How Technology is Used in Machine Embroidery for Clothing

Traditional arts, crafts, and industries aren’t immune to technological progress. That includes embroidery.
While celebrating embroidery’s rich heritage, it’s necessary to recognize that technology is now writing new entries in embroidery’s history book. So, let’s take a brief modern look at how technology is used in machine embroidery for clothing.
More Available Designs
Computer software has enabled the world’s catalog of embroidery designs to grow to massive proportions. Designers can easily catalog their creations and make them available to anyone with digital access.
The result is an endless array of possibilities as embroiderers tweak, improve, and alter existing designs to create one-of-a-kind products. Never before have there been so many options for color, density, and stitch types.
Enhanced Details and Improved Accuracy
Computers now operate high-end embroidery machines with far more attention to detail than the best human operator ever could. That means that designs can be more elaborate. What was once costly or even impossible for people to perform, computerized embroidery machines can easily handle.
While the designs may be more complicated, they’re also more accurate. Not only is the accuracy higher, but so is the speed. Modern machines far surpass the rate at which highly skilled embroiders could produce using a manually operated machine.
Remote Communication With Machines
The proliferation of internet-connected devices makes it commonplace to operate many machines remotely. For instance, you probably turn on your home’s heating or cooling system from another part of the house. Similarly, the internet allows people to communicate online with embroidery machines.
For example, machines can transmit progress reports to supervisors so management is always aware of what the machine is doing. Online machines can quickly alert maintenance workers of a mechanical issue.
In turn, decision makers can issue updates to the machine to alter designs immediately, saving time and money that would have been wasted on an unacceptable end product.
Improved Fabrics
The fabric that the machines use is also altered by today’s technology. Fabrics with a luxurious feel of a higher thread count are readily available at affordable prices.
Today’s fabrics are also more durable. Technology makes it possible for designs to be embroidered on material that previously would have been unsuitable or at least problematic.
Advanced Threads
Even the thread that the latest embroidering machines use is technologically enhanced for practical and artistic reasons. For example, modern thread is stronger and longer lasting than traditional thread. It also comes in a dizzying number of highly specialized forms, like glow-in-the-dark.
Technology helps threads maintain color longer. Interestingly, technology also allows machines to alter the color of the thread during production.
Inline colorization uses a white thread with an advanced coating receptive to color. Computer programming tells the machine when to transform the thread’s color and which color to use.
This method creates seamless transitions between colors and shades for dynamic embroidery designs. Embroiderers can avoid the expense and inconvenience of trying to keep in stock every possible color of thread. And because there’s no switching between threads, the image is smoother than traditional methods can produce.