15 needles, 15 colours: plan the palette before you digitize
A design that needs more thread colours than your machine has needles means stopping to re-thread mid-run. Here's how we keep every design inside the needle count.
A 15-needle machine holds 15 cones at once. A design can still have 60 or 70 colour changes (our Dragon Snake & Katana has 68) because the machine simply goes back to a needle it has already used. What it can't do without stopping is reach for a 16th colour.
Count colours, not colour changes
- Thread colours are the distinct cones you need on the machine.
- Colour changes are how many times the machine switches needles during the run.
Our designs stay at 15 colours or fewer, so a 15-needle machine runs them start to finish without re-threading. The production sheet lists the needle for every step.
Merging colours without losing the art
Artwork often has dozens of near-identical shades. We group them by how they will read in thread, not by their exact pixel values:
- Near-blacks become one black. On a dark garment, black areas can often be left as bare fabric instead.
- Shading steps that nobody can tell apart in thread merge into one.
- Small, saturated accents (an eye, a feather tip, a gem) keep their own colour even when they cover very little area, because they carry the design.
Real thread codes, checked twice
Thread charts bundled with some software map codes to the wrong colours. We match every colour to a Madeira Polyneon code using Madeira's own published Pantone conversions, and print those codes on the production sheet, so the cones on your machine match the preview.
Fewer needles?
On a single-needle or 6-needle machine, plan your stops: the production sheet tells you exactly when each colour comes up. Ordering custom digitizing? Tell us your needle count and we'll build the file around it.
Want a file built this way?
Send us your art and we'll digitize it for your fabric and machine.
Start a custom order