DTF_and Faux Emb craze.

[Dottonedan]

Due to my wife being in that arena of HTV and DTV, and now DTF I’ve been required to jump on this band wagon.


Embroiderers or digitizers are complaining that it’s not authentic or usable as a file, but that’s not what people are excited about. The customer of course doesn’t know any better and they love LOVE the look. It’s just another thing that someone can do with someones logo that’s different.  A phase maybe, but it’s a hot one right now.
Similar to graphics and the outer glow, or the Gleams of light sparkling off of one side, or a beveled and embossed look to an otherwise flat graphics. It’s about the same thing...BUT, when applied to the entire design, it does look pretty cool. It’s also FAR more complex and far more time consuming to do a nice job than just applying a filter.


Of course, many of us have been doing fake embroidery and screen printing it and even applying puff in the mix for a better print and feel.


There are a few websites that sell something similar, and it’s not that costly. 800 for this, 15.00 for that.  I got the one that was recommended to me called “Real Embroidery” for $15.00. but it does take longer than anyone would imagine.  Like jsut figuring my first job out took 2 hrs.  At best with this one, for multiple colors, you may be into it for at least an hour.


It’s sold on https://www.envato.com by GraphicRiver. https://graphicriver.net/item/realistic-embroidery-photoshop-plugin/34168279
This is a pretty hefty one...and a bit complicated for the novice. Still, it’s only $15.00. I put in my own pattern fill on the green fill. The outer stitching looks pretty cool.


There are a few on there that people have liked.   https://graphicriver.net/item/embroidery-patch-maker-photoshop-action/40782025
If anything, it’s a quicker way to add another special effect onto a design even if you are going to screen print it.

[zanegun08]

At Impression Expo https://decopress.com had some faux embroidered twill sweatshirts that from a distance looked like sew on tackle twill.  It was done well and the scale of the stitching matched that of what a real embroidered tackle twill design.

I was pretty impressed by the result. 

Used correctly it can be a nice look, especially if being sublimated on twill and then heat pressed on, as it gives it an even closer look to a real appliqué than just as a HTV or DTF transfer.

[Chadwick]

Nice find Dan.
I went digging..forgot about this software, used it years ago.

http://www.drawstitch.com/index.php/Products/Embroidery_Effect/Download/
Free download.
Just use the standalone unless you have actually use the X3 version of DRAW.

Since it's old, there seem to be some issues now with .eps and .cmx files.
If you export your vector as .emf , then use that with the program, it still works properly.

[tonypep]

Reminds me of the old and mostly forgotten technique of selective puff underbasing for stiches etc.  When proper art/seps/prepress are all in alignment, results can be astounding. Keep in mind that the "stitches" will blow out in 360 degrees so they need to be smaller in seps. This will depend on the degree of puff in the ink (usually a base puff, no pig), mesh counts and other print parameters.
Heres how we did it......Normal plas UB under all required colors, including the puff UB. Its best that the puff UB is based to prevent unwanted puckering. Now F/C, selective puff UB, F/C (IMPORTANT NOTE: Only surface flash the P/U, do not make it puff!), overprint colors (generally 200 mesh). The magic happens in the dryer. Where the puff U/B colors blow, the ink will take on a lighter color of the overprinted color(s) and of course be slightly raised. If you are thinking of a "patch print", consider a slight halftone unbased drop shadow (we used process black 55 line on 305 mesh) to give it a more visual 3D pop without making the print annoying to the touch. Done correctly, great results may be achieved.