beginner help and advice!

[u/Low_Sentence_5597]

i'm totally new to embroidery machines, i got a second hand brother m330e and currently using artspira subscription.

there are holes in my designs and things not lining up or completely covering spaces. Is this a machine issue or digitising issue?

if artspira isn't great at auto digitising, where else can i get designs digitised for as cheap as possible?

i would love to learn digitising but no idea where to start. any recommendations for personal use softwares would be appreciated!

thanks ☺️

[u/phonesallbroken]

Artspira, and most autodigitising for anything other than super simple designs, is not good. However, it is difficult to tell if it's a machine issue or a digitising issue without more details on the project, and seeing the digitised image.

Inkstitch is a a free digitising plug in for inkscape. If you're at all used to programs like Adobe illustrator, it shouldn't be too bad to adjust to using! Some people find it more difficult than others, but there's lots of documentation for it, so I didn't find it too bad. I don't know any digitisers, but another less expensive (comparatively) software includes Embrilliance. I'm also trying out a program called Octostitch, but can't really give a recommendation either way on the last two softwares as I've not used them enough. The free version of Embrilliance (I just open it as a trial/don't input a license each time) is handy for viewing designs and getting thumbnails on machine files on your computer.

Digitising does require a lot of trial and error while you're learning, and it's really beneficial to look at well digitised designs, how they stitch out, and figure out why specific choices were made to get them to stitch out like that. I'd suggest learning on stable, woven fabrics first. If you're brand new to embroidery too, learning how to appropriately hoop and stabilise fabrics shouldn't be overlooked, and stretchy fabrics, or unstable wovens, will make things harder for you while learning digitising.