Caps

By lynn sherman on Feb. 05, 2011

I'm a newbie to embroidering. I'm using a SWF 1501. I'm having trouble with hats, when I sew on flat surfaces design comes out great, but when I do it on hats, it comes out terrible, do I need to get designs digitized specifically for hats. Thank you for any suggestions with this...

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Submitted by cnasherman on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 16:38

"youll generally need to "puff up/widen" the stitches to overcompensate for the thickness of the hat material (in my experience). Also you should sew from the middle, out when possible, otherwise you could start to see 'pleating' of the hat."

How do you accomplish both of these....new to embroidery myself.

Chad Sherman
Pro Ink Screen Printing
ProInkScreenPrinting.com
570-837-1999
(877) 551-0852

Submitted by lynn sherman on Sun, 02/06/2011 - 22:08

sharpsight wrote:
Lynn, there are difference is digitizing a design for a cap vs flat. Also, are you changing your needle plate to the cap one? On the SWF 1501 there is also a menu setting that you have to toggle from flat to cap.

Sharpsight, thank you for your info, however, I could not find the menu setting to toggle from flat to cap. I also watched the training CD (cap section) for my machine and it did not mention this menu setting from flat to cap. I have the SWF T1501C, may I have some detailed instructions on finding this menu setting and switching from flat to cap. I appreciate all the help I can get in my learning process.

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shellyky's picture
Submitted by shellyky on Sun, 02/06/2011 - 22:15

Machine button, machine setting or machine function (cant remember) then it should say CAP(1) FLAT (0) i believe....1 for cap...some people claim they do not change the setting when doing hats, I think it must just turn the design 180 degrees automatically when you load it in AFTER you turn it to cap mode--because i have forgotten before to put it on cap and noticed no difference. I could be wrong.

Submitted by lynn sherman on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 17:42

Thank you for the helpful suggestions on the caps. I need to be more specific in describing the problem I'm having; the cap is centered and the trace is fine, when I sew designs that are under 1 1/2 inches in heighth they sew out okay, anything 1 1/2 inches or larger I run into the following problem: when sewing in the Y axis the cap peak/bill hits the plastic cap guard on the machine, holding it back, and distorts the design, and also while sewing out the top, it hits the crown and distorts the design.

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shellyky's picture
Submitted by shellyky on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 18:54

usually 2" tall is the max i can safely do on a hat without any problems. also try to bend your bill flat (or close at least) before you sew it, that helps with the deflection off the 'guard' on the back and helps you get a more uniform sew.

Submitted by lynn sherman on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 22:48

ShellyKy, thank you for your advice, I shall certainly try bending the bill.

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Submitted by lynn sherman on Sat, 02/19/2011 - 12:47

Thank you for all your suggestions on caps. After trial and error on about 2 dozen of caps, I started putting them on the driver without clamping them and the results were so much improved. Thought it was worth passing it along to maybe help others.

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shellyky's picture
Submitted by shellyky on Tue, 02/08/2011 - 10:45

correct--if someone is digitizing your files for you, they should know what they're doing and set all of that up accordingly assuming you tell them that it's for a hat, and you tell them your max sew size on a hat...thats usually all they'd need to know.

Submitted by cnasherman on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 17:29

"youll generally need to "puff up/widen" the stitches to overcompensate for the thickness of the hat material (in my experience). Also you should sew from the middle, out when possible, otherwise you could start to see 'pleating' of the hat."

How do you accomplish both of these....new to embroidery myself.

Chad Sherman
Pro Ink Screen Printing
ProInkScreenPrinting.com
570-837-1999
(877) 551-0852

shellyky's picture
Submitted by shellyky on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 17:34

when you digitize the design, just start in the center for example if you're sewing the word "APPLES" on a hat, you'd start with the LES and then the PPA. As far as widening the colums of the satins, usually you can just change the width if its a "singleline" stitch. A satin, usually you have to do that manually. It all just depends on what program you're using...i usually find it easiest to do after ive saved it as a DST file, i can jsut right click->properties->then change the column width % to 1-2-3 percent wider.

Submitted by cnasherman on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 18:06

shellyky wrote:
when you digitize the design, just start in the center for example if you're sewing the word "APPLES" on a hat, you'd start with the LES and then the PPA. As far as widening the colums of the satins, usually you can just change the width if its a "singleline" stitch. A satin, usually you have to do that manually. It all just depends on what program you're using...i usually find it easiest to do after ive saved it as a DST file, i can jsut right click->properties->then change the column width % to 1-2-3 percent wider.

So, none if this applies if I outsource my digitizing, correct?

Chad Sherman
Pro Ink Screen Printing
ProInkScreenPrinting.com
570-837-1999
(877) 551-0852

Submitted by sharpsight on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 11:27

Lynn, there are difference is digitizing a design for a cap vs flat. Also, are you changing your needle plate to the cap one? On the SWF 1501 there is also a menu setting that you have to toggle from flat to cap.

shellyky's picture
Submitted by shellyky on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 12:30

in addition to changing your needle plate, and putting it on the cap setting, and the reduced density, youll generally need to "puff up/widen" the stitches to overcompensate for the thickness of the hat material (in my experience). Also you should sew from the middle, out when possible, otherwise you could start to see 'pleating' of the hat.

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