Taunton's Threads - For people who love to sew
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Online Extra to Threads magazine Keeping Track of Embroidery Designs Follow these tips for labeling and tracking changes to your digital embroidery design files Embroidery editing software is a wonderful accessory to your embroidery machine and the designs you’ve purchased. It enables you to transform existing designs into new ones, without having to start from scratch and learn digitizing. When you’re editing embroidery designs, you’re likely to create many, slightly different versions of a design—and you’re just as likely to lose track of the various files you’ve made if you don’t have an efficient identification system. Here are some naming conventions I’ve developed that help me manage my edited files. I invite you to try them too so you don’t find yourself wondering which design goes with which file name.  Desktop editing software can be used to alter machine embroidery designs. (above) Changes are easy to make and compare before setting a design to stitch. (inset) Group like files together When making several versions of a design, keep the first part of the individual file names the same so the designs are listed together in the file display. Example: BambooSm, BambooMed, BambooLrg. Include size information in the file name If you have enlarged or reduced a design by percentages, include the appropriate percentages in the name. Example: Bamboo, Bamboo65, Bamboo125. Indicate the design repeat in the file name When changing the multiples of a repeated design, use the number of the repeat within the name, adding an uppercase x to indicate that it is a multiple rather than a size. This method differentiates between the size of the design and the repeat of the design. Example: Bamboo65X3, BambooX3, Bamboo125X3. Use color-coding to assist in thumbnail view When saving large and small versions of the same design, select bolder colors for the large size and light colors for the small (remember “big and bold”, “little and light”). If you consistently use this coloring convention, you’ll find it easy to tell the big from the little versions when you’re using the thumbnail design view. To learn more about what you can do with editing software, take a look at Jill McCloy’s article, “Machine Embroidery,” in the April/May issue of Threads (#118).
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