Stitch Estimation Embroidery Project

You are in the midst of an awesome sales presentation. The meeting is hot, the customer is excited and you can sense victory on the horizon, almost within your grasp. You’re already counting the dollars, an inward smile threatening to burst forth like the summer sun after a drenching August downpour. Then the customer throws out an innocent, albeit, critical question, while thumbing through your portfolio, head bent over, carefully studying your work, “So what’s it going to cost to get my logo set up and sewn?”

You feel a slight chill, but quickly recover and respond with enthusiasm, “With embroidery, I have to first determine the stitch count, as the sewing and setup charges are based on the total number of stitches in the design.” You flash a quick smile and start writing up the order.

The customer pauses and looks up with a slight questioning look, as if he didn’t fully understand the answer, “Ok, so figure out the stitch count and tell me what the cost will be.”

You hesitate, taking a minute to figure out the best way to respond, as you already know the answer to the question and realize that it might not be what the customer wants to hear and the last thing you need to do is lose this sale. You clear your throat and try to appear confident, though you can fill a slight tick in your stomach. “Well, I, um,” …not a good way to start – you grimace and try again. “Well, stitch estimation is normally done by a Digitizer, so I will need to send in a copy of your logo to get the estimate done properly.” The room grows deathly quiet, “but, it usually only takes a couple of days to get the information,” you throw out trying to save the situation.

The customer frowns and closes your portfolio book, as he mulls over your answer. A look of concern flashes in his eyes. “So, you can’t tell me what this is going to cost?” The temperature in the room chills noticeably.

“Well of course, I can, but just not right this second…”

Has this ever happened to you? Are you unable to calculate a price on-the-spot because you can’t estimate the number of stitches in a design? (Personally I avoid stitch count pricing, but that’s another article.) It can certainly be a hindrance and to be successful with sales, you have to be able to close the deal. In order to close the deal, you must be able to quote a price. Therefore, if stitch count is a factor, you will need a solution.

If you have been in the embroidery business very long, chances are you have seen one of the Stitch Estimation Grids floating around the industry. There are several websites that offer them for download and periodically they show up in the magazines. A Stitch Grid is not a bad tool, but does it work? And do you understand it well enough to use it properly? Let’s put one to the test and see how accurate it really is.

Click here to see full size. To the right you will find a grid system composed of ½” X ½” blocks, along with a 5” linear ruler. Obtain a clear acetate sheet used for overhead projector presentations (8 ½” X 11”), available from most office supply stores and print out the measuring tool, so you can apply it as per the instructions of this article. Use a separate ruler to measure the blocks and verify that they are truly ½” X ½”. It’s possible that the grid sheet was inadvertently resized during printing or downloading.

The worldwide standard for density is 4.0pts which is equivalent to 63.5spi (stitches per inch). Theoretically this is the master density setting for all systems, but not necessarily. Plus, there are various auto-compensation functions which change the density based on user-inputs such as fabric type.

Therefore, it’s important that you run a quick test of your own.

Set up a 1/2” X 1/2” filled square on your screen and assign it a density of 4.0pts/63.5spi. Make sure that no underlay has been added and no fabric (or other) compensation functions are activated. Take a look at the resulting number of stitches.

I use the Tajima DG/ML by Pulse Microsystems software and found that the value for a ½” X ½” square is approximately 300 stitches, using fill pattern 1 (the default). Realize too, that different fill patterns will give different stitch counts.

You will also need to find a value for satin stitches and this can get quite interesting.

Start by creating a 1” long satin column stitch. Again, verify that the density value is set to 4.0pts/63.5spi. If you have an auto density compensation feature like I do, you will see that varying the width of the column will vary the final stitch count. This is because you should use a heavier density on wider columns and the software is trying to help you do that. However, it makes figuring out a value to use for stitch estimation a bit trickier, so turn off any Auto-compensation functions for satin density that your software my have.

Once this was done on my system, the number of stitches for the 1” long satin column came out to 128. At first, this seemed entirely wrong, as the standard density setting is 63.5 stitches per inch, and I had just setup a 1” long column, so why wasn’t the resulting stitch count equal to approximately 63.5 stitches?

Click here to enlarge. The graphic to the right is a ZOOMED IN view of a 1” long satin column with a density setting of 63.5spi that I created. If you count the endpoints on either side of the column they add up to 64 per side – which adds up to 128 stitches total, as it takes two needle penetrations to make a stitch. (Said another way, a column of stitches is made up of two parts, the stitch and the return.) To be conservative, I use 150 stitches per linear inch in my estimates, rather than 128. You may feel more comfortable going as high as 200 stitches.

	The actual dimensions are 1” X 4”. Click here to enlarge.

Remember, depending on your software settings and the parameters entered into the computer, these numbers can vary!

Now let’s put it to the test. We will compare the estimated stitches with the actual stitches referencing the Health Mart logo to the right:

(NOTE: Different digitizing techniques and philosophies will yield different results.)

Print the logo out and verify that the dimensions are correct. Now place the grid that you printed out on the clear sheet over the artwork such that as many “whole” grids as possible are lined up over the artwork. Now sit back and think for a minute.

Fills

Obviously the blue area and the white area are going to be two separate sections of fill in the final design. At first glance, it would seem logical to estimate the blue area and then the white area, but why bother? The entire rectangular shape is going to be filled in, so just count the blue and white areas together as one, for estimation purposes. You should end up with 16 grids of coverage, with each grid being 300 stitches.

• Estimate (16 grids x 300) = 4800 stitches
• Actual = 4199 stitches

That pretty much does it for the filled areas. The rest of the design will be satins and runs, so you will move from the grid system over to the linear system.

Letters

Rather than trying to come up with an estimate of stitches per letter, which is not very accurate due to all the different fonts, shapes and sizes, just mentally break down each letter into separate column segments and measure their length.

For example, the H is composed of two vertical satin columns, each just under a ½” in length and one horizontal section just under ¼” in length. Don’t get too precise (you’ll go insane), just average that out to a total of 1 linear inch for the letter, or 150 stitches total.

Now estimate the rest of the letters and see what you come up with. Remember, it’s just an approximation.

• H = 150
• E = 150
• A = 150
• L = 75
• T = 150
• H = 150
• M = 225
• A = 150
• R = 150
• T = 150
• Estimate = 1500 stitches
• Actual = 1607 stitches

Borders

The white fill has a red border which will also be a satin column. Measure the total length to estimate the stitches. I came up with approximately 7.5 inches and will round it off to 8 inches.

• Estimate = 1200 stitches
• Actual = 997 stitches

Runs

Finally, we have to deal with the people figures and this is really hard to measure. After several attempts, I decided to go with 4 inches. Using a value of 20 stitches per inch for runs, that comes out to 80 stitches.

• Estimate = 80 stitches
• Actual = 119 stitches

Grand Total Stitch Count Comparison

• Estimate – 7580 stitches
• Actual – 6922 stitches

The difference between the two was 658 stitches, much closer than I would have thought, and on the high-side for the estimate, which is a good thing. Of course, this design wasn’t too complex, so it was easy to work with. There is one other aspect to consider – underlay.

It would be normal to have a significant amount of underlay below the filled areas. Since the remainder of the design is on top of the fill, which provides a stable base, there would likely be little or no underlay required for the letters or the border. Depending upon the garment that it is being sewn, the fill estimate could range from (30% to 70%) 1140 to 3360 additional stitches.

Another factor that affects stitch count with columns and fills is stitch angle. Changing an angle 45 degrees could easily increase the stitch count by 10% or more. Also, some software systems treat jumps as stitches.

Well, that about covers the concept of Stitch Estimation, using grids and linear measurements. Take the time to experiment with some existing designs, so that you know a true stitch count for comparison purposes. Use the results to adjust the values as necessary. As a precaution, I would recommend that you consider adding about 25% more stitches than your estimate, as there are so many variables in the digitizing process, especially if someone else is doing the digitizing. And, if that’s the case, be sure to discuss “standard” stitch counts with that person, so that you are in tune with him/her and their software.

Good Luck!