Welcome to the first edition of Gear Threads, where embroidery meets the gears of industry!

Well, OK, today it’s more likely the circuit boards of industry, but you get my point. We’re going to be here each month featuring inspiring embroidery created using a machine, either through the more classic handmade style often known as free motion embroidery, to the traditionally more commercial art of digitized machine embroidery.

Digitized machine embroidery is the kind that your machine sews out for you, and though at first glance that might seem to take the “craft” out of the equation, far from it. Not only can amazing things be done with digitized designs, but one must remember that there is in fact an artist behind the creation and the craft of those stitches that your machine is diligently stitching out.  It’s most certainly an artistry, and a bit of wizardry, in itself.

Since we’re going to be sharing the awesomeness that machine embroidery can be, we thought it would be good to understand a bit more about the creation process, know as digitzing, that goes into making this kind of embroidery. That’s why today we’re here to talk to accomplished digitizer Erich Campbell of Black Duck Embroidery about just what goes on in digitizing, so we can peek into the world behind the stitches.

So, let’s ask the question everyone usually wonders of us: how did you get into embroidery, and especially digitizing? Was there something in your background or experience that led you to it?

Truthfully, I am a misplaced academic. My degree is in English with a focus on medieval studies. I started working for a screen printing and embroidery company early in my college career, hucking boxes of shirts around in an old delivery truck. I moved my way up to operating embroidery machines, and it was revealed to me that we had a digitizing system sitting under a dustcover that nobody had been willing to learn.

I decided I had to know how to drive those big commercial machines. I’d been mucking about with graphics on computers since I was very young, plotting them out pixel by pixel in 256 colors (which was amazing at the time). Couple that with the fact that my mother was a seamstress at one time, and I had this package of being unafraid of all of the elements and acquainted with the real, physical properties of the thread and machine, and a fair knowledge of graphics. Within three months, I was a full-time production digitizer.

What was your first impression of digitized embroidery? What was it like to learn?

It was everything I’d wanted from creating digital graphics. Here I was going to create a three-dimensional object from something I’d plotted on a machine. Moreover, I had control over every movement, allowing my “hand” to come out in the work.

Learning was incredible. The truth of the matter is that I had little time to question what I was doing, so I made my best attempt logically to break things down, and it turned out that the way I think is just compatible with the process. I think in layers and sequences, and building up what I consider to be this rather shallow sculptural relief that is an embroidered design made sense.

Don’t get me wrong, I had some of the same difficulties everyone has in my own degree, especially with the disjoint between the perfection on-screen and the distortion that the machine imparts. Once I realized that embroidery was an art of distortion, wherein one plans for the movement, the push and pull of the fabric and thread, the tensions and the overlaps, I started to understand. I studied on my own, performing tests to see what I could achieve — seeing how different fill patterns, methods of color blending, densities and thread types behaved on a variety of substrates.

I felt very much like some early scientist trying to describe a new world I’d discovered. It was, and still is, an amazing and inspiring process.

I’ve heard our own digitizers mumble sometimes that people seem to think all they do is “trace” things. Can you talk a little about all the challenges that go into a design, especially balancing the art with the science?

Digitizers interpret art. What is created after we digitize is not simply a translated version of what was already in the source image — it is an entirely new piece based on the original.

There are scads of variables we have to keep in mind with every element of every piece of art we interpret, and those change greatly depending not only on our artistic considerations, but also on the size of the finished piece, the material on which it will be stitched, the colors involved, and the type of thread to be used. For every area that must be filled with stitches, we must select the type of stitch, the length of the stitches, the angle on which they’ll lie, how close together the stitches will be placed (known as density) and account for any distortion that will take place in the sewing of the design, not only in the element itself but in all elements with which it will interact, all while we take into account the limitations and strengths of our machines and our materials. Machines do not perfectly recreate what we draw in stitches on-screen, and it must be known by experience what will happen when the machine starts to run at speed.

A digitizer worth the title can look at a design at size and tell you what stitch each element will use, and where all the potential problems in the design may lie. A truly proficient digitizer can do all that, make improvements to the design through using the particular properties of thread to reflect light and show dimension, creating decorative elements and visual styles that aren’t even present in the original, all the while keeping the amount of trims, color changes, and traveling through the sequence to a minimum. The best will be conscious of nearly every stitch, and use only what is needed to create the proper impression of the original art.

Do we trace? Certainly we do, but with quite a difference.

What advantages/disadvantages do you find with machine vs. hand embroidery, specifically with the look of the final results?

The most obvious is that, though it can be done and I have certainly done so, machine embroiderers don’t usually work one stitch at a time — we work with areas filled programmatically with stitches. We control how they are filled, but it takes more time than a commercial digitizer usually enjoys to tweak each individual stitch. The control hand embroiderers have is superior — they adjust by feel to distortion and can vary the tension of each stitch as it goes, so they require few of the tricks we must do to make things register and come out the shape they intended.

Moreover, they can work on both sides of the material and create complex stitches that are impossible to us. I can fake it to some small degree, but I can’t really make a feather stitch, or split stitch, and I certainly have no hope of a real French knot! Many other techniques, like couching, trapunto, or sequin work, have specific machine attachments and materials or processes that allow us to use them, but we are restricted by the need for such equipment. Machine embroiderers must hide traveling stitches on the front of their work and tie off and trim anything they cannot hide. The best of us have developed tremendous skills at this game of hiding stitches and properly planning where things start and end (we call it pathing) but you may never know how much I’d like to be able to hide my travels behind my piece.

Original photo source, left, and the on-screen digitized version, right

What do you wish people appreciated more about your job? Or, what do you wish people knew about your job that most don’t?

I wish they knew that we don’t just scan in an image and have the computer automatically convert it into stitches. There are software packages that do so, but they have none of the craft that a digitizer does, and most frequently create designs that are as painful to run as they are to look at. A scanner can’t choose to break up a silhouette into a single-color carved relief, or choose how to split a serif from a letter just so that the light plays over each element as it moves. It can’t decide to shift a gradient to create a better progression of colors, or choose outright to remove, resize, or replace elements that damage the piece. We are interpreters — we know the language that thread speaks, and we render two-dimensional art into that language of embroidery. There are so many choices to be made, and even the most simple letter may be composed of six or seven distinct elements that have to be created. I’d like people to know how much thought goes into each piece.

Do people ever say to you, “Oh, machine embroidery, that’s not a real art”? What do you say to that?

Mostly, I don’t bother to answer. Many people will say that it lacks the humanity that something done without a machine has. That said, I think there is art of its own kind in any time someone consciously makes choices that affect the piece. It’s easy to defend those who digitize, because we select and place our stitches, choosing how they will render our subject, but I’d even fight somewhat for those who use stock designs. They can select colors, placements, threads, and substrates; they can choose to express something even without placing or moving a single stitch. I think that most people who believe machine embroidery can’t be art have relegated it to a world of Disney branded embroidery machines with packs of built-in designs that never change or expand. That’s just not representative of what is possible now, especially as digitizing software becomes more accessible to more people. What was once punishingly expensive can be had in a more limited capacity for free — anyone who wants to start learning how to create their own designs can do so if they are willing to research, test, try, and ask for help from those like me who love the craft and who are willing to help. It may not be high art, but we express a great deal with the symbols, designs, and signs we wear, and machine embroidery is key to that. Who wouldn’t want to grab control of that machinery and express themselves?

What tips or advice do you have to people who would like to try it for themselves?

If you can, intern at a commercial embroidery shop or at the least get hold of a home machine or someone who has one, and watch designs run. Operating machines will teach you a tremendous amount of the possibilities and limitations of the craft. Knowing fabric and how it reacts to being hooped and embroidered is always worthwhile. Add that to knowing how machines operate and what they are capable of, especially if you manage to watch the work of a truly skilled digitizer, will likely teach you as much as a good book, provided you whip out a ruler and take some measurements on occasion. After that, seek out some skilled digitizers online. We’re here, and many of us are helping people every day. Check out trade magazines like Stitches or Impressions (reader beware, I write for Stitches) who have free digital editions of their magazines online. You may not be in it for business, but they handle the nuts and bolts better than a lot of home-embroidery sources I’ve seen out there, and the skills do transfer. After that, it’s all about trial and error. Don’t get discouraged. Just watch, analyze, try, and try again. You can do this.

Our chums at Urban Threads have recently launched a blog, where you can find out about all the stitchy shenanigans that they get up to. One recent project was the Crane Wife:

It’s a terrific piece of art and testimony to the effort Urban Threads are putting into the machine embroidery sector. I strongly encourage you to read the whole post to understand the fantastic creative process that led to the creation of this masterpiece.

We were thrilled to hear that Urban Threads were partnering up with our good friend Stitchalicious to make some patterns. The first design is called “Atrocity“.

Over at Urban Threads, they’ve got some great steampunk inspired Christmas patterns.

Available as hand or machine patterns, I think this is a nifty set of festive designs!

Aren’t fifth Fridays great? As you know, here at Mr X Stitch we have plenty of action on the other four Fridays, so when a fifth Friday comes along we get all excited and just have to have a giveaway!

And have we got some juicy prizes for three lucky winners!

First up we have a $50 gift voucher from our friends at Urban Threads who, incidentally, have got a free Valentine’s Day pattern available for download at the moment!

Next up, you could win a free pattern from Stitchalicious! The Virgins Series come from a collaboration with a Berlin-based Chilean artist and come with a offset printed pattern on cardstock, fabric, needle and DMC threads.

As well as being a pattern maker and a Stumpwork genius, Stitchalicious (also known as Alien Ted) runs embroidery classes in Berlin and has got one on 4th February for beginners. There’s more information on her site.

And last, but by no means least, you could win one of Leethal‘s Connect the Dots Embroidery kits! Beefranck gave you the full SP on those little beauties earlier today, so you know exactly what you’re going to win already!

“So,” I hear you ask, “what do I have to do to win one of those wonderful prizes?” Well it goes a little something like this…

We want to know what your favourite non-stitchy craft blogs and sites are. We want to get our name out and about on the coolest crafting blogs and although we’ve got a good rep with some of the classic crafting sites, we want more. So all you have to do is leave a comment with the names of crafty sites that you can’t live without.

We’ll keep the comments open until midnight on 4th February at which point we will use a random number generator to pick out three winners. The winner will be contacted by email so make sure we’ve got your address. One prize per winner. Easy peasy.

Good luck!

The folks over at Urban Threads have a free pattern to share – and this one goes all the way to eleven!

This freebie is only available for a limited time, so be sure to go here to get yours before Sunday, January 24th!

The crew over at Urban Threads are celebrating the festive season with a groovy giveaway!

All you have to do is email them and tell them what rebel craftiness you’ve been up to this year. There’s loads of things to win as well – check it out!

• $100 gift certificate for any Urban Threads designs
• Urban Threads hoodie
• Coal (soap, that is)
• Some rockin’ fabric
• Sweet little Gingher stork scissors
• Festive embroidery floss and a hoop
• Decadent hot chocolate
• Your very own furry fanged bunny

Pretty cool! So jump to it! And if you win, come back and tell us all about it!

Our good buddies over at Urban Threads have released a festive pattern free to download from their site, and I’m pleased to report it’s not at all schmaltzy!

The design is free until Friday, 11th December in machine embroidery, hand embroidery, and digital stock art formats.

Enjoy this little early Christmas present from Urban Threads!

It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so the folks over at Urban Threads are offering this pattern for free through the end of October.

Go here to get the pattern in hand embroidery or machine embroidery formats, and show your support through stitching.

Over at Urban Threads, they’re giving away a free design to celebrate the birthday of H.P. Lovecraft.

From the site: “This design is available for FREE through Aug. 31, 2009 and is available in machine embroidery, hand embroidery and stock art. Celebrate his birthday by stitching this wicked design, and cool off from the summer heat with some scary-story goose bumps.”

It’s a pretty spiffy design, and it’s free, so go and get it!