Free Slideshow Program and Alphabet Xpress Tip #3, stitch view

There are several very nice slideshow programs on the Internet, but I thought that this one was the best.   Most of the freebies are minimal and require that you download their data down to your PC.  As I have noted several times, more and more of the software will be purchased/used/a... [More]

Embroider Shirt Cuffs for Christmas

Do you love the look of monograms on men's cuffs? This is a stylish touch that almost any man can appreciate. The trick is to create these small wonders in the correct size, without bulky corners and with proper placement. You can get confidence to embroider cuffs by practicing on cuffs fro... [More]

New Holiday Designs from African Folklore Embroidery

Exciting New Holiday Designs from African Folklore Embroidery We have several new designs just in time for the Holidays. Some of these include the new Hanukkah designs (this year Hanukkah starts December 1st.) Two special designs that celebrate this holiday include the Hanukah Menorah; it is custom... [More]

Keeping It Simple - A Cute Christmas Stocking

I'm not sure why but I really enjoy making Christmas stockings.  I have made traditional ones, funky ones, country ones and elegant ones depending on who they are for.   We always make a stocking for each new addition to our family.  Some years, with weddings and births, we h... [More]

Keeping it Simple - Easy Runners for Small places

A while back, our oldest daughter painted her dining area walls orange.  We all thought she was a little crazy but with her black furniture it actually looks very nice.  She has a small table on one side and has been looking for a runner for quite some time now.  She really didn't... [More]

Keeping It Simple - Specialty Pillowcases

Last week Emma and I were at the fabric store picking up some fabric for my aunt who is 94 and still sewing.  While we were looking Emma saw this horse fabric and went nuts over it.  "Meesy, we just have to make something with this!" she said.  Now, why this little girl is s... [More]

Speed Up Start Up of your PC; Intro to Alphabet Xpress

Most Help Desk people will remind you to do certain steps, depending on your computer, to help speed up your PC.  Vista does the Defrag and Check Disk in the background, so you can do those if you like, but it is not likely to make any difference in start-up speed. It is a fact that getting ri... [More]

Paisley Apron Embroidery

     Individual characters (letters, numbers and punctuation marks) from my alphabets andindividual designs can be found on my Stock Design Page.  My designs are also available inpacks, as described in this blog.  Those can be found here.  For designs and packs ava... [More]

Keeping it Simple - Easy Tutu skirts and Black Cats

Our family has been invited to several Halloween gatherings this year.  The first is this weekend - a whole week before the 31st!  This is Friday and the girls costumes are not quite finished.  But the girls are very excited about dressing up for  these events.  One dec... [More]

Christmas Stocking Embroidery

Christmas season always brings requests for embroidering names on stockings. This may make you wish that you could crawl into a cave and hibernate with the bears until Spring! Yet stockings can be conquered and in doing so, you bring happiness and create heirlooms. For this reason, I have always tri... [More]

Keeping It Simple - The Big Tote It

You can never have too many bags.  We use bags for everything from storing tiny toys to carrying our groceries in "green" bags.  But last week my daughter decided she needed a huge bag. She teaches science two days a week at a local Christian school.  But since she shares th... [More]

Skype and Catalog Xpress Tip #9, add Alphabet Xpress

If you have not yet tried Skype, you are missing one of the finest features the Internet has to offer. Most people know that you can call users worldwide if they have the correct equipment for free.  But did you know that: You can send files Send Instant Messages (IM) Create a conference... [More]

Winners in Creativity for African Folklore Embroidery

And The Winner is………   Over twenty thousand people viewed the African Folklore Embroidery entries at the International Quilt Show in Long Beach.  As many of my readers know I travel around the country lecturing and teaching African Folklore Embroidery. I am always a... [More]

Keeping It Simple - Spiders, Ruffles and Ghosts, Oh My!

Halloween is just around the corner and with so many costumes to make this year I decided two things: 1) They need to be fairly simple, and 2) I need to start earlier than I have in the past.  The two older girls each have a definite ideas of what they want to be.  But what ... [More]

Safety Information, Free Posters for your school and Catalog Xpress Tip #8, Printing Your Designs

We are all trying to be more ‘green' these days, but some things may remain in your home that you are uncertain about.  Green means more environmentally safe, but I use some items that I really cannot do without.   I want to know exactly what is in those products.  It m... [More]

Rise Above the Ordinary with Silk Flower Embroidery

It’s great to find a new embroidery effect, and it’s even better when it’s as easy as the silk flower technique. Jackie Woods of www.greatnotions.com introduced me to the concept, and I found it absolutely stunning.   Jackie u... [More]

Keeping It simple - Frosty the Minky Pink Snowman

One of our granddaughters loves Frosty the Snowman.  We sing the song daily - even when it is 100+ degrees here.  We read the book almost as often.  So I decided to create a Frosty sweatshirt for her even though winter isn't here yet.  When I asked her what color sweatshirt s... [More]

Spooktacular Halloween Projects

I really enjoyed locking myself into my sewing room and creating these Halloween projects.  I think the color combinations of Halloween must be very pleasing to me, so I tend to collect lots of designs and fabrics for that holiday.  It was easy to dip into my stash of designs and work up a... [More]

Back to School, TGIBTS

[View:/cs/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/avid-embroiderer.Back+2+School+2010/A-Haunted-Moon.zip]It may be true that in the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.  However, it is autumn that has a parental dance called, Thank Goodness... [More]

Hooping from the Inside Out

 Bag from www.embroiderthis.com Have you ever tried to embroider something and thought you would have to crawl inside it to hoop it?  Well, sometimes that is exactly what we have to do! Many items that have small openings are challlenging, but they can indeed be embroidered with a l... [More]

Keeping It Simple - Tags All in the Hoop

I went to have lunch with my granddaughter this week.  It was fun but one thing that amazed me was how many lunch boxes looked just alike.  And they were all jumbled together in huge tubs so it took the kids some time to find the one that belonged to them.  So, this week we made In-th... [More]
The Avid Embroiderer Presents - Did you ask "What is Pull Compensation?"

The Avid Embroiderer Presents - Did you ask "What is Pull Compensation?"

Just like many of the crafts, there are so many words that are specific to embroidery.  Often the word is self explanatory, but IMHO Push/Pull Compensation (PC) is not one of them.  Today, I am going to do a very general discussion of PC.  I am by no means an expert, but I did learn a few things and want to share.   Sharing is the whole reason for my doing my blog.  Some of these blogs are diamonds, some are reviews and some are just discussion.  This one is a diamond (IMHO).

So many factors affect the outcome for your project; the weight and stretching of the fabric, the type of fabric (woven versus knit) and the original digitization just to mention a few of those issues.  PC is generally taught to digitizers, but I have not seen any classes that include it for embroiderers. Understanding is the first step to correcting.

A digitizer must create a design that will work for a 'general' fabric base.  Some digitizing says that a particular design may indicate that a particular design is best on heavy or light fabric, but most do not.  Understanding digitizing will incredibly change your view of embroidery.  Additionally, there are so many things a digitizer needs to be proficient in!!  PC is just one of them.

I always encourage beginners (a short tutorial with tips for everyone) to work with denim and play with different types of designs.  The reason for that is so that the newbie will experience success.  Denim is so forgiving.  If you have puckering or problems with denim, that would be generally unusual.

There are two times when you will see something like the attached failure:


That was an edging around the free standing lace.  The stabilizer (it really was not Badgemaster) expanded the hole made by the needle and caused stabilizer to spread.  So when the edge came along, it was still in position of the original stitching while the stabilizer was 2mm (1/8") away.  For the most part, this is stabilizer failure. 

On to PC.  Once again, the weight and stretch of the fabric, woven (we also know that woven has some stretch too!), or knit, etc., can and will possibly make your stitches not as planned. 

Let's say that you are doing a very large letter "I".  In some cases, there will be a single row of satin stitches.  If it is really big, it is likely to have one stitching line traveling one way and a return stitch coming back the other direction.  Every needle penetration grabs the bobbin and together they 'pull' to make a snug/tight stitch.   Longer stitches are effected even more by PC.

Stitches are “pulled in" causing a shortening effect.  They are "pushed out" when the stitch direction reverses.  While these actions are not equal, they will need to both be adjusted.  The  digitizer has already attempted to make these adjustments, but it was done so for a 'general' audience, and your project is very specific.  

Lets add to the mix - not all machines have the same tensions. Embroidery speed, tensions, stretchier/more stable fabric, different threads (This blog discusses how 40 weight threads are NOT all the same)  Did you want to know that they are not the same?  Just like any other talent to master, this is another that only experience will cure.

OK, you have an idea of the straight up and down stitching.  Now get a little more involved.  Lets say that you are putting baby blocks stacked one upon the other.  In order to have no gap, you will be increasing the 'pull compensation' so that they overlap just a small amount.  As you learn to estimate your compensation, you will get better at judging how much to fine-tune your numbers. 

Compensation is difficult to master.  However, 'playing' with the designs will give you an idea of where you understand versus some confusion.  There is a lot more information on the Net about this compensation issue, but nothing works better than trial and error.  Incidentally, the auto-digitize types of programs may well have some compensation features, but it is likely that you will be modifying any designs or be OK with a design that is less than professional.

Here is my version of PC. 



The arrow on the left is pointing to the registration issue.  There is a line around both of these (they are the same except for PC) and on the left, you can see that the stitching does not meet the edge line. 

The arrow on the right shows the puckering - which is nearly absent on the one on the right.


Compensation is used for satin stitching but could be an issue for running stitches as well.  Don't forget, sometimes you get what you paid for when downloading those freebies.  AnnTheGran has high quality designs.  Free or paid, I have never been unhappy with any design.  I actually have complained to two different sites - you would know their names - but they felt that the design was just fine. 

OK, that was a brief and abridged version of 'Compensation.'  The next two photos show a little different facet to the compensation story. 

I trimmed the fabric a little too short and the satin stitch failed on this one.  But I decided to increase the satin width on the next one and I was so delighted with the results.  The photos are not as nice as in person, but the concept is excellent.

The first arrow shows a .2mm width for the satin stitch.  The second arrow is at .4mm.  It definitely looks more rich. 

I did find these numbers during my research for this blog.  I don't know if they are accurate, but they do demonstrate that different fabrics need different PC.  The softer the fabric, the longer the stitch must be compensated..  

Cotton     0.20

T-Shirt     0.35

Fleece     0.40

Lettering  0.20 to 0.0



Yes, ladies and gentlemen,  I have started writing positive quotes.  I see them everywhere and want to add my own feelings too. 

Add a positive quote to the comments section below.  I love hearing them, even over and over again.  Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

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