16. Wildcard Week

Design and produce something with a digital fabrication process (incorporating computer-aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it. Possibilities include embroidery.

I am going to use Bernina model B540 for embroidery as my Wildcard Week project.

Installation of InkStitch software

I decided to try InkStitch software. Inkstitch is an open-source machine embroidery design platform based on Inkscape.

I downloaded the software from Inkstitch home page by pressing Install Software. After the installation package was loaded, I opened inkstitch-v2.2.0-windows.exe application in my Downloads folder.

The software wanted to install in Inkscape extensions folder under AppData/Roamin directory. I assumed that this is the place where Inkscape extensions go and pressed Next.

The fact that the directory already existed supported my assumption. I continued installing the software to an already existing location.

The installer confirmed once more that it was what I actually wanted to do. I pressed install.

The software installed itself.

The installation was finally complete and I pressed Finish.

Design of the embrodery

I use a gorilla symbol in my Fab Academy Gitlab discussions. I decided to use that symbol as a model.

There are several ways to get the image. I simply zoomed the browser screen as big as I could and pressed Print Screen key. Then I pasted the resulting screenshot to Gimp and pasted the screenshot to Gimp as a new image.

I used Tools -> Selection Tools -> Rectangle Select to select a rectangle containing the gorilla. I used Image -> Crop to Selection to crop the gorilla. Then I scaled the image to width of 800 pixels (No particular reason. I just have a habit to use that size in my documentation) and exported it as non-lossy jpeg: File->Export as.., chose a name and pressed Export. Then I chose quality of 100% and pressed Export. The gorilla image was saved, at this point as an raster image.

Let’s think about the copyright view to what I am now doing. The gorilla I just grabbed from Gitlab page is actually not considered as an image but Unicode font character (U+1F98D). The Unicode fonts are rendered by using font sets made by the vendor of the platform, so their copyright status may depend on the viewpoint of the vendor on this issue. In this case I am using Microsoft Windows 10. Then in order to use the character I need information of Microsoft’s policy of using their fonts in derivative work.

  • ” What can I do with the things that I print from Windows using these fonts?

*Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not place any restrictions on what you do with print output that uses these fonts.” *

“Do these general use guidelines apply to the symbol and emoji fonts supplied with Windows?

Yes, they apply to all the fonts installed with Windows as system-wide resources. Hidden fonts, those that don’t show up in font menus, which may be embedded in code,are not covered by this guide and should not be extracted and used.“

I consider this message clear enough for me to use the gorilla symbol in this documentation.

Creating a vector gorilla

I found these instructions by Arash Shattari very enlightening.

I opened Inkscape created a New Document.

I copy-pasted the gorilla from Gimp to Inkscape and moved the image to page area with dragging it with mouse.

I opened Trace Bitmap from Path menu. ( Polku -> Jaljita bittikartta in Finnish localized version). I playded with different option and ended to the result shown below.

After pressing Toteuta for executing the vectorization, I moved the resulting object away from the raster image.

Then I ungrouped the gorilla object (Pura ryhmitys), removed the raster image (select and delete) moved the gorilla objects as a group (selected all) to a4 area. Here is what the raster image looks like now.

Then I stored the .svg file to USB for moving it to Berina’s software.

Converting the .svg file to Berina readable form

I opened the Berina Embrory Software 8 on laptop.

Then I moved the svg file from usb to laptop. I selected File -> New Design. I clicked Artwork Canvas icon.

Then I pressed Insert Artwork in order to add the vector image to the design.

I selected the gorilla file from the desktop and imported it.

The gorilla was displayed with some information about the image.

I followed the instructions and pressed enter to center the vector gorilla.

The gorilla looked quite big. I wasn’t sure if the size here matters, .svg was a vector format, but I resized the image from the corner of the box around the gorilla anyway. Then I moved the vector gorilla to a corner.

Then I selected the image and clicked Convert icon.

Then the converted image was saved on the USB stick in the USB stick format Bernina uses. The conversion done in Berina Embrory software 8 concluded here.

Setting up the Berina

The actual work was done on Bernina B540 sewing machine.

I turned Berina on, pushed the USB stick inside. Note that the button below the USB slot needed to be pushed down for ebroidery was already pushed down.

I had to select ebroidery and then there were lot of selections to made and the source to choose.

The file created above was found. I selected the work from the menu. It required selecting th USB stick from the menu, because there were also local source for designs. The correct file had also to be selected.

Other preparations

The piece of blanket for printing was already installed. I tried to print on it, but it was a bad idea. Note that the ebroidery module on the left was also installed in the machine.

Turned out, that the clothin had not been fastened to the stabilizer with adhesive spray. I tried to use the fabric anyway without knowing it and it didn’t end up well. The fabric moved with the machine and bent needles.

This is how far I got with it before realizing what was the problem.

Without correctly added adhesive spray there were also other repeating problems with thread.

I used spray adhesive to adhere fabric and stabilizer together on the next try.

The fabric looked a lot better.

The sewing machine required some information before it could proceed. The size of the hoop must be told to the machine. I was using the oval hoop. The needle size must be told. I was using 90/14 needle.

The number 26 ebroidery foot was also already installed.

The single hole stitch plate was recommended. I couldn’t find any other plate, so I used the one already installed. I am quite sure it was not single hole one, because the hole was quite wide.

The sewing machine needed also thread.

The bobbin was already there and had blue thread. I changed it when looking for reason for the thread problems.

Inserting the thread was complex procedure. There is an automatic system that should be able to push the thread thru the pinhole in the needle. It should work well for 90/14 needles. However, it didn’t work. The thread goes thru five points, which are marked in the sewing machine with numbers. The process is complicated and can be found from the tutorials or instruction manual. I changed the thread several times, because in my design there were six different areas.

There were controls for positioning the artwork to the fabric. I positioned it in the middle.

Starting the process

After the file was on the place and all the requirements were met, it was time to start the process. There were six layers there and it was possible to select thread for each the layers from the list included in the machine. I just selected something and selected nice colors on the fly.

The green button was pressed when the sewing was started. The same button was pressed every time the thread was changed. Changing the thread required raising the feet. It was done from the lever behind the machine.

At the second round, I decided to print the outline first.

After the outline was ready, I decided to go for the largest area.

I selected a proper thread for it.

The shape of the oragutang-gorilla started to form on the fabric.

There is [a video] about making the thicker outline for the first try of orangutang-gorilla.

Completing the work required several thread changes.

After a few thread changes, the orangutang-gorilla was ready. The machine moved the hoop out and displayed the complete image on the screen.

The result needed some threads cut, but I was quite happy with it.

Encountered problems

There were many problems in the process. Most of them were due to my careless preparation for the process. The whole process had to be started from the beginning because the fabric was not fastened with the spray. That caused two broken needles and a lot of wasted thread. The machine didn’t like when the fabric was stuck in the stitch plate. An error message was shown and the machine often instructed how to proceed.

The machine also often requested to cut the wire. When it occured, I pressed cut wire button close to the green button used to start/restart the emboidery.

When it occured, I pressed cut wire button close to the green button used to start/restart the emboidery.

Sometimes it didn’t help, but the machine instructed even in harder cases. These harder cases appeared often on the first try, when the fabric was not fastened well enough.

When the thread had to be cut or when there were more severe broblems, it was advisable to move back in the process by using the two knobs at the right side of the screen. It helped, that no part of the work was missing. The upper button was for fine tune and lower one for more coarse movements. It was also possible to move over a thread change.

The second try was much faster, because I learned to use the speed controller. It was advisable to start the process with slow speed and then increase the speed.

I also studied how to maintain the machine. Sometimes it needed a drop of oil in the correct places. The oil cannot be any oil, but oil that the manufacturer provides in the oil pen or refills.

The area under the stitch plate should be cleaned on regular intervals. I used brush and vacuum cleaner. Using compressed air was not recommended. because it just packs the dirt to places where it is harder to access.

Conclusion

Design and produce something with a digital fabrication process (incorporating computer-aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.

I designed an oragutang based on emoji character. The coloring and amount of roughness was my own design. I consider using emoji is considered as their copyright owner the same, as writing a book or letter using the fonts. My desing uses the emoji the same way as the writer uses letters to create new meanings from the combinations. Only when emoji are fully considered as letters, their representative power can be used in full. The colors of the wires used in the process can be seen from the close picture of the result.

Files: - ART80 file - Design.EXP - .svg file