Software Functionality

Using software that was developed by Leave Me In Stitches, create a cross stitch or petit point of your photograph. These stitch files can be sewn on your machine with 2 to 24 colors to create a keepsake suitable for framing. If you stitch with shades of brown, you get what looks like a sepia tone photograph, shades of gray will look like a black and white photo.

The difference between Petit Point and Cross Stitch

Cross Stitch

Petit Point

Cross Stitch's are made up of X's

Petit Points are made up of /'s (slashes)

Cross stitches can have up to 60x60 stitches in a 100mm hoop

Petit Points can have up to 100x100 stitches since /'s are smaller.

With cross stitch the background fabric shows through because the X is not solid, notice the background in XXXXX

Very little background fabric shows on the Petit point because the /'s are next to each other. See very little background in //////////

The resolution is great for people or pets, but does not work well for houses or objects.

Because of the increased resolution, more features of people and pets are visible as well as now houses and objects are more feasible.

Stitching tips (click here)

These designs have around 30,000 - 40,000 stitches - if you do any amount of embroidery, you know that this is an amazing amount to fit into a 100mm (4 inch) square area.

	Trim after each color. When the next color is applied, the trimming will be more difficult where threads get caught underneath the previous color. Due to the openness of the design, horizontal and vertical threads do not cover 100% and will tend to show through at the end.
	Have a small scissors and fine pointed tweezers handy. I don't remove the hoop between colors from my machine, the first stitch of each color will be in the most upper left that it can be. I start the next color, wait for the "trim" on my machine, then trim the tail of the current color and all of the previous color. The tweezers comes in real handy to grab each thread you wish to trim.
	Plan your time. A large amount of stitches and 7 color changes will take over 1/2 hour to stitch even on the fastest machines. Full color can take hours.

What types of pictures work? (click here)

Because of the nature of the threadwork, what you get is more like a watercolor or low resolution version of your original photo.

	Close-ups of faces work best. If we start with a tiny person in a photo, the resolution on the person is not enough to give a good stitch file.
	Single people in a photo works much better than two or more.
	Two people in a photo can work well if the faces are close together.
	Look for a bit of contrast in the photo; a washed out face in bright sunlight or a face in shadows in a dark room will end up with a mostly white or dark brown look.
	Landscapes, houses, trees, etc... do not always turn out well. There is a better chance that they will work with Petit Point instead of Cross Stitch. Try looking at your picture from 20 or more feet away, you will notice that you cannot see all the detail. That detail is what is lost in the process, so if there is sufficient light/dark to work on this test, it may be ok.

What File Formats work? (Click Here)

Photo Formats

Stitch File Formats

This program accepts most of the popular Windows graphic formats. GIF, JPG, BMP, WMF, and TIF can all be used.

This program writes out a number of different stitch files.

	CAN - Husqvarna CAN (Digitizing or Resize) file.
	PCS - Pfaff Stitch File
	DST - Tajima Stitch File, can also be used in Husqvarna software.
	PEC - Brother, Bernina, and Babylock stitch file.

Decorated Apparel | Decorator/Distributor | Home Embroiderer | Charlie Paws | Bugs In My Pocket
Decorated Apparel and Accessories: • Apparel Catalog • Promotional Products • Trophies and Awards • $1000 drawing • Company Stores • General Info and Pricing •
Commercial Decorator/Distributor: • Stock Designs • Digitizing/Punching • Blanks • Pricing •
Home Embroiderer: • Freebee of the Month • Design Sets • Software • Digitizing •

Copyright � 1999-2004 Leave Me In Stitches, Inc.

Not affiliated with Husqvarna Viking - The name and all references to products of theirs are copyrighted and owned by them.