By Robert Young on
Jul. 16, 2014
Forums:
Not sure of other manufacturers but Madeira has 100 colors of 60wt and over 30 in thinner still 75wt.
Do you use 75wt at all... other than for bobbins or sequins I mean.?
Amazes me the flack we get as digitizers when embroiderers expound on their commitment to quality but refuse to even consider 60wt.. so using 75wt seems a longshot to me. What do you think?
Heck we even use 30wt for large filled areas. To me what you lose in cost of thread you gain in operator knowledge and quality to the client.
Location:
United States
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Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
Just curious if anyone has started using 75 wt regularly since the last post. I have been getting so many designs lately that require up to 40 characters on one line. Especially the universities. Once they get an art approval from someone that knows nothing about embroidery it's set in stone and takes an act of congress to get it changed. So I finally gave in and got some 75 wt and 60/8 needles. Digitized at .20 density, stuck the needle and thread in, and BAM...problem solved. Looked amazing. Smallest character was 2.8 mm high. All the counter areas within the fonts were open and clean. Bit too small for me but gave the customer what they wanted.
Still fighting to keep the design 40 & 60 wt friendly because you never know what they are going to come up with. One po will have caps, sweaters and 5 other different fabrics. Also, I don't want to inventory more thread.
I just want to say that in my opinion 75 wt is a valuable tool that should be embraced and welcomed.
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
thank you Irsbranding. I am still trying to convince clients of the benefits of 60wt... so 75 wt is a far fetched concept at this point! I agree with your concept.. we applaud quality but in name only. we don't REALLY want to go through the cost and effort to provide that quality. True. I will soon provide a YouTube video showing 30, 40, 60, and now 75 wt used in the applications that make sense for each. At least then I will have something to direct my clients to so they can see for themselves that quality is not ONLY a digitizing result.
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
I've only been in this industry for 5 years and most of my embroidery education came from the experience of others, good and bad. I listened to the professionals say you want to do this or you can't do that. Whilst most of what I was taught is correct, the few closed door mindsets caused 90% of my problems. The digitizer I used wouldn't digitize for anything other than 40wt and on top of that he used heavy density settings. Only after buying Wilcom and learning to digitize ( still learning, I don't know much, but..) I realized that he was wrong and causing most of my problems. Painters don't use just one size brush, screen printers don't use only one mesh and mechanics don't have only one wrench. Why would embroidery only use one size thread?
Robert, I applaud you for wanting to use various thread weights in a design. I'm a believer and thank you for your posts on this forum.
I can only imagine how much easier the learning curve would have been if I had used you to digitize .
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
I thought we were waiting for the right needles for the 75 thread before they launched it on the market.
When its available I will certainly use it. Great for all those long, long German words.
Inmyhonestopinionofcourse.
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
I don't use either. Most of my stuff that involves micro lettering ends up duplicating patches or badges on hats. Using a 90 or 80 sharp point needle doesn't lend itself too well on thinner thread when sewing structured hats. It's even worse when traveling over the center seam.
The other issue I have with the lighter weight is that we switch out thread so ofter that it would become a real issue having to index the hook to that thread when changing it out. Great if you can set up one needle that is not used but we end up using most all the needles over a few days.
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
Minimalist, you have pointed out the one huge problem within embroidery that almost no-one (certainly not the end customer) understands. That is each job has a specific optimum set up, but very few embroiderers have sufficient numbers of items for each job that it becomes uneconomic to change a machine every time.
Indeed, it is becoming more and more typical to see an order amounting to no more than 100 items in total that consists of sweaters, tee shirts, coats and caps all for one badge! Even though it would be preferable to use a different 'punch', different threads, different needles, and different machine set up for each item, it would send production costs through the roof! So in reality, we use one 'universal' setting and hope it is a good approximation.
I think this is one of the foremost reasons for seeing 'average' quality embroidery in many cases and why when you see mass produced (often Asian) embroidery it can seem so good, simply because their runs number in the tens of thousands and they can have everything optimised to perfection.
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
I agree with you aardvark7.... just irks me when the Digitizer is blamed for the economics of quality across those orders you wrote about! Like digitizing is the ONLY variable that is the reason you are not seeing the quality you (in your mind) unrealistically expect!
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
aardvark7,
The industry wants to recommend you use this backing, topping, needle, thread, bobbins, etc.. What they don't understand is the logistics involved as you said about the application of those products. Their job seems to involve creating a product looking for a solution.
Robert makes a good point about the lighter thread and the quality of digitizing. What I find is that when I quote someone $60 to convert their print vector micro design into embroidery they look at me like I just stole their car. Then the leave in their $60K ford f350 crew cab diesel and hit the grill around the corner for a $15 lunch. If a customer wants perfection and detail, pay for it. Most don't want to pay for it but expect it. I've been doing the same bags for years. Only once has a customer called me to tell me how impressed with my work they were. I spent 16 hours getting the very complicated Maryland State seal right as the overseas source refused to do it. Just the center seal had 34 color changes. Every element had a black run stitch around it and used all 15 color on the machine.
Do that with your fenfu 10 1/2 needle machine using pirated 10 year old software my overseas friends....
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
Excellent topic. I have wondered this myself. When we outsourced our digitizing I asked to have a long font run digitized to use 60wt and the digitizer told me it wasn't possible. I never understood why not. Using 40 it looked like hammered c---! So I used 60 anyway and it worked great. Now we have one needle set to use 60 all the time.
We have a regular repeat customer that has multiple business locations. Each location has a different name but uses the same tag line. The tag line says Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in small fonts. They give the employee a SanMar catalog and tell them to pick something so there isn't any standard fabric. We have sewn the tagline in 60wt on everything from thin poly to heavy cotton bags using the same file. Of course some sew better than others but all are more than acceptable.
So.... why did the digitizer tell me it wasn't possible?
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
I love 60 wt threads. We have always 3 Needles on one of our single head 15 Needle machines reserved for 60 wt. These needles are 65/9 sharp or SES depending on the garment. And it isn't very complicated to digitize for this thread. There are some videos from Madeira on youtube about their 60 wt and they give a lot of tips how to use it.
But I wouldn't add 75 wt to my collection. Like minimalist said..In the end you spend more time changing needles and threads than sewing a design and nobody is willing to pay for this additional time. And you have to buy all these stuff too, threads in all colors, needles (sharp, round,...) and maybe even new bobbin. I will stick with my 40 / 60 wt combination. It is working very well for us and the quality improvements you can get by using 60 wt on small details are huge.We use Gunold 60 wt and it is running great on the machine.
If you want to watch the webinar on madeira 60 wt:
http://youtu.be/KqJ1ajFWF8E
Another good webinar from madeira is about color blending. This was really interesting for me (but the audio quality :( ):
http://youtu.be/jhFrssMScTg
Re: Anyone using 75 wt thread?
I also keep one needle reserved for 60 wt thread and use it regularly for small tag lines but I've never used 75 wt. I've always felt the industry is too focused on the initial selling of machinery and supplies which causes too many people to buy what they don't need. Then they don't make enough to pay their bills and they go out of business. I guess that's where the easy money for the suppliers is but I think more people would learn to run a successful business if more training was available in all all areas of running the business from learning graphic software to book keeping and online marketing. I do find myself becoming more specific as to the types of jobs I accept because its more profitable. The "industry" seems to always push for decorators to branch out (and buy more equipment) but I've found that its best to specialize and not buy every new "money maker". I'll try the 75 wt thread if a spool comes my way but right now I'm good with 40 and 60 wt.
Jennifer
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