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.

Assignment

1. We are fortunate enough to have access to a Brother SE600 embroidery machine in our lab, so I am going to learn some embroidery.

2. I watched two video tutorials on the embroidery machine that Dr Taylor posted, so I could learn the basics of using the machine.

   1. How to wind a bobbin on the Brother SE600
   2. How to embroider using the Brother SE600

3. One program that was recommended was InkStitch which is an extension for the InkScape.

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4. After some additional research, I decided to go with the SewArt embroidery program that was recommended by Dr Taylor and used by others in our lab.

5. I downloaded and installed the 30-Day Trial software of Sew Art and got started.

6. As a Notre Dame alum, I decided to embroider the interlocked ND symbol on a cloth napkin. I found the ND logo below online and downloaded it, then opened it in the SewArt software.

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Sewart Software

1. After that I need to convert the JPG to embroidery stitches for use in the Brother SE600 embroidery machine.
   1. I used the AutoSew feature of the software and picked colors to get the embroidery design.
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   3. Here’s the result after picking colors.
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   5. Then embroidery stitches
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   7. Saved the file to a USB stick for use on a Brother embroidery machine. (.PES) file
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Brother SE600 Embroidery Machine

1. I loaded the embroidery material in the embroidery frame to use in the machine.

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2. I loaded the embroidery frame into the machine along with the embroidery file from the USB stick

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3. I selected the 328 Gold color and started the job.
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4. Once the Gold was competed it was time to rethread the machine with the 406 Blue and fill in the logo.
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5. After the 406 Blue finished, I removed the material from the frame and here is the final product!
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Learning

This assignment allowed me to learn about vector graphics and logo embroidery. I learned how to find a logo and put it the SewArt program, have it divide the colors for embroidery and embroider a logo on the Brother SE600 Embroidery Machine. Essentially the embroidery machine is a three axis CNC machine where the X and Y axis control the fabric and the Z-axis controls the needle.

Link to my files for the week.