Colour sheets and run sheets: what to print before a design goes on the machine

A design that stitches wrong is usually a design that was set up wrong: a colour skipped, thread cones in the wrong order, the second garment sewn in the first customer's colour. A printed sheet with the sequence on it is the cheapest quality control there is. This guide is what to put on it and how to get it from any file.

What a colour sheet contains

For one design, in sewing order:

| Column | Why | |---|---| | Block number | The machine counts colour changes from 1; the operator matches the screen to the sheet | | Colour as stored in the file | The Brother palette name, the Janome chart number, or the RGB from the file | | Thread you are using | Brand and number from your stock, decided once | | Stitch count for the block | Tells you which blocks are worth a cone and which are a few hundred stitches | | Notes | "Stop here for the applique fabric", "same cone as block 2", "trim before block 5" |

Plus the header: design name, file name and format, size in mm, total stitch count, colour-change count, hoop it fits, and the date it was last changed. The last line matters: a design that has been re-digitised or resized needs a new sheet, and the sheet's date is how you know which is current.

Making one from any file

Drop the file on the viewer. The colour panel lists each block in order with its stitch count and the colour the file stores: a palette name for PES, a chart number for JEF, thread names for VP3, an RGB for XXX, nothing for DST and EXP. Most designs sold as PES arrive with a separate PDF colour sheet; when they do not, the viewer's list is the same information.

Then decide the thread for each block. The thread converter takes the design's colour list and gives the nearest match in the brand you stock, with the distance so you can see which matches are exact and which need a look at the cone. Write the chosen thread on the sheet, not the converter's suggestion, because the choice is yours and the next operator should not re-decide it.

For DST and EXP files there is nothing to convert: the file has no colours and the designer's sheet is the only source. If you have neither, sew a sample in any colours, then decide. Never guess a customer's brand colour from a screen.

Pro downloads on this site include a colour sheet as an HTML page with the blocks in order and the stitch count per block, generated from the file that was written, so the sheet and the file always agree.

The run sheet

The colour sheet is per design; the run sheet is per job. It says:

• Customer, order number, due date.
• Garment: type, colour, size, quantity.
• Design file name and which colour sheet applies (if the same design is sewn in different colourways for different garments, each colourway is a line).
• Placement: left chest, centre back, cap front, sleeve; with the measurement from the reference point ("18 cm below the shoulder seam, centred on the placket").
• Stabiliser and needle.
• Hoop.
• Checks: the operator initials the first piece against the sample, and the count when done.

The run sheet is what makes a batch of 40 names or 200 polos repeatable by someone who did not set it up. Batch names covers the manifest that comes with a name batch, which is a run sheet in miniature.

Mistakes a sheet prevents

The skipped colour. A design with two blocks of near-identical blue reads as one on the machine screen. The sheet says block 3 is 3620 and block 4 is 3641; the operator changes the cone.

The wrong order. Threads set up by looking at the design, not the sequence. Designs sew from the bottom layer up; the colour you see most is often the last one. The sheet lists them in order.

The stop nobody expected. A stop for applique fabric or a hoop reposition looks like a colour change to the operator, who loads the next colour and sews through it. The sheet marks it: "STOP: place fabric".

The re-digitised design. The customer approved version 2; version 3 has a different colour count. The sheet's date and stitch count catch the mismatch before the run.

The colour that changed brand. The shop switched from Isacord to Madeira last year; the old sheets are still in the drawer. Writing the year's brand on the sheet header, and reprinting when the brand changes, stops the mix.

Keeping sheets

One folder per customer, one sheet per design, and the sheet is the record of what was sewn: if the customer reorders in a year, the sheet is the setup. Store the design file next to it, in the format the machine reads, and also in the format it arrived in.