I need help with push /pull compensation. I have Masterworks II. I have a 2 inch section of fill that is pulling in about 1/8 inch in from the outline. My software instructions say I should increase the pull compensation but I don't know how much. My choices are a percentage or absolute. I have no idea what percentage to pick or what absolute means. Can anybody help with this? I know I could just do trial and error but I don't want to waste a lot of materials. Thank you!

Hi, Sewmom, hope I'm not too late answering this, but I hope I can help. I'm guessing the whole body of your little snail is one "object", that is to say, that you went around the body outline and your weave fill sews along on an axis from his neck to his tail as one piece of sewing. That's why you have pull at the tail and the neck area, because the object will 'shrink' (pull) in the direction the stitches go, and spread out (push) in the direction 90 degrees from the stitch direction. And the longer the line of stitches, the more it will pull together. Also, the tighter the weave, the more it will pull. You can see a little pull on the left side of his face, but it's not so bad because the stitches aren't travelling such a long distance as on his body. This can be compensated for manually. I use Janome's Digitizer Pro, and I always compensate manually for the push/pull. For the head, I would advise digitizing just beyond the outline. The outline is going to sew last, then it should be in the right place. For the body, on the pull sides, not only go a bit beyond your outline, but perhaps break up the body into three digitized sections, and path it so that the section nearest the tail sews out first, then the neck section, then the middle body section, and make sure you have some overlap and feathering. That way the lines of stitches won't be so long and pull so much. I hope I'm explaining ok. For the body, like divide it into three pieces, vertically. Ok, cut your worm into three sections, hee hee hee. If you still need help, I'll try to draw you some screen shots, just let me know. I know what I'm trying to say, and it even sounds confusing to me. Well, I tried, anyway. Hugs, Marji

Part of the problem may be the tear away stabilizer...perhaps the felt stretched a bit...does the design look correct in your software? My software coach advised us to compensate the pull approximately 1-2mm...that would be outside of the satin stitching. Don't have Masterworks so not sure how that translates...keep us posted.

1 comment

by sewmom 10 Dec 2012

The outline of the body looked correct in the software. I haven't tried any changes yet so I will see if the 1-2 mm might be helpful. Thank you.

Question: DId you digitise to stitch the outline before the black and white thread?
hugs Helen

1 comment

by sewmom 10 Dec 2012

I have an outline before everything (so I could use it as a placement line). I also have outline and then satin stitch at the very end after all the other stitching. The outline mistake on the face is my fault, it looked wrong in my software so I changed it and I shouldn't have. The outline of the body looked correct in the software.

I don't use Masterworks but have a question - did you put in underlay stitches going the opposite direction of the fill stitches (ie if final stitches run north/south, underlay runs east west). The fabric looks quite soft so the underlay should be rather close (say 1/8" apart). If that doesn't work I compensate by 3 (don't know what that means in your program but it works for me. Worth a shot if not one else has answers

2 comments

by sewmom 09 Dec 2012

I did this sample on felt with a tear away stabizer. It had very dense underlay so I reduced, maybe I shouldn't have done that. I have to check later on the underlay direction.

by sewmom 09 Dec 2012

I digitized for woven cotton. I'll make a few changes and try again on cotton. Thank you.

Really, this picture was right side up on my computer.

1 comment

by sewmom 09 Dec 2012

Haha. It's still upright on my computer but sideways on my iPhone.