tucan

[ha1flosse]

..recent wip.



cheerio

[brynn]

Very cute!

[Moini]

I think some day, I'll ask you to embroider a T-Shirt for me ;-) These are cute!

[ha1flosse]

Very cute!

thanks brynn!

I think some day, I'll ask you to embroider a T-Shirt for me ;-) These are cute!

it will be a pleasure! actually i'm planning a sweatshirt with the tucan's and i'm already excited how it might look like. here's the latest sketch:

[Moini]

I find this very 'design-y' and 'wertig', and also more 'male' (cute toucans on a man need crasser color). (I've got an aversion against neon green, but I can see that it would fit well here).

[ha1flosse]

what do you think would be a nice combination for a woman? pink textile and purple colors at the tucans?

i am actually working at the template. there are still a lot of corners to take, here is the actual state:

[Moini]

Wow, is that a preview or a scan? (If it's a scan: how long does the embroidering take? Can you load the machine with all the different colors? Or do you need to swap them?)

Not sure about women in general... For me it's the neon green which I wouldn't like, and I probably wouldn't wear a black hoodie, but with something less bulky (T-Shirt), black is fine, too.

Pink and purple? Could be nice. I also like turquoise, or some less saturated blue, or green, while I think that red / brown probably wouldn't fit too well, and with yellow, the beak wouldn't even need to be embroidered... But this is very subjective, I don't think I'd make a good color counselor.

[ha1flosse]

Wow, is that a preview or a scan? (If it's a scan: how long does the embroidering take? Can you load the machine with all the different colors? Or do you need to swap them?)

its just a preview. i need to swap the colors, the industrial machines with several spools are pretty expensive..

Not sure about women in general... For me it's the neon green which I wouldn't like, and I probably wouldn't wear a black hoodie, but with something less bulky (T-Shirt), black is fine, too.

Pink and purple? Could be nice. I also like turquoise, or some less saturated blue, or green, while I think that red / brown probably wouldn't fit too well, and with yellow, the beak wouldn't even need to be embroidered... But this is very subjective, I don't think I'd make a good color counselor.

ok, thats helpful. beside all subjectivity there is always a common ground. whats your size? i'll have to do a test run of the finished piece. in most cases it is already a wearable piece of art, maybe you're interested. you'd just have to pay the shipping.

[Moini]

@ha1flosse:
Sorry it took me so long - that's very kind of you! Of course I'd like that test piece and would wear it proudly, maybe even when giving a workshop (even if it were slightly broken, it would still have some 'Inkscape origins')

I think we'll do the size discussion per PM, it'll be quicker in German

[ha1flosse]

ok, so i'll send you a pm.

i've been revising the template. there are still some problems, you'll recognize it looking at the bills for example.

[k-drive]

That is a really cool design. The embroidery on the sweatshirt looks great, too.

Do you have a business for making sweatshirts? You mentioned you had an industrial machine.

The reason I ask is that, one of the local libraries where I live (Cuyahoga County/NE Ohio) got a Brother embroidery machine about a year ago (along with a 3D printer and vinyl cutter). But, patrons can only do something like 8 colors of thread, and you have to use one of the proprietary file formats for that machine. You cannot import an SVG file and do your own design. So, the machine has been sitting gathering dust. The IT department for the library has been searching for some kind of conversion application for SVG files.

Any information would be nice.

Ken

[brynn]

ha1flosse, I know in the past you've said that you don't want to sell them.  But I really think you could easily sell them.  The Inkscape project is just starting out with merchandizing.  I don't think it would be possible with our current setup.  But someday it might be possible for users to sell things they've made using Inkscape.

Ken, I couldn't say for a fact, but I think that's what the extension which ha1flosse is using, does. 

There was that weird post in a topic on InkscapeForum from (I think) a lady who criticized the extension because it doesn't "digitize".  She explained what a digitizer does, but she didn't know enough to look at the extension to find out whether it does this "digitizing" or not.  She just assumed it doesn't.  She also thought all of Inkscape was for embroidery    So I'm not convinced.

So I remain a bit confused about how well this extension can work, compared to proprietary machines and software.  I know ha1flosse has put a lot of time and effort into it, and his results look pretty darn good to me.

Let's see if I can find a link to the extension....   Ok, I found 3.  I'm still not sure which one he's using.  I have no idea whether all of those work, but one of them is the one he's using, so it works.

http://svg2embr.wasbo.net/index.php
https://github.com/stesie/inkscape-embroidery
https://github.com/garfieldkass/embroidery

And there may be another one around.  There was some discussion on the mailing list recently, but I don't know if it was about improving one of those, or if it was a whole different one.

[ha1flosse]

That is a really cool design. The embroidery on the sweatshirt looks great, too.

Do you have a business for making sweatshirts? You mentioned you had an industrial machine.

thanks, glad you like it! i'm no businessman, just an artist with access to a janome mc500e embroidery - machine. it's a machine based on industrial machine hardware but affordable also for artists' or home use.

The reason I ask is that, one of the local libraries where I live (Cuyahoga County/NE Ohio) got a Brother embroidery machine about a year ago (along with a 3D printer and vinyl cutter). But, patrons can only do something like 8 colors of thread, and you have to use one of the proprietary file formats for that machine. You cannot import an SVG file and do your own design. So, the machine has been sitting gathering dust. The IT department for the library has been searching for some kind of conversion application for SVG files.

cool, 8 thread bobbins? thats sound pretty much like a big machine. unfortunately, there is no simple conversion from svg to embroidery. the plugins mentioned by brynn are at very early stage. the one i could use was https://github.com/stesie/inkscape-embroidery, the others didn't work pretty well. the algorithm calculates stitch lines in between the vector path and saves the stitch path and all information for the machine in a properitary format from "Melco" called *.exp. if you use something like the free wilcom truesizer or the interface - software from the machine, you should be able to run the machine with the pattern from the *.exp - file. for my actual work it would look like this if you don't use properitary software and just the inkscape-plugin for stitch - calculation.

ha1flosse, I know in the past you've said that you don't want to sell them.  But I really think you could easily sell them.  The Inkscape project is just starting out with merchandizing.  I don't think it would be possible with our current setup.  But someday it might be possible for users to sell things they've made using Inkscape.

thanks brynn, nice to read that! i'm in as soon as this is possible and will think about the selling while i am looking forward to finish the templates exclusively with inkscapes - plugins. unfortunately, at the actual state, if you do the embroidery from start to end with inkscape,  it has not the quality standard to sell stuff.

There was that weird post in a topic on InkscapeForum from (I think) a lady who criticized the extension because it doesn't "digitize".  She explained what a digitizer does, but she didn't know enough to look at the extension to find out whether it does this "digitizing" or not.  She just assumed it doesn't.  She also thought all of Inkscape was for embroidery    So I'm not convinced.

So I remain a bit confused about how well this extension can work, compared to proprietary machines and software.  I know ha1flosse has put a lot of time and effort into it, and his results look pretty darn good to me.

maybe the lady or the guy didn't know about inkscapes abilities to trace images talking about digitizing. the plugins for embroidery calculate a stitch path regarding the vector-paths. the result posted at february 17th has been calculated with properitary software, the inkscape-plugin-result isn't that well actually.

[brynn]

Oh, I'll bet that proprietary software is the digitizer they were talking about!

[k-drive]

Thank you both for the reply and the information. I will pass it along to the local library. Maybe the IT people can use it. If I hear back from them and get any explanation, I will pass the information along.

That is one really nice toucan design.

[ha1flosse]

no problem!

the toucan design is almost ready to sew now, just some little rough edges. here is a preview with and without outlines:

[brynn]

That preview is a work of art in itself!

For me, I think it would work better to have the outline on the white bg too.  Because that white swoosh (at then neck) is hard to notice and appreciate on the white bg.  Oh I just noticed you gave them blue eyes on the white version.  Have you thought about some other background color besides black?  Just because there's so much black in the design already - if you have a choice, might consider it.

How long do you think it would take to sew a single shirt?  Do you have to stop and change the treads color yoursefl, or is that part of the automation?

[ha1flosse]

That preview is a work of art in itself!

For me, I think it would work better to have the outline on the white bg too.  Because that white swoosh (at then neck) is hard to notice and appreciate on the white bg.  Oh I just noticed you gave them blue eyes on the white version.  Have you thought about some other background color besides black?  Just because there's so much black in the design already - if you have a choice, might consider it.

How long do you think it would take to sew a single shirt?  Do you have to stop and change the treads color yoursefl, or is that part of the automation?

thanks brynn! i entirely agree, it looks pretty different without the outline, shouldn't skip it. initially i've been thinking about skipping the black parts and use the color of the textile instead to save thread. and yes, other background colors beside black should be possible.

the sewing time for this is about 74min (rd. 45000 stitches) calculated by the machine and without color changes and possible thread breakages, so if you bring the time for color changes and other little problems that could happen into the calculation its about 120min for a shirt. i have to change the color bobbins myself.

yesterday i was actually sewing a test pattern with thread colors i'm rarely using. its interesting how the tension of the pattern and the textile affects the outcome (espc. if you look at the circle of the logo). but except some smaller problems here and there it already looks ok to me. what do you think?

[Moini]

Good work! Is that gold and bronze? Or cream and brown? The colors seem to be glossy, but I'm not sure. Interesting
It's cool to see how fine the 'empty' lines between the embroidered areas can be.

The scan/photo looks almost like the preview (or rather, the other way around. I'm still amazed how good that preview is ;-)).

[brynn]

Oh yes, different fabric would definitely make a difference.  You could probably stitch that out on denim with minimal problems.  But on something like a t-shirt or hoodie, you might need to use a stablizer.  You'd definitely need a stablizer for something like a silk shirt. That looks like denim there.

When you mention "tension" I'm not sure if you mean the tension of the stitch, or the flexibility of the fabric.  I wouldn't be surprised if you needed different stitch tension on different kinds of fabric.  You might even need different stitch tension for different kind of stitches.

Wow, 120 minutes?  I thought an industrial machine would be faster than that.  But I really have no experience with professional machines.  Just my mom's old Singer, and of course it can't do embroidery, and doesn't even have a computer, like home machines do now.

I think it looks pretty good too! 

[ha1flosse]

Good work! Is that gold and bronze? Or cream and brown? The colors seem to be glossy, but I'm not sure. Interesting
It's cool to see how fine the 'empty' lines between the embroidered areas can be.

The scan/photo looks almost like the preview (or rather, the other way around. I'm still amazed how good that preview is ;-)).

thanks ..don't know exactly, i think its dark brown and a glossy cream color, rarely used and because of that perfect for the test run. the preview is pretty close, i've been surprised too.

Oh yes, different fabric would definitely make a difference.  You could probably stitch that out on denim with minimal problems.  But on something like a t-shirt or hoodie, you might need to use a stablizer.  You'd definitely need a stablizer for something like a silk shirt. That looks like denim there.

When you mention "tension" I'm not sure if you mean the tension of the stitch, or the flexibility of the fabric.  I wouldn't be surprised if you needed different stitch tension on different kinds of fabric.  You might even need different stitch tension for different kind of stitches.

Wow, 120 minutes?  I thought an industrial machine would be faster than that.  But I really have no experience with professional machines.  Just my mom's old Singer, and of course it can't do embroidery, and doesn't even have a computer, like home machines do now.

I think it looks pretty good too!

no it's not a denim, its an ordinary t-shirt. i've been using 2 layers of simple cotton stabilizer. i mean the tension of the fabric, stretching the emboridery results. haven't investigated the options for stitch tension yet, but this might affect the results fundamentally, so ill have a look at that issue. you see there are a lot of parts/areas and a lot of cuts. normally the machine stitched 800 to 1200 points per min. thats pretty fast actually but its just a machine for artists and home use, made of many parts used at the industrial counterpart too. its ok for smaller numbers of pieces but surely not suitable for mass production. the old singer machines are pretty good and reliable.

actually i made a test run with the final colors (took the images in bad lighting conditions, so the colors look a bit odd) on a t-shirt and changed the style and position of the logo a bit to better fit in the picture. the black areas have been left out. maybe this is possible on other shirt colors too, adjusting the remaining colors according to the shirts style.



the sketch for the sweatshirt design actually looks like this:

[brynn]

I think that looks just fine not to stitch the black parts!

Those very small strip on the wings aren't coming out as well, in this example.  But as you mentioned, it's probably the lighting.

Hahahaa!  I like how the little ones are jumping into the pockets!  If you made them jump in on one side, and jump out on the other side, they could go all the way around the bottom edge.  Although that's hours more work.

You ought to sell your designs to clothing manufacturers!  It may be that I'm out of the loop, now that I'm older, and I never was very style concious.  But I've rarely seen such clever designs on mass produced clothing.  Sure, if you want to pay $100 for a t-shirt, you could get a great design.  But not mass produced.

[ha1flosse]

I think that looks just fine not to stitch the black parts!

yeah, that's ok. so i'll have to check out different color styles for different textile colors, but leaving the black parts seems to be a good idea.

Those very small strip on the wings aren't coming out as well, in this example.  But as you mentioned, it's probably the lighting.

you're right, they're pretty small and therefore hard to stitch and also hard to see. but there is just a tiny space to put them, maybe it'll be better to reduce them from 3 to less.

Hahahaa!  I like how the little ones are jumping into the pockets!  If you made them jump in on one side, and jump out on the other side, they could go all the way around the bottom edge.  Although that's hours more work.

nice idea, thanks! if they go around it might look like a belt and kind of curious, but if there are some random gaps between the running squads it will be cool i think. it's also tricky to put them as close as possible to the pockets and textile borders because of the stitch frame, and yes - it takes a lot of additional time to finish a single piece but maybe it's worth trying...

You ought to sell your designs to clothing manufacturers!  It may be that I'm out of the loop, now that I'm older, and I never was very style concious.  But I've rarely seen such clever designs on mass produced clothing.  Sure, if you want to pay $100 for a t-shirt, you could get a great design.  But not mass produced.

i'm happy that you like the design ideas! but i don't like mass production so much... i will sell single pieces to interested people in the future via my website and maybe provide some interesting showcases how to design shirts with simple tools to inspire people to create their personal stuff, combining the digital work with inkscape and different techniques of stamping for example. also i am only using fairtrade biological certified textiles and threads. i don't like the idea of little children and underpayed chinese women sewing a shirt with my designs.

so this will be just a very limited production of art pieces. i think, regarding the masses of textiles produced every day for low cost and the satisfaction of market demands, it'll be allright and, if at all, what is necessary.

i just finished the sweatshirt and the shirt, here's the result:

[Lazur]

Congratulations!

That's really nice to have a design come to life.

Some personal notes -the black feathers and beak would pop out more on a lighter clothing,
and in my humble opinion one bird alone could look sleeker. Now it looks there are even more in the pocket? There must be a huge nest inside.

[brynn]

Oh, very nice!  Great work!

What I mean about selling the design, is literally sell the design.  Someone else - clothing manufacturer, does all the work.  I remember that you've said in the past that you don't want to mass produce the shirts.  But just sell the art work.  I doubt if it's very lucrative, but still would be nice to have great designs on clothing I can afford.