Pathing

Definition:

Pathing represents the traveling route the design follows from start to finish.

There are two important considerations when planning your design pathing.

The first is machine efficiency. This means that you want your embroidery machine

to sewing an efficient manner without constantly jumping from one part of

the design to another or to place numerous amounts of unnecessary trims in the

design.

The second consideration is the primary material that will be sewn. Take into

consideration the characteristics of the material. A firm non-stretchy material

such as denim will be more forgiving and allow less color changes while a

thicker material such as fleece has more give and will need to be broken up into

more sections.

As a general rule , for garments, you want to work a design from the center of the

design and start with larger areas and move to smaller areas.

For hats, you will work from the center out to each side and start at the bottom

and work up toward the top. Complete each section before moving on to the

next. A hat design will typically have more trims and color changes to ensure

proper registration and avoid pinching of the material in the center.