed - - - Leather and Lace and Alpha Xpress

  I am a big fan of free computer software. Some of it is worth free and some of it is quite valuable. One that I like, and have found to be praised by many computer professionals is CCleaner by Piriform.com.  This one has a very nice Pedigree - - If you are not using this software, you may want to consider it because of its multitude of great features.  It will clean up:  Not too bad for a freebie!  What I like is something 'hidden' in the Tools group.  It is called Driver Wipe and if you are careful, it will clean up your drive for you. Look at the Drop Down selection and see that you can wipe just the Free Space Only  or  THE ENTIRE DRIVE (All data will be erased).  Make sure  you don't select the second option and you will have a cleaner drive.   You can opt for a single wipe or multiple wipes. I first did a single wipe (overnight) and worked my way up to 35 wipes. I really feel like my pc runs faster now.       One thing about Alpha Xpress that I find to be very sophisticated is that it understands the difference between leather and lace. Stay with me here, I will get there, I promise. If you digitize, I don't have to explain this to you, but the rest of us are in the dark on these issues. There is an issue with machine embroidery that is called "Push/Pull Compensation."  As I noted in my blog on purchasing magazines and books on embroidery, I have another often used book by John Deer called Digitizing made easy. I don't digitize, but understanding what it takes to digitize can be very helpful. John describes push/pull (this is only one facet of push/pull) as in the following example (disregard that the stitches are uneven): As your machine is placing stitches, it is generating a force that can make problems like puckering and/or drawing in. That can make a letter "I" look strange or even  ruin a beautiful embroidery design. Enter Alpha Xpress to (help to) save the day. Look at the following information and see that there is a software generated difference. First, we are working in  the "Options" Menu and under 'formats' using the 'recipe' for Silk.     We are going to next explore what "Silk" generates in the 'Properties' area, in the 'Fill' tab: It is 'suggesting' a .4 density. Remember that the higher the number, the less dense your area will be.  The .4 can be adjusted if you like which would be relative to your design and fill and fabric. I adjust the fill frequently when I am doing lettering for my hankies.  Furthermore, the wider the stitch, the more pull compensation is needed.   Next I am selecting "leather" for my fabric.   The fill had adjusted the density change to .5.  (Satin is the type of stitch here, not the fabric.)    In his book, John does say that software is unable to adjust the 'push' so the digitizer will need to make that adjustment manually. The computer is great but limited in some areas. Understanding these details will help you when you run into problems. As Microsoft says, "Unexpected results may result." Which is their way of saying - - - the computer cannot fix it and/or we cannot figure out how to make the computer fix it. If you have not read my blog on needles, I suggest that you do because there is information that is, IMHO, valuable for understanding embroidery in general.   Posted Feb 11 2011, 02:49 PM by TheComputerist with 2 comment(s) Filed under: computer, software, Microsoft, freeware, solutions, computer tips, computers, Alpha Xpress, density, digitize, freebies, Free, Alphabet Xpress, compensation, drive, pull, push