Images Magazine June 2018

TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.images-magazine.com 52 images JUNE 2018 Cap selection In the discussion about design, it’s imperative to explain to customers how the construction of their caps can affect their decoration potential. It’s well known to embroiderers that the crown of a classic ‘trucker’ five-panel cap has a larger vertical area for decoration than a six-panel cap, which in turn offers more vertical space than most unstructured hats. The increased popularity of the heavily seamed and short-crowned military and camp hats means that you’ll often find yourself showing customers the limitations of these particular headwear designs. Consider creating a ‘decoration area’ template or worksheet that shows the relative area on each hat style so that your customer can easily grasp the available options and how their choice of hat will affect their design possibilities. Detail The first digitising-related issue you’ll face is intimately tied to design; with the limited vertical area offered by caps, there are some designs that simply won’t be able to maintain the level of detail seen in the original art. This is particularly common when dealing with badges, seals and heraldic devices that contain an almost fractal-like chain of sub-design elements comprising smaller and smaller details. With space limited, a digitiser will often have to alter, eliminate or enlarge extremely small text or details in order to force a design that can’t be replaced or redesigned to stitch cleanly and clearly on headwear. In engraving-like designs, you could omit every other line; in other designs small items and text can be scaled up to fit available areas in the design, or some elements can be omitted altogether. For some elements, particularly small text, you can switch to using thinner needles and 60 weight thread to achieve elements up to 25% smaller than you Explaining the decoration potential – and restrictions – of a cap style to your customer is imperative. Once the standing character in the original artwork was sized down to fit the cap's available vertical space, it was incredibly narrow and wouldn’t have enjoyed much coverage or impact, with the critical smirking face smaller than the end of one’s little finger. After interviewing the customer, it became clear that the face was the most important part of the design and so the remainder of the figure was omitted in order to render the face more completely and to enhance coverage Off-centre and side placements are common so make sure you know how low you can stitch and accurately show the customer your comfortable range. Some of their expectations of how and where elements can be stitched are informed by retail caps that are embroidered before the hat is constructed, meaning the customer may need educating to understand the difference in decorating pre-made caps For some elements, you can switch to using thinner needles