Using a good digitizer is an important part of producing high-quality embroidery, says Joyce Jagger, The Embroidery Coach. A good digitizer, she says, knows the embroidery process and what it takes to make a design look best on the chosen fabric.

If your digitizer doesn’t ask you the following questions, you may want to look elsewhere:

• What fabric is this design going to be sewn on?
• Will you be using this design for any other type of application?
• What format do you want the design to be finished in?
• Do you plan to increase or decrease the size of the design?
• Can I make some modifications to the design to make it sew better, such as increasing the letter size or choosing a different font?

Be sure your digitizer sews out designs before sending them to you. Oftentimes, graphic artists will use digitizing software and think they don’t need to know anything about embroidery itself, but this is far from the truth, according to Jagger. She recommends asking the sales rep who sold you your embroidery design software for recommendations on good digitizers. For more of Jagger’s tips on finding and pricing a digitizer, check out her blog on  www.theembroiderycoach.com.