Water soluble plate making does not require many stitches, and the most commonly used ones are the "flat needle" and "flat wrap needle", with almost no stitches like "tatami" or "E-shaped needle". The importance of the "flat needle" in the water-soluble version is undeniable, and the success of a water-soluble flower version largely depends on your proficiency in using the "flat needle".
Another important factor is the artwork. When I mention the word "artwork", I believe many people have an attitude of not being able to ignore it. You may think that many plate making software supports scanning input and there is no need to mention the word "artwork" at all. If you really think that way, then you are wrong. I didn't say that the water-soluble version is not suitable for using scanning input software, and that a digital instrument must be used. On the contrary, in the last few years of my water-soluble version, scanning input software became popular. I feel that scanning input software is more useful than using a digital instrument, and labor-saving is its biggest advantage. When a customer gives you a water-soluble pattern product, I believe most of the time it is wrinkled and not even. If you simply scan it on the scanner like this, you will not get its correct size. My experience is to first submerge it in water, then squeeze it slightly. If it doesn't get wet, just put it on the scanner, which will cause water droplets on the scanner's glass and affect the scanning quality.
The sample that has passed the water is easier to manipulate on the scanner, so try to place it as flat as possible. I usually use JPG format with a resolution of 200 to store artwork, and the advantage of storing JPG format is that it can obtain a 1:1 size in the plate making software. At this point, it's not over yet. Use Photoshop to process it and lower the transparency of the image. I usually set it to 40%. Why do we need to lower the transparency of the image (Figure 1, with the original image on the left and the processed image on the right)? You will definitely ask this, and you will know its benefits later on.
By this point, you have already completed half of the artwork production, and you still need to keep busy. In the upcoming class (forgive me for using the word 'course', I can't think of a more appropriate term), I will use WILCOM 7 to give the lecture (forgive me again for using the word 'lecture'). Open W7, input the image, and enlarge it by 11%. Most plate making software has this function. Let me explain why we need to enlarge the image by 11%, because water-soluble flowers have a shrinkage characteristic after boiling in water. Whether it's the 120D line, 250D line, or 150D line, the general shrinkage rate is between 10-12%. I took an intermediate value, which is 11%. We will continue to create artwork and use the built-in drawing tools of W7 to outline the patterns.
Don't be misled by the gaps between the petals of the sample. I can guarantee that the original version of this sample cannot have gaps. The gaps are caused by the tension of the embroidery thread during production and the shrinkage during boiling. Carefully outline the contour on the image, and the flat needle lines between petals do not need to be drawn. We can visually input based on the distance on the drawing, which can save a lot of time. Let me explain why the transparency of the image was lowered earlier. We can easily see the drawn image on the schematic because the color of the image is relatively light. If I don't process the image, its color will be darker and it will be difficult to distinguish where the lines are located. That's why I lowered the transparency of the image. At this point, the artwork is considered completed. In order to make this demonstration as simple as possible, I ignored the lines around the sample.
Let me tell you a trick that is not a trick. When you are drawing the blueprint, you can use this time to constantly consider how to get the pattern, without having to wait until you finish the blueprint and think about it.