Reducing Stitch Counts II Embroidery Project

The second method for adjusting stitch count is to increase the stitch lengths for running stitches. Many digitizers simply use the default running stitch lengths provided by their software and never take the time to analyze and adjust these values. Most software systems have a default running stitch length of 3.0mm. Thus, if you had a segment that was 36mm in total length, you would expect it to have 12 stitches, each one being 3.00mm in length. If you increased the stitch length to 4.00mm, then you would only have 9 stitches, each one being 4.00mm in length. This sounds easy enough, but is it appropriate for the design? For straight lines, longer running stitches are usually ok, but for curved lines, longer stitch lengths do not generally provide smooth curves. Also, you must be sure that you don’t create stitches that are so long that they are easy to snag and pull out of the design. In addition, short running stitches are preferred over longer ones when creating fine detail.

There is one more important consideration to be taken into account when increasing running stitch lengths. Embroidery machines slow down when sewing longer stitches. Most commercial machines automatically reduce their speed for stitches that are 4.0mm or greater in length. This is crucial! If you reduce stitch count by increasing running stitches to 4.0mm in length (or more), then the machine will slow down and take longer to sew the design. You reduced the stitch count and probably the price for the customer, but in reality it takes just as long to sew the design because of the reduced speed, thus you are probably losing money because you charged less, but didn’t benefit from a reduction in sewing time.

The same concept can be applied to fill stitches, since they are composed of nothing more than zig-zag run stitches. Most digitizing software allows you to choose different fill patterns for your fill stitch segments. Patterns are created by varying run stitch lengths and repeats within the segment. By choosing different patterns, you will probably find different stitch counts. For example, in the Tajima DGML by Pulse software system, creating a 30mm X 30mm fill segment using a density of 4.0pts and fill pattern #1, yields 1220 stitches. By changing over to fill pattern #6, the stitch count is reduced to 844 stitches. This is a greater reduction than illustrated in the first example where a density change was made. However, nothing is that easy! The reason that pattern #6 has less stitch count than pattern #1, is that it has longer stitch lengths within the pattern, some of which exceed 4.00mm, thus the machine will slow down when sewing. The end result once again, may be fewer stitches, but not necessarily a shorter run time.

View the following article in this series: Reducing Stitch Counts: Changing Stitch Types