Check a machine file before sewing

StitchCraft reads PES, PEC and DST files from any software. It can describe a file and draw what the machine will sew, before you spend thread on it. The examples use test sheet TS-02, written with stitch testsheet TS-02 -o TS-02.pes.

Describe the file

$ stitch inspect TS-02.pes --profile brother-pe800-5x7
TS-02.pes · PES (#PES0001) · "TS-02"
  sha256    7c9e1a79353ef17172d1125172635b7f37bce80a1328c936c5eafa436bfff90b
  size      120.0 × 70.0 mm
  stitches  93 stitches, 17 jumps, 16 trims, 2 colour changes, 1 stop
  extent    x -60.0 to 60.0 mm, y -35.0 to 35.0 mm from where the machine starts
  lengths   stitches from 2.50 to 2.50 mm
  threads   1. Red (#ed171f), shown as Brother PEC 5 "Red"
            2. Blue (#0a55a3), shown as Brother PEC 2 "Blue"
            3. Emerald Green (#00673e), shown as Brother PEC 54 "Emerald Green"
            4. Emerald Green (#00673e), shown as Brother PEC 54 "Emerald Green" — a stop: keep the same thread
  profile   brother-pe800-5x7 (Brother PE800 with its 5 × 7 in hoop)
            0 stitches longer than 12 mm, 0 shorter than 0.3 mm

• size is the width and height of the stitching.
• stitches counts the needle points, and the jumps, trims, colour changes and stops between them.
• extent gives the lowest and highest x and y of the stitching, from where the machine starts.
• lengths gives the shortest and the longest stitch, to a hundredth of a millimetre, and how many stitches do not move at all, when a file has any.
• threads lists the colour blocks in sewing order. Each colour is stored as a Brother palette colour in a PES file, which the line names. After a stop you sew on with the same thread.
• profile appears with --profile, with the number of stitches longer than the machine’s longest stitch and shorter than its shortest. stitch profiles lists the machines. A file does not say which stitches lock the thread, and StitchCraft’s lock stitches are as short as 0.2 mm on purpose. The line also counts the short stitches 0.2 mm or longer, which may be locks.

Look at it

$ stitch preview TS-02.pes -o TS-02.png --style simple
TS-02.png · 992 × 592 pixels
  from      TS-02.pes · PES (#PES0001) · "TS-02"
  style     simple, 8 pixels per millimetre

The simple style draws each stitch as a thin line with a dot at each needle point. A red cross marks a trim and a blue square a stop. Grey dashes show where the frame travels after a cut, and dashes in the thread’s colour show a jump thread left on the fabric.

Without --style simple, the picture shows the finished embroidery, with loose jump threads where they will be. The rendering design has the whole legend.

What to look for

• A design larger than the hoop, or than the machine’s comfort zone: see fit the hoop.
• Jump threads where you expected trims. Each one has to be cut by hand after sewing.
• Thread colours. The machine shows each block in its palette colour, and it sews whichever thread you load.