ImagesMagUK_October_2021

suppliers, the differences in sheen/ reflectivity can vastly alter your perception of those colours. Similar differences in sheen can occur in your supplies, like appliqué as well as in your stitch types; longer stitches and satins are always shinier than fill stitches, and regular fill patterns appear flatter and shinier than fills with randomised stitch lengths. Not all elements can be rendered in any stitch nor does stitch type vastly alter colour, but you can use this nature of thread sheen and stitch types to your advantage when creating dimensional works with internal contrast and dimensional carving. In conclusion Although colour is subjective and common naming conventions mean that a customer requesting ‘royal’ may be asking for anything from purple to process blue, you can arrive at a colour consensus more quickly if we learn how to communicate and verify colours clearly. By making your policies explicit, dropping in a disclaimer with every preview, keeping the variables that affect colour in mind from the start, and making customers choose colours ‘in the thread’ wherever possible, you’ll be able to show your true colours in the excellent way you prepare your customers for their best outcome. tweaks in thread colour temperature or saturation may make your stitching stand out or correct somewhat for garment colours that distort your selected colour. Stitch/design type Although the classic example of the two-column satin-stitch leaf may stand as the positive example of how a simple change in stitch angle can render the look of two colours from a single colour of thread, the way light plays on thread doesn’t always improve the look of embroidery. Work created in straight or manual stitches, particularly those that are shaded with fine lines or engraving-style work, can suffer from a shift in colour. Straight stitch lines tend to look more solid and unbroken when rendered in dark colours and/or in matte-finish threads. When an unsupported engraving-style design needs to be stitched on a dark garment, the temptation is to ‘reverse’ the colours by switching to a light-coloured or white thread; this has the unfortunate effect of both reversing the stitched image, making areas of shadow into highlights, and making any straight stitch lines look more broken and textured as the light colour shows shadows at the stitch penetration points. Consider creating a filled area or even an appliqué or patch in a light colour on which you can stitch your engraving style scene in its original dark colour, thus retaining the light and shadow of the art and eliminating the broken ‘stitchy’ look of any fine, straight stitch lines or text. Contrast The level of contrast in a logo or type in comparison to other colours and the garment colour can vastly change the look of a finished embroidery. Tone-on-tone treatments render your text or logo in a colour similar to the garment, either matching it for the most understated look, or being just brighter or darker than the garment while retaining the same hue. These looks are fantastic for simple, classy treatments that don’t need to be viewed from a distance. That said, high-contrast looks are usually the order of the day for most uniforming and logo work. Within a logo, limiting contrast can help gradients and shading stay smooth, whereas increasing contrast can heighten the separation between elements or enhance legibility from a distance. There’s no right or wrong level, but it should be considered in relation to the desired result on the viewer. Texture When talking texture and thread, the most obvious colour-altering changes come from selecting threads with differing sheen. Shiny, classic embroidery threads have clear highlights and shadows, making satin stitches look particularly dimensional, but also allowing opposing angles in thread to have a vastly different appearance in colour. Matte- finish and fuzzy threads have a more even tone without the extremes in highlight and shadow, creating a flatter overall affect. Metallic threads, however, not only have extremely bright highlights, but often create a sparkling or shimmering effect as light passes over them. Even when these threads are ostensibly the same colour as described by your This design, which I use as a teaching aid, says a great deal about the changing nature of thread colour and stitch texture. Rendered in a single filament of silver metallic thread, this piece achieves all its depth via the textures and stitch angles used in the digitising process In this design, both the red and white stitching have identical settings for run count and stitch length, but it’s easily seen how the bean-stitched lines look more solid in the deep red and more broken (or pebbled) in the white KB TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.images-magazine.com 84 images OCTOBER 2021 Erich Campbell is an award-winning digitiser, embroidery columnist and educator, with more than 20 years’ experience both in production and the management of ecommerce properties. He is the programme manager for the commercial division of BriTon Leap. www.erichcampbell.com