Machine Embroidery: Do I Need Software? Part 2

This is a reprint of the 12/14/2010 Shibui Originals From Thought To Thread blog entry of the same name.

Starting a home-based embroidery business and need to know about software? That's what this blog discusses.

If you need to be able to create your own designs for machine embroidery, you need to have digitization software. Why? You need digitization software because  while you may have some clients who will pick out a predigitized design from a catalog that you offer, you'll have others who want you to digitize their logo or their custom design for them before you do any embroidery.

Now I've used Pfaff 3D and Pfaff 4D both of which had multiple programs operating within the one umbrella. Creating a design and editing a design were done in separate windows. I used this software on and off for a couple years, but it wasn't terribly intuitive.

After Pfaff software, I used Brother's PE-Design 7 solidly for a year. I got decent results, but once again, different functions used separate modules rather than one unified interface. Also, anytime that I wanted to digitize a curve, I had to represent it with lots of points which made editing the curve a nightmare. Everything was based on bunches of points which eventually drove me nuts. I was working for another company, at the time, and started doing research on what software would make me a more efficient digitizer.

I stumbled across a magazine advertisement for Floriani Embroidery Suite Proaround that time, and the features intrigued me. So I loaded up the demo (which is a full version of the software that doesn't allow you to save) and tried digitizing one of the designs I'd been working on in PE-Design 7.

After a couple hours I knew that this was the software that I wanted to use for future digitizing. Several months later, my boss and I were laid off, and we started our own embroidery business. Within three months, I went out and purchased Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro.

Let me say this right off the bat: if you're looking for a digitizing package that will be able to easily and effectively auto-digitize designs, give up now. I've never seen a demo of a digitizing package that doesn't tout its auto-digitizing or magic wand features, but this rarely works as well when you get the software home. Furthermore, wizards and magic wands don't give you the quality that you need for professional embroidery.

That said,  a number of things make me recommend Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro:

• One interface window is where all the action occurs: drawing, inputting, editing. There's no jumping between different windows for accomplishing different tasks.
• You create and edit both curved and straight designs using shapes rather than points. This simplifies editing, especially when your design has curves in it and you want to adjust that curve. This alone will save you time.
• Most programs offer only the ability to compensate for pull. Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro offers control over both pull and push compensation.
• No charge for software updates. Upgrading from Pfaff 3D to Pfaff 4D was more than $500. When my partner and I were researching the upgrade fromPE-Design 7 to PE-Design 8, the cost was going to be $800. Floriani doesn't charge for updated to Embroidery Suite Pro. This doesn't mean that they don't update the software either. The last upgrade in October, 2010 added some beautiful new features like creating your own design library, converting satin stitches to complex fill stitches, and adding embossing lines to satin and complex fill stitches.
• The Save2Sew wizard allows you to digitize a design once and then save the design for use with different fabrics. This is the Stitch 2 Perfection program that Floriani sells separately from the suite, but it now has more than 60 types of fabric included in the wizard.

The advertisement I read said that you could import Adobe Illustrator art directly into Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro for digitizing, and I was really excited about that. In reality, it doesn't work smoothly or consistently, and the thing that got me to look at the software in the first place is something I never use. I suspect that it doesn't work that well because Adobe Illustrator isn't terribly backward compatible, and Floriani can only import Illustrator version 10 files (version 10 is a lot of versions in the past). Even when I've experimented with converting current Illustrator files into version 10, I've gotten mixed results.

But that brings me to the other software that would be useful if you're starting a home-based embroidery business.

• You'll need photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop that will allow you to clean up and resize marginally good art from clients.
• You'll need a drawing package like Adobe Illustrator for those times that a client sends you bad artwork. This will allow you to create good artwork from which you can digitize.
• You'll also want a bookkeeping program like Intuit's Quickbooks that will allow you to create estimates and invoices as well as track customer payments and bank deposits. If you are buying things like apparel or accessories onto which you embroider, you can also use Quickbooks to track your inventory.
• Lastly, I created a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel that allows me to estimate the cost of embroidery for a job. It takes into account the number of stitches in a design, the amount of time that it takes to stitch it out, number of thread colors in the design, size of the design as well as  stabilizer and thread costs. This way, when I estimate a job for a client I have a real idea of what my real costs are; I'm not just guessing.

Whenever you can, seek out training for the software that you've purchased. Check out community colleges for classes in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Check your local sewing store to see if it offers classes in Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro. There are many books on the market for Adobe and Quickbooks. Take a look at them and see if you find them helpful because the less time you spend flailing, the more productive you are.

If you've decided that Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro is the digitizing package for you (as it is for me), attend the free webinars that Walter Floriani occasionally holds online. You can also check out my book Pictures to Stitches to help you learn to the basics of the software.

Again, as a parting thought, let me state that machine embroidery isn't a cheap hobby or businessto get into. But if you're looking for a way to be creative and yet usable at the same time, there's nothing like it.