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  • Hats and Small Letters

    Hello All,
    *
    Noobie to the discussion forums and embroidery.

    I would have attached photos but can't get the forum system to upload to work for me. I'm posting this without photos for now to see if somebody can see something obvious.
    *
    I've been doing embroidery for about a year.***One of the items I have struggled with is the quality of small text on a hat.
    *
    When I sew out a design on a piece of flat fabric, the text looks great.**However, when I sew out the design on a hat the text quality is poor.**My current project, the text is 0.23 inches in height.
    *
    I**use Qdigitizing.com**to digitize all my projects.**When I sent back the design for my current project, all they did was add a zig zag underlay for the text.**It improved a little but nowhere near the quality when sewn out on flat fabric.
    *
    My machine is an Amaya "Big Red" that I bought with very low hours.**Sewing with 75/11 needle, 3.0 oz backing**Acti-feed set to Auto and Acti-feed Min set to 8 per Melco. 900 spm.
    *
    I have talked with Melco and they are saying they believe it's a digitizing problem.
    *
    Have tried using #60 thread with a 75/11 needle and the text is still not the quality of the flat sew out.
    *
    If anybody has any recommendations that would be great.*
    *
    John,
    Laporte, Colorado

  • #2
    We don't do caps, but if you do a search on things like "small lettering" or "hats lettering" you should find lots of good stuff. Anything from Rod and Sharon Springer is gold, especially for Big Reds. Here are a couple I found:




    There is so much that can effect your sewout, and these might help you to provide the facts needed for a diagnosis. Finally, so you don't feel that you are having an unusual problem, here is a quote from Sharon Springer:

    "Small lettering and caps are the two most disliked things we do in this art. And, yes, it is an art and takes a lot of practice and time to perfect it. That is why we should none sell our work cheaply. We discredit ourselves and our profession. It is not a hobby.

    Melco used to sell a font called OESCO and it was a wonderful font for small lettering. Rod usually has to digitize ours to make them sew well. Nope, I don't digitize and have no desire to learn! I'd rather play with grandchildren.

    I strongly discourage the use of too small a font because people have to be in your space to be close enough to read it. No one is comfortable with that. Less is best. I like and encourage nice, clean logos. There are times when it can't be helped and we deal with that. Sometimes by stitching out something with the small font and something 'cleaner' to show your client, they will opt for the clean design and larger font with less verbage."

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    • #3
      Have tried using #60 thread with a 75/11 needle and the text is still not the quality of the flat sew out.
      *
      If anybody has any recommendations that would be great.*
      *
      John,
      Laporte, Colorado[/QUOTE]

      If you have 60 wt thread, try using a #9 needle, or at least a #10. I normally use all #10 needles (even for hats) except for the one needle that I have set up for the 60 wt thread; that's a #9 needle. It makes a BIG difference.
      Juli in Kona<br />Stitches in Paradise

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      • #4
        Mama Kass and Juli,

        You ladies rock!!! Thanks so much for all the information!! I got lots to experiment with on my current hat order to improve my quality

        I will keep everyone posted as to what shakes out. My current hat order is for a company that my son-in-law is the CEO. Could lead to lots of business.

        Thank you again...

        John
        Laporte, Colorado

        Comment


        • #5
          Well we are making some progress thanks to all the suggestions. Did a lot of reading today.

          Sewed 3 hats today with various suggestions to observe how things progressed.

          In the end, here is my Amaya current setup…

          For everything except the text. Only change here was speed and this part of the design sews out great.

          • #40 with 75/11
          • Acti-Feed Auto, Acti-Feed Min 8
          • 800 spm
          • Raised needle plate
          • Footer fully up, then down one click
          • 3.0 oz CAP Supreme backing
          • No topping

          Changes to the text..

          • Replaced text with the Melco OESCO Block Font. 0.20 inch height, no underlay, letter density 3.8.
          • Sewed text with #60 and 65/9 sharp needle and 20 mil Solvy on top.
          • Note that I only used Solvy when sewing the text.

          **** RESULTS *****

          The problem with the text quality improved. However, I noticed something strange with the text.

          The lettering is curved text on the top and bottom of the design. The letters within 3/8 inch of the center seam of the hat are a little distorted and sunken.

          The letters outside of this center line area are PERFECT!!!

          So my next test is to put Solvy topping under the entire design, then before the text is sewn out, place an additional piece of Solvy topping.

          Thoughts???? I'll keep you posted.


          John
          Laporte, Colorado

          Comment


          • #6
            A couple of the pros with caps recommend pressing the center seam. See the following for lots of good advice:



            What to use and how to use it. Includes... Digitizing, Needles, Hooping, Backings, Threads, Bobbins & more.

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            • #7
              Eureka we did it!!!!

              Previously on "John struggles with hat letters", several changes were made and the letters looked good except for those letters within 3/8 in of the hat center seam.

              Sewing the letters with #60 and 65/9 needle did not look good.

              So I converted the OESCO font letters to wireframe. Added a zig-zag underlay to those letters within the above zone. Set density of all letters to 4.0 (decreasing density). Used #40 with 75/11 and the letters turned out GREAT!!

              Thank you again to everyone who provided some advice. I learned a lot.

              John
              Laporte, CO

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by ChiefGeek63 View Post
                Eureka we did it!!!!

                Previously on "John struggles with hat letters", several changes were made and the these lightweight wheelchairs looked good except for those letters within 3/8 in of the hat center seam.

                Sewing the letters with forgot how to use WACF! and 65/9 needle did not look good.

                So I converted the OESCO font letters to wireframe. Added a zig-zag underlay to those letters within the above zone. Set density of all letters to 4.0 (decreasing density). Used ICSTS1 Clamp System with 75/11 and the letters turned out GREAT!!

                Thank you again to everyone who provided some advice. I learned a lot.

                John
                Laporte, CO


                What was the density before by the way? Excuse me if I missed this info somewhere.
                Last edited by Unzueta; 01-25-2024, 11:21 AM.

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                • #9
                  Hi Unzueta....Density before the final changes was 3.8. On my last post with all the fixes it was 4.0.

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