" Do Not attempt to resize these embroidery designs !
"
How many times have you seen this message? It's there
for a reason! When you see this message, please do yourself a favor & take heed.
The designer has a reason for giving this warning.
First - study the design you are
contemplating re-sizing. Look for any satin stitches, fancy fills, or tiny design
parts that may make the design not a good candidate for re-sizing.
Second - make sure that you are using
a re-sizing program that will recalculate the stitches! These programs will
do a much better job.
Third - if your program doesn't have
this feature, never try to re-size more than 5-10%, which isn't enough over
an entire design to make much of a difference. If a design relies on straight
outline stitching for detail, this could really make a difference in the final
stitch out.
While some designs may be safely re-sized about 25% larger or smaller, many
may not. The determining factors in general are:
1 - fancy fills
2 - satin stitch fill or outline
3 - intricate or small details
When you see any of the above, it's best
not to re-size at all.
For instance - if you try to enlarge a design that has
satin stitch fill, the width of the stitching may be too wide for your machine.
If the satin stitch is an outline, re-sizing it may alter the original
satin width [EX: a .04mm width may turn into a .02mm width.] This will, of course
depend on what brand & model you own. While some brands will support up to a
9mm satin stitch, others will "bog down" if you try to stitch a satin fill that
is more than a 4-5mm width.
On the other hand, if you attempt reduce a very intricate
design that has a lot of small design parts, it forces too many stitches into
one area. Your machine could sit & stitch hundreds of stitches in one spot which
will literally produce a hole in the fabric!
When re-sizing you also run the risk of some design parts
not being included when the sizing is done. I've had this happen more than once!
So - If your sewing software has a "group" feature, you should use it when you
attempt to re-size. Be warned that if you use this feature it may result in
changes to the entry/exit points which will result in added jumps that
were not in the design originally. Although this may happen, it is still a better
option that some parts re-sizing & others not!
NOTE: If you do choose to re-size a design, always make
sure to "Save As" to another file name to insure that your original file is
unaltered. You never know when you want to use the original design! You will
also retain the original in case the re-sizing doesn't go well.
Sandy Carter copyright
2001
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