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101
Have you ever wanted to put a bean stitch on buckram,
but your Bonnaz was down and you could have sworn that darn pencil rub was
right over there? The registration is off, the pique polo is flagging and
your blatt stitch looks more like a fill stitch, but you don't worry
because a new hooping board is on the way and that tension is a quick fix.
Huh? Couldn't figure out one or more of the above
terms? Thought you knew them all and just found out differently? Never
fear because the Stitches Magazine A to Z glossary of basic embroidery and
machine terms is here to answer all your questions. Keep this condensed
guide to the basic terminology of embroidery handy and keep your
vocabulary up-to-date.
The Glossary of Embroidery Terms:
Applique - 1)
Decoration or trimming cut from one piece of fabric and stitched to
another to add dimension and texture. If applique occupies a significant
amount of the design, the stitch count is lower. 2) In schiffli
embroidery, an embroidered motif, hand cut or aetzed away from base
fabric.
Backing - Woven or nonwoven material used underneath
the item or fabric being embroidered to provide support and stability. Can
be hooped with the item or placed between the machine throat plate and the
hooped garment. Available in various weights and in two basic types:
Cutaway and tearaway.
Bean Stitch -
Three stitches placed back and forth between two points. Often used for
outlining because it eliminates the need for repeatedly digitizing a
single-ply running stitch outline.
Birdnesting -
Collection of thread between goods and needle plate, resembling a bird's
nest. Formation prevents free movement of goods and may be caused by
inadequate tensioning of the top thread or flagging goods.
Blatt
Stitch
- Schiffli term meaning "to feed the yarn," thereby producing a long
zigzag stitch with threads laying close together. Adapted for multihead
use. See Satin Stitch.
Bobbin - Spool or
reel that holds the bobbin thread, which helps form stitches on the
underside of the fabric.
Bonnaz - Chain
stitch machine developed in the 1800s. It was named after its French
inventor, Emile Bonnaz, and first manufactured by the Cornely Co. of
France.
Boring -
Open-work incorporated into embroidered designs; a sharp-pointed
instrument punctures, or bores, the fabric, and stitches are made around
the opening to enclose the raw edges.
Buckram - Coarse,
woven fabric, stiffened with glue, used to stabilize fabric for stitching.
Commonly used in caps to hold the front panel erect.
Cartoon -
Finished artwork of an embroidery design to be digitized. Usually six
times larger than finished design size, based on the art-to-stitching
ratio historically used in the schiffli industry.
Chain
Stitch
- Stitch that resembles a chain link, formed with one thread fed from the
bottom side of the fabric. Done on a manual or computerized machine with a
hook that functions like a needle.
Chenille
- Form of embroidery in which a loop (moss) stitch is formed on the top
side of the fabric. Uses heavy yarns of wool, cotton or acrylic. Created
by a chain stitch machine that has been adjusted to form this stitch type.
Also known as loop piling.
Column
Stitch
- Formed by closely placed zigzag stitches. Often used to form borders.
Also known as steil stitch. See
Satin Stitch.
Complex
Fill
- Refers to a digitizing capability that allows areas to be designated as
voids at the same time the design's edges, or perimeter points, are
defined. The design can thus be digitized as one fill area, instead of
being broken down into multiple sections.
Condensed
Format
- Method of digitizing in which a design is saved in a skeletal form.
A proportionate number of stitches may later be placed between defined
points after a scale has been designated. With a machine that can read
condensed format, the scale, density and stitch lengths in a design may be
changed. See Expanded Format.
Design
Library/Catalog
- A computer program which catalogues a collection of digitized designs
kept by embroidery shops for embroiderers to access the design by subject,
stitch count, number of colors or icon.
Digitize - Modern
term for punching, reflecting the computerized method of converting
artwork into a series of commands to be read by an embroidery machine's
computer. See Punching.
Digitizing
Tablet
- A computer-aided design device used by digitizers to plot needle
penetrations for embroidery designs. Typically, a pencil drawing of the
design is enlarged and then taped to this tablet. The digitizer then uses
a device known as a puck to indicate stitch types, shapes, underlay and
actual needle penetrations.
Editing -
Changing aspects of a design via a computerized editing program. Most
programs allow the user to scale designs up or down, edit stitch by stitch
or block by block, merge lettering with the design, move aspects of the
design around, combine designs and insert or edit machine commands.
Emblem -
Embroidered design with a finished edge, commonly an insignia of
identification, usually worn on outer clothing. Historically, an emblem
carried a motto or verse or suggested a moral lesson. Also known as a
crest or patch.
Embroidery -
Decorative stitching on fabric. Generally involves non-lettering designs
but can also include lettering and/or monograms. Evidence of embroidery
exists during the reign of Egyptian pharaohs, in the writings of Homer and
from the Crusaders of the 12th century. Evolved from hand work to manual
sewing machines and from hand-looms and schiffli machines with hundreds of
needles to high-speed, computerized multihead machines.
Expanded
Format
- A design program in which individual stitches in a design have been
specifically digitized for a certain size. Designs punched in this format
cannot generally be enlarged or reduced more than 10 percent to 20 percent
without distortion because stitch count remains constant. See
Condensed Format.
Fill
Stitch
- Series of running stitches commonly used to cover large areas. Different
fill patterns can be created by altering the angle, length and repeat
sequence of the stitches. Also known as a
geflect stitch.
Finishing -
Processes performed after embroidery is complete. Includes trimming loose
threads, cutting or tearing away excess backing, removing topping,
cleaning any stains, pressing or steaming to remove wrinkles or hoop marks
and packaging for sale or shipment.
Flagging - Up and
down motion of goods under action of the needle, so named because of its
resemblance to a waving flag. Often caused by improper framing of goods.
Flagging may result in poor registration, unsatisfactory stitch formation
and birdnesting.
Frame - Holding
device for insertion of goods under an embroidery head for the application
of embroidery. May employ a number of means for maintaining stability
during the embroidery process, including clamps, vacuum devices, magnets
or springs. See Hoop.
Geflect
Stitch
- See Fill Stitch.
Hook - Holds the
bobbin case in the machine and plays a vital role in stitch formation.
Making two complete rotations for each stitch, its point meets a loop of
top thread at a precisely-timed moment and distance (gap) to form a
stitch.
Hoop
- Device made from wood, plastic or steel with which fabric is gripped
tightly between an inner ring and an outer ring and attached to the
machine's pantograph. Machine hoops are designed to push the fabric to the
bottom of the inner ring and hold it against the machine bed for
embroidering.
Hooping
Device
- Device that aids in hooping garments or items for embroidery. Especially
helpful for hooping multi-layered items and for uniformly hooping multiple
items.
Lettering -
Embroidery using letters or words. Lettering, commonly called "keyboard
lettering," may be created using an embroidery lettering program on a PC
or from circuit boards that allow variance of letter style, size, height,
density and other characteristics.
Lock
Stitch
- 1) Commonly referred to as a lock-down or tack-down stitch, a lock
stitch is formed by three or four consecutive stitches of at least a
10-point movement. It should be used at the end of all columns, fills and
at the end of any element in your design where jump stitches will follow,
such as color changes or the end of a design. May be stitched in a
triangle, star or in a straight line. 2) Lock stitch is also the name of
the type of stitch formed by the hook and needle of home sewing machines,
as well as computerized embroidery machines.
Logo - Name,
symbol or trademark of a company or organization. Short for logotype.
Looping - Loops
on the embroidery surface generally caused by poor top tension or tension
problems. Typically occurs when polyester top thread has been improperly
tensioned.
Machine
Language
- The codes and formats used by different machine manufacturers within the
embroidery industry. Common formats include Barudan, Brother, Fortron,
Happy, Marco, Meistergram, Melco, Pfaff, Stellar, Tajima, Toyota,
Ultramatic and ZSK. Most digitizing systems can save designs in these
languages so the computer disk can be read by the embroidery machine.
Marking - Marking
of goods to serve as an aid in positioning the frame and referencing the
needle start points.
Modular - Machine
system where many separate stitching heads or head configurations are
controlled by a central computer.
Monogram -
Embroidered design composed of one or more letters, usually the initials
in a name.
Moss
Stitch
- See Chenille.
Needle - Small,
slender piece of steel with a hole for thread and a point for stitching
fabric. A machine needle differs from a handwork needle; the machine
needle's eye is found at its pointed end. Machine embroidery needles come
with sharp points for piercing heavy, tightly woven fabrics; ball points,
which glide between the fibers of knits; and a variety of specialty
points, such as wedge points, which are used for leather.
Network - 1) To
link embroidery machines via a central computer and disk drive system. 2)
A group of machines linked via a central computer.
Nippers
- See Thread Clippers.
Paper
Tape
- A punching format. Continuous reel of paper or Mylar(r) tape containing
x-y coordinate information in Binary, Fortran or other numeric code to
control pantograph movement. Becoming less favored and replaced by
computer disks.
Pencil
Rub
- A low-cost way of producing a "sample" of an embroidery design. Consists
literally of a piece of tracing paper placed over a sew-out and rubbed
lightly with a pencil to produce an impression of the embroidery.
Puckering -
Result of the fabric being gathered by the stitches. Many possible causes
include incorrect density, loose hooping, lack of backing, incorrect
tension or dull needle.
Pull
Compensation
- A degree of distortion built into a design by the digitizer to
compensate for pull on the fabric caused by the embroidery stitches.
Punching
- Conversion of artwork into a series of commands to be read by an
embroidery machine's computer. Derived from an early method of machine
embroidery in which part of the machine, the automat, reads paper tapes or
Jacquards punched with holes representing stitches, pantograph movements
and other commands. While still capable of producing paper tape, many
computerized digitizing systems now store this information on disk
formats.
Registration -
Correct registration is achieved when all stitches and design elements
line up correctly.
Running
Stitch
- Consists of one stitch between two points. Used for outlining and fine
detail. Also known as a walk stitch.
SPI - Stitches
per inch; system for measuring density or the amount of satin stitches in
an inch of embroidery.
SPM - Stitches
per minute; system for measuring the running speed of an embroidery
machine.
Satin
Stitch
- Formed by closely arranged zigzag stitches. Can be laid down at any
angle and with varying stitch lengths. Adapted from the blatt stitch used
in schiffli embroidery. See Blatt Stitch.
Scaling - Ability
within one design program to enlarge or reduce a design. In expanded
format, most scaling is limited to 10 percent to 20 percent because the
stitch count remains constant despite final design size. In condensed or
outline formats, on the other hand, scale changes may be more dramatic
because stitch count and density may be varied.
Scanning -
Scanners convert designs into a computer format, allowing the digitizer to
use even the most primitive of artwork without recreating the design. Many
digitizing systems allow the digitizer to transfer the design directly
into the digitizing program without using an intermediary software.
Short
Stitch
- A digitizing technique that places shorter stitches in curves and
corners to avoid an unnecessary bulky build-up of stitches.
Specialty
Fill
- Born of recent technology, a fill stitch capability that produces a fill
with a "relief" or motif design within the fill-stitch area.
Steil
Stitch
- See Column Stitch.
Stitch
Editing
- Digitizing feature that allows one or more stitches in a pattern to be
deleted or altered.
Stitch
Processing
- 1) The calculation of stitch information by means of specialized
software, allowing scaling of expanded format designs with density
compensation. 2) A trademarked software feature developed by Wilcom Pty.
of Australia.
Stock
Designs
- Digitized generic embroidery designs that are readily available at a
cost below that of custom-digitized designs.
Swiss
Embroidery
- 1) Satin stitch embroidery. 2) Also recalls the origins of an automated
embroidery machine that was developed in the 1800's by Isaak Groebli.
Embroidery remains a government-supported industry in Switzerland today.
Tackle
Twill
- Letters or numbers cut from polyester or rayon twill fabric that are
commonly used for athletic teams and organizations. Tackle twill appliques
attached to a garment have an adhesive backing that tacks them in place;
the edges of the appliques are then zigzag stitched.
Tension -
Tautness of thread when forming stitches. Top thread tension, as well as
bobbin thread tension, needs to be set. Proper thread tension is achieved
when about one-third of the thread showing on the underside of the fabric
on a column stitch is bobbin thread.
Thread - Fine
cord of natural or synthetic material made from two or more filaments
twisted together and used for stitching. Machine embroidery threads come
in rayon, which has a high sheen; cotton, which has a duller finish than
rayon but is available in very fine deniers; polyester, which is strong
and colorfast; metallics, which have a high luster and are composed of a
synthetic core wrapped in metal foil; and acrylic, which is purported to
have rayon's sheen.
Thread
Clippers
- Small cutting utensil with a spring action that is operated by the thumb
in a hole on the top blade and the fingers cupped around the bottom blade.
Useful for quick thread cutting, but unsuitable for detailed trimming or
removal of backing.
Topping -
Material hooped or placed on top of fabrics that have definable nap or
surface texture, such as corduroy and terry cloth, prior to embroidery.
The topping compacts the wale or nap and holds the stitches above it.
Includes a variety of substances, such as plastic wrap, water-soluble
plastic "foil" and open-weave fabric that has been chemically treated to
disintegrate with the application of heat. Also known as facing.
Trimming -
Operation in the finishing process that involves trimming the reverse and
top sides of the embroidery, including jump stitches and backing.
Underlay
Stitch
- Stitches laid down before other design elements to help stabilize
stretchy fabrics and to tack down high wales or naps on fabrics so the
design's details don't get lost. May also be used to create such effects
as crowned, flat or raised areas in the embroidery, depending on how they
are laid down.
Variable
Sizing
- Ability to scale a design to different sizes.
Verify - Sample
sew-out or print-out of a new embroidery design to make sure the pattern
is correct.
Walk
Stitch
- See Running Stitch.
The Glossary Of Embroidery Machine Terms
Arm Machine -
Multihead embroidery machine driven by a single main shaft. Each sewing
head is attached to the shaft, usually by gears. Sewing heads resemble
industrial sewing machines in the "arm" that the needle case is attached
to.
Automatic
Color
Change
- The ability of a multi-needle commercial embroidery machine to follow a
command to change to another specified needle.
Bobbin
Case
- Small, round metal device for holding the bobbin. Used to tension the
bobbin thread. Inserted in the hook for sewing.
Bridge
Machine
- Embroidery machine with two shafts, one for the hook assembly and one
for the needle assembly. Sewing heads are suspended from a beam allowing
for larger sewing fields than an arm machine. Bridge machines are
accessible from both the back and the front of the machine through the
"bridge."
Cap
Frames
- Specialized embroidery frames (hoops) designed to hold finished caps for
embroidering. Available in a variety of styles for various machines, with
two basic styles being to sew the finished cap flattened out (for use on a
flat machine) or sewing the finished cap (for use on a tubular machine) in
its natural curve.
Check
Spring
- assists in upper thread tensioning and is used to detect upper thread
breaks in many embroidery machine models.
Cylinder Arm
Machine
- Refers to machines with "cylinder" beds. The hook assembly is housed in
a cylinder-shaped arm, allowing goods to curve around the cylinder for
embroidery.
Disk
Reader
- An external or internal device used to read machine movements from
either a 5.25 or 3.5 computer disk.
Embroidery
Point
- Unit of measurement in embroidery, in which 10 points equals 1mm.
Flat
Embroidery
- Embroidery (usually on cut panels or patches) that is framed in hoops
exclusively on the top of the embroidery machine's hook assembly.
Framing
Press
- Machine to aid the framing process.
Frame
Sash
- Part of the pantograph to hold the frames. Also called a sash. Varieties
of sash types include: Border, frame, tubular, cap and sock.
Hook
Assembly
- Rotary device designed to pass the needle at a given point in the needle
bar rise. The hook point passes into a thread loop formed by the rising
needle bar and pulls the thread around the bobbin case to form a lock
stitch.
Hooping
Board
- Board designed to hold the outer portion of the hoop while the goods to
be embroidered are placed over the board to be hooped. Once the goods are
aligned and placed correctly over the outer hoop, the operator inserts the
inner portion of the hoop.
Jumbo
Rotary
Hook
- Rotary hook which holds a bobbin case with a much larger thread capacity
than a standard hook.
Jump
Stitch
- Movement of the frame without stitching but with take-up lever and hook
movement.
Lock
Stitch
Machine
- Machine which forms a stitch using a hook and needle. Includes home
sewing machines, as well as computerized embroidery machines.
Memory - The
amount of stitches that the machine can store internally.
Needle Bar -
Holds the needle in the machine; moves in an up and down motion.
Needle
Plate
- The metal plate located above the hook assembly of an embroidery
machine. This plate has a hole in the center through which the needle
travels to reach the hook and form a stitch. Also known as a throat plate.
Offset - The
ability to move the pantograph out of the design with a specific movement
and then return to the original point. Used for placing appliqués.
Origin - The
starting point of your design.
Pantograph - A
bar, rack or holder that frames or holding fixtures are attached to. The
pantograph moves in X and Y directions to form the embroidery design,
controlled electronically or mechanically depending on the machine.
Paper
Tape
- One punching format. Continuous reel of paper or Mylar(r) tape
containing x-y coordinate information in Binary, Fortran or other numeric
code to control pantograph movement. Becoming less favored and replaced by
computer disks.
Presser
Foot
- Metal device that touches the goods being embroidered while the needle
is in the goods. The main function of the presser foot is to hold the
material being embroidered until the hook point catches the thread loop
formed by the needle rise.
Pre-Tensioner -
Thread tension assemblies that are before the main tension assembly in the
thread path. The function of the pre-tensioner is to apply a light amount
of tension in order to make the main tensioner work. See
Tensioner.
Repeat - Layout
used for making emblems or designs on a fabric span that are repeated at
regular intervals.
Take
Up
Spring
- See Check Spring.
Tape
Reader
- A device attached to an embroidery machine that enables the machine to
read embroidery designs from 8-channel paper computer tapes.
Tensioner
- Device used to adjust the tautness of thread when forming stitches.
Thread
Clippers
- Small cutting utensil with a spring action that is operated by the thumb
in a hole on the top blade and the fingers cupped around the bottom blade.
Useful for quick thread cutting, but unsuitable for detailed trimming or
removal of backing.
Trimmers -
Devices built into an embroidery machine to automatically trim or cut
remaining thread when the design jumps from one area to another or
performs a color change.
Tubular
Embroidery
- Embroidery produced on an embroidery machine which allows tubular fabric
or pre-assembled garments to be placed around the hook assembly. Allows
sewing of the front of a garment without sewing through the front and back
of it.
Article Copyright January 2001, Stitches Magazine.
Unauthorized Duplication Prohibited
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