Hello again, embroidery enthusiasts! Gather 'round, because I have a tip for you...
Today, I want to chat with you about a topic that’s bound to make your embroidery projects stitch out to perfection - digitizing holes in Hatch 3 embroidery digitizing software. Even if you buy your embroidery files instead of digitizing them yourself, you need to know why digitizing holes is important for good quality embroidery files. If you've looked around my website, you know that I use Hatch 3 to digitize my embroidery files (see my Tools Page for all of my favorite tools with links!). So today, let's take your digitizing skills and knowledge to the next level. After reading this post, you'll be able to digitize holes like a pro, AND understand why this trick is necessary to do quality embroidery work.
First, let’s talk about why digitizing holes is important. Let's take this soccer ball design, for example, from my Sports Mini Embroidery Designs Bundle.
One might think that this design is a white circle with black shapes stitched over. That is NOT how this file should be sewn. Ideally, each piece of the design will stitch over bare fabric, not stitch layer upon layer of thread creating a dense "bullet-proof" design.
With the power of Hatch 3, digitizing holes is easy as pie. Let's start with digitizing a simple circle using your circle tool.
Now, let's import a soccer ball design. I'm using an SVG file from my Etsy shop to trace.
Now, we are going to select the "digitize holes" tool from our digitize menu in the tool bar. We are going to trace just inside the lines of our black shapes on the soccer ball, because after we digitize the holes, we will digitize the black shapes to stitch over the holes. And YES, if you didn't know...now you know...there is a LOT that goes into digitizing even the simplest of embroidery designs.
After the holes are digitized, you can see that we are left with a white circle, with holes punched out. Now the design is prepared for adding the black pieces of the ball.
With the magic of video editing, I'm going to skip ahead to the finished product (I can't share all of my tips in one post!). Take a look at the finished design. The holes created space for the black parts of the ball to stick over fabric, instead of layering over thread, thereby creating a smooth finished product.
So there you have it! If you are new to digitizing, now you have a new tool for your toolbox. If you are buying your embroidery designs online, now you know what to look for in a quality design.
Remember, practice makes perfect. Don’t be afraid to play around with the software and explore its features. The more you experiment, the more confident you’ll become in digitizing holes for your embroidery projects and thinking of new ways to use the tool.
Stay tuned for more tips and tutorials! I'm off to prepare this file for sale in my shop.
Happy sewing!
Beth
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