I raise mine all the way up. If there are some flat areas before the puff, I may split the difference. I would experiment on the manual feed and try it in the upper teens. Look for looping then back it off. There is also a way to leave it on automatic by tweaking the max possitive and min negative on the "settings by color"
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Here Is some tips on DIGITIZING for 3D PUFF..
In today's economy we have to strive to stay one step ahead of our competition. Today we will introduce you to working with Puff. When you see designs with Puff or 3d Puff they seem to jump off the garment and really standout. Not all designs will be suitable for 3D Puff , but when I come across a logo that will work with Puff I offer the customer this at a increased rate, so say they want there logo on a cap, I would give them two samples , a sample made regular.. which is great, So depending on your design and what you pay for the item here is how it breaks down. 3D puff cost proximately $1.00 for 8.5 by 11 sheet of 5mm puff, from your local craft store, depending on the price of the embroidery design you can add puff and usually charge an extra $5.00 or more for the design. So you make your normal mark up for the cost of the Hat ..
Cost Markup Design Puff Fee Total Profit per unit
Reg Cap $4.00 $7.00 $3.00 $10.00 ($3.00)
3D Cap $4.50 $7.00 $3.00 $3.00 $13.00 ($5.50)
So your customer wants 24 caps , and you have presented him with the projected cost of
Quote QTY Sell Cost Profit
Reg Cap $10.00 24 $240.00 $168 $ 72.00
3D Cap $13.00 24 $312.00 $180 $132.00
It takes a few minutes longer per hat depending on the machine, and number of heads but you could increase your profit by in this example $60. Your prices would have to be marketed for your area. For the same amount of work basically you could make $60 more.
Foam Types
Now there are several different techniques for using foam and it depends on the foam itself. I use craft foam as it has a sticky backing that you can peel off real easily and conform it to the hat and it will stay in place. I buy sheets of the color for $1 a sheet and usually I can make 6-8 designs per sheet, depending on the size of course. ( Note if you use adhesive or craft foam clean your needles between runs.) The other way is to purchase special embroidering foam from your dealer, this you can either tape on or hold in place and put some stitches down to hold it in place. I usually cut about a ½ inch or so about the size of the design to make it easier to put into place.
Design Tips
There are several rules for puffy foam, that must be address so when you digitize designs for this. Be creative, I love using puff with 2 or 3 colors in the designs. The design I have below has 3 colors in it This design is for a hat, and it has a satin border, stitch, a light complex fill , and a satin stitch with designed for 5mm foam. I always put a stop prior to laying down the foam..
Digitizing
I would lay down the original satin stitch to give it definition, and sharpness I normally use 65 spi density for this.. With parallel underlay designed for a hat center out....
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It sews the center out on the left side and then sews out from the center out on the right side. Notice the center line..
On the next section I would sew out the fill, again try to make it centered. As this design had 3 colors in it. Again I force it to sew out from the center as its going on a Hat , dont worry about the overlap you will not see them on the finished design.
![]()
Not since a satin is going over this fill I would make the density about 40 spi , not much is needed I would also at the end of this color at a stop to the design. And it should pause when sewing out , or if you set your Auto Start to NO it should stop and wait for you to hit start after inserting the foam.
Digitizing Continued
Once your machine stops, place a square piece of red foam over the stitched design allowing a little overlap , I like ½ inch. I use craft foam which you peel off the paper and it has an adhesive, if your using regular foam you will need to use adhesive spray or tape it in place, and you may need to add 1 line perpendicular underlay.
Note for the stitching of the red you have to CAP any spots that will not be cut by the needle this is critical or the foam will pull out when you tear it , I reduce the density of the design so you can see where I have capped it , so I put a enhance colum stitch in between the to end parts on the S and I capped the ends of the C .. Not the density of the design needs to be between 90-120 depending on your preference. I like to make sure no foam sticks out so I set it at 120 spi
![]()
![]()
When you sew it out it should look like this
![]()
In today's economy we have to strive to stay one step ahead of our competition. Today we will introduce you to working with Puff. When you see designs with Puff or 3d Puff they seem to jump off the garment and really standout. Not all designs will be suitable for 3D Puff , but when I come across a logo that will work with Puff I offer the customer this at a increased rate, so say they want there logo on a cap, I would give them two samples , a sample made regular.. which is great, So depending on your design and what you pay for the item here is how it breaks down. 3D puff cost proximately $1.00 for 8.5 by 11 sheet of 5mm puff, from your local craft store, depending on the price of the embroidery design you can add puff and usually charge an extra $5.00 or more for the design. So you make your normal mark up for the cost of the Hat ..
Cost Markup Design Puff Fee Total Profit per unit
Reg Cap $4.00 $7.00 $3.00 $10.00 ($3.00)
3D Cap $4.50 $7.00 $3.00 $3.00 $13.00 ($5.50)
So your customer wants 24 caps , and you have presented him with the projected cost of
Quote QTY Sell Cost Profit
Reg Cap $10.00 24 $240.00 $168 $ 72.00
3D Cap $13.00 24 $312.00 $180 $132.00
It takes a few minutes longer per hat depending on the machine, and number of heads but you could increase your profit by in this example $60. Your prices would have to be marketed for your area. For the same amount of work basically you could make $60 more.
Foam Types
Now there are several different techniques for using foam and it depends on the foam itself. I use craft foam as it has a sticky backing that you can peel off real easily and conform it to the hat and it will stay in place. I buy sheets of the color for $1 a sheet and usually I can make 6-8 designs per sheet, depending on the size of course. ( Note if you use adhesive or craft foam clean your needles between runs.) The other way is to purchase special embroidering foam from your dealer, this you can either tape on or hold in place and put some stitches down to hold it in place. I usually cut about a ½ inch or so about the size of the design to make it easier to put into place.
Design Tips
There are several rules for puffy foam, that must be address so when you digitize designs for this. Be creative, I love using puff with 2 or 3 colors in the designs. The design I have below has 3 colors in it This design is for a hat, and it has a satin border, stitch, a light complex fill , and a satin stitch with designed for 5mm foam. I always put a stop prior to laying down the foam..
Digitizing
I would lay down the original satin stitch to give it definition, and sharpness I normally use 65 spi density for this.. With parallel underlay designed for a hat center out....
It sews the center out on the left side and then sews out from the center out on the right side. Notice the center line..
On the next section I would sew out the fill, again try to make it centered. As this design had 3 colors in it. Again I force it to sew out from the center as its going on a Hat , dont worry about the overlap you will not see them on the finished design.
Not since a satin is going over this fill I would make the density about 40 spi , not much is needed I would also at the end of this color at a stop to the design. And it should pause when sewing out , or if you set your Auto Start to NO it should stop and wait for you to hit start after inserting the foam.
Digitizing Continued
Once your machine stops, place a square piece of red foam over the stitched design allowing a little overlap , I like ½ inch. I use craft foam which you peel off the paper and it has an adhesive, if your using regular foam you will need to use adhesive spray or tape it in place, and you may need to add 1 line perpendicular underlay.
Note for the stitching of the red you have to CAP any spots that will not be cut by the needle this is critical or the foam will pull out when you tear it , I reduce the density of the design so you can see where I have capped it , so I put a enhance colum stitch in between the to end parts on the S and I capped the ends of the C .. Not the density of the design needs to be between 90-120 depending on your preference. I like to make sure no foam sticks out so I set it at 120 spi
Lets recap the rules.- All open ends must be capped
- The density needs to be 120 spi
- On 2 color designs the color before the foam needs a manual stop put on the design., you can do this in the sequence view by clicking on the end command.
- Pull compensation to Absolute .01 inch
- Foam either needs to have an adhesive or be taped or stitched in place.
When you sew it out it should look like this
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