Embroidery

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Selecting the Correct Embroidery Backing

Choosing the correct backing is a vital part of the embroidery process. Unfortunately, it can also create a fair amount of anxiety and confusion for embroiderers.

Embroidery Through the Ages

Very few things in life stand the test of time. As natural as the ebb and flow of evolution, most seemingly universal customs are founded and practiced with vigor, only to fade away with a whisper as the years tick by.

Demystifying (and Humanizing) Digitizing

To the uninitiated, digitizing for machine embroidery seems like a process of simple conversion.

Patch Showdown: Embroidered vs. Woven Patches

While embroidered and woven patches have similarities, there are differences to be aware of when choosing the best one for your particular decorated apparel application.

Remove, Replace and Recycle Your Emblems

Whether it has been sewn on or heat sealed, it is both cost effective and makes all the sense in the world to remove an old emblem and replace or adhere it to another article of clothing.

Jacket Season: When, What, Where & How

When the weather is warm, savvy embroiderers turn their thoughts to jackets and gear up to make some masterpieces. Wait… what??

On Design: Mighty Shot

With this month’s On Design, we travel deep into the jungles of Central Mexico, harkening back to an ancient time where the Aztecs roamed the earth whilst building a formidable empire.

How to: No Need to Dread Metallic Embroidery Thread

Typically seen in home décor, holiday gear, performance costumes and more, the embroidery metallic thread used for apparel decoration adds a sparkly sheen and pop of color to all kinds of projects

On Design: Surf’s Up

With summer right around the corner, this month’s featured design brings some heat, surf and fun in the sun.

Embroidery Basics for Hooping Caps

Embroidering caps on commercial embroidery machines can cause struggles and stress. Most cap styles are unique in their shape and the way they are made. Here, let’s consider different cap styles and ways to hoop them, as well as different types of cap frames that are available.

Short on Embroidery Supplies?

Though it’s dwindling in some locations in the United States, COVID-19 continues to linger as a drag on supplies chains. The good news is proactive thinking can ensure your embroidery decorating business keeps moving forward.

Thread-Tension Troubleshooting

You almost can’t glance at your newsfeed or check social media without seeing something about the importance of finding balance.

Embroidery on Bulky Items

Embroidery is a creative, fun and expressive way to personalize bulky items, including bags and luggage, to create a one-of-a-kind, timeless piece.

A Stabilizer Selection Guide

Stabilizers, also known as backings, always should be used during machine embroidery.

When Tech Meets Embroidery

While the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” may be true, it begs the question: Who is the mother of innovation?

Headwear-Stitching Solutions

Embroidering on headwear typically presents challenges that can scare away some embroiderers, even those who have years of experience.

On Design: Animal Kingdom

“Paws” was created by Quality Punch, a Torrance, California-based embroidery-digitizing and vector-art supplier.

Digitizing for Thin Fabrics

Embroidering on fashionable fabrics — especially the thin varieties, such as tri-blends — is a little less forgiving than when it’s done on heavier fabrics.

Tips for Digitizing on Thin Fabrics

Embroidering on thin fabrics such as performancewear and tri-blend garments can scare away some embroiderers.

Embroidery Powers Plackets

Regardless of which fashion trends are prevalent in the market in any given year, placket shirts always remain a staple for embroiderers.

Digitizing Lettering for Caps

As an embroiderer, you must consider many aspects when it comes to lettering on headwear. From 3-D puff to outlined text, the game changes when embroidery is done on a cap.

Break Away from Boring Embroidery

Although hand embroidery and appliqué have been around for millennia, computerized machine embroidery is only about 40 years old.

Sustainability in Embroidery

Does the market drive or support buying habits? In a “chicken-or-the-egg” sort of conundrum, do eco-friendly concerns originate at the buying level or at the root of manufacturing?

Arabesque Artiste

Impressions gives apparel decorators from around the world an opportunity to submit their most impressive work, compete alongside their peers and show off their talents to the industry in its annual Impressions Awards decorating competition.

Basic Embroidery Troubleshooting

From the runways of New York Fashion Week to the halls of Comic-Con, embroidery is a pastime that consumers and crafters are embracing, as personalization in clothing, costumes and gifts continues to rise in popularity.

Embroidery Advice for Apparel Decorating Newbies

When you first start off as an embroiderer in the decorated apparel industry, you learn that there are many elements that go into mastering your craft and producing a beautiful design

Smooth Stitching

Have you ever watched an auto-racing pit crew change a tire? There’s no wasted movement because the most efficient procedure has been identified and is followed each time.

Tips for Creating Eye-Catching Embroidery Artwork

Embroidery continues to maintain its popularity as a reigning imprinting option for company branding.

Digitizing and Embroidering Difficult Fabrics

While you may have mastered twills and tees, other fabrics on the other hand, may still present a challenge. We are going to focus on digitizing and embroidering on the more difficult types of fabric.

Embroidery Goes from Unique to Universal

The ability to transform a certain effect to a “special effect” is exemplified by the work of artist Stephen Wilson. He balances art, craft and fashion in mixed media using embroidery for his signature statement.

Scaling Stock Monograms

In embroidery, there is nothing more beautiful than a monogram. In fact, because of its luxury, a monogram on a man’s shirt cuff became a symbol of hope during the Great Depression. And, at a time of economic disaster, this small luxury kept our industry alive.

Spooktacular Stitches

Impressions gives apparel decorators from around the world the opportunity to submit their most impressive work, compete alongside their peers and show off their talents to the industry in its annual Impressions Awards decorating competition.

Tools of the Embroidery Trade

If you’ve ever struggled with machine embroidery, there may be numerous reasons why — including not having the proper tools for some jobs.

What’s an Older Machine Really Costing Your Shop?

Congratulations! The 10-year-old, 12-head embroidery machine that you opened your decorating business with is still running.

Troubleshooting for Embroidery

I have an advantage when it comes to understanding the importance of embroidery troubleshooting. I sit 10 yards and a staircase away from a customer sales support team that answers questions and provides helpful solutions for embroiderers.

Basics for Hooping Caps

Embroidering caps on commercial embroidery machines can cause struggles and stress. Most cap styles are unique in their shape and the way they are made.

Tips and Tricks for Better Embroidery

Although you may have only been doing embroidery for a short time, you probably have learned some tricks through trial and error.

Standing Out from the Crowd

Stock-design companies provide a tremendous service to those embroiderers who don’t do their own digitizing, as well as those who do but may need a starting point.

The Importance of Embroidery Training

Growth and change often go hand in hand, and the latter isn’t always easy or smooth. Deciding whether revenue supports the extra expense of adding a new employee to your shop is a big decision; the smaller the shop, the bigger the decision.

The ‘E’ in Team

There’s more to sports apparel than meets the eye. Sure, the team gets the most attention, but behind the scenes, practice happens before those players and uniforms ever hit the field or court on game day.

Embroidery Time-Savers

It’s past midnight and you’re still awake as your embroidery machine hums away. At this point, you must face the following inevitable truth: It’ll probably take all night to finish that large order.

Embroidery Digitizing File Types, Formats and Software

There are two kinds of file types for digitizing an embroidery design for apparel decoration: outline (or parent) files and expanded (or machine) files. Outline files are specific to a software. Expanded files are more generic and can be read by embroidery machines.

Making Impossible Embroidery Possible

Hardly anyone thinks of T-shirts as delicate — they make bold statements, and are ubiquitous, affordable, easily laundered and even disposable. But in the embroidery world, a T-shirt’s lightweight knit renders it a delicate fabric.

Organizing Your Embroidery Space

Create an efficient space and keep your business running smoothly

Sheer Impact

Each year, Impressions invites decorators from around the world to enter their most impressive work, compete alongside their peers and show off their talents to the industry in the Impressions Awards decorating competition.

Easy Embroidery Alignment

Let’s say you just finished an embroidery job — a left-chest logo stitched on shirts and hats — and now the customer wants jackets. What’s more, he wants the same logo on a jacket back.

High-Flying Outerwear Embroidery

When a vintage style meets an innovative performance fabric, the possibilities for the garment can soar. When tasked with embroidering a design on such a garment, imaginations can be difficult to contain.

Design Manipulation for Embroidery

Understanding what to do before a design goes to the digitizer

The Facets of Fleecewear Embroidery

Make the right choices when embroidering fleecewear for first-rate results

On Target Embroidery

Learn the ins and outs of embroidering garments in this popular apparel category.

Thinking Outside of the Hoop

Tips for embroidering between-size garments

Custom Patch Embroidery

Follow these easy steps for designing 
and creating unique embellishments.

Perforate Athleticwear Properly

Mastering Micro Lettering

Strategies for embroidering designs with small letters

Are Six Heads Better Than One?

There recently has been a virtual explosion of personalization, including monograms, in many decorating disciplines.

Tips for Embroidering Patches

A step-by-step guide for turning embroidery designs into patches

Embroidery Tips for Corners and Capping

How and when to adjust corners in a digitized design 

Making Lifelong Monograms

There’s nothing quite as personal as monograms. 

Pointers for Appliqué

Appliqué may be a fancy-sounding word complete with an accent mark, but the process is nothing more than simply sewing a piece of fabric on top of another and adding a neat border of stitches. 

Pointers for Appliqué

Appliqué may be a fancy-sounding word complete with an accent mark, but the process is nothing more than simply sewing a piece of fabric on top of another and adding a neat border of stitches. 

Digitizing Realistic Designs, Part 4: People

Strategies for digitizing faces and silhouettes

Customizing Your Embroidery

One of the greatest benefits of using embroidery on garments, totes, caps or home décor is the phrase, “No minimums.”

Digitizing Realistic Designs, Part 3: Animals

 Tips for digitizing lifelike wildlife 

Stahls’ TV Offers Video On Increasing Appliqué Profits

 A recent video from Stahls’ TV, explores how to create sew files for the appliqué process using Twill Stitch Pro PLUS software.

Digitizing Realistic Designs, Part 2: Trees and Bushes

Attention to detail is everything when you want to digitize realistically

Digitizing Realistic Designs, Part 1: Landscapes

Approach is everything when you want to digitize realistically

Back to Basics

When it comes to getting the biggest bang for your embroidery buck, the right backing or topping makes the difference between a ho-hum product and results that truly pop.

Stitching Staples Get Upgrades

During the past few years, there have been some interesting developments in the embroidery machines and supplies arena.

Working with the Limitations of Lids

Whether you are a digitizer, shop owner or salesman, it is good to know the basics of embroidering on caps

Font Secrets

As most embroiderers inevitably discover, some customers expect you to
take a symbol they have chosen, add lettering and create a logo. This
leads to a certain amount of freedom to choose the ideal font.

Hat Tricks

Experienced embroiderers know when a design will result in a quality sewout, and their customers will be happy with the results. But embroidering on headwear presents a special set of challenges, which leads many embroiderers to avoid these projects.

Digitizing the Details

Of all the positive business decisions you make daily, mastering the ability to provide amazing detail, infinitesimal lettering and artistic shading should be among them.

Do Sweat the Small Stuff

If you are baking a cake and forget to add the eggs, you won’t get the desired results. The same goes for your embroidered orders. Forgetting just one thing could result in the loss of a good customer. 

Embroidery Hits the Silver Screen

When you think of the many apparel options that are available for embellishment, a traditional Japanese kimono probably doesn’t immediately come to mind. 

Is it Time to Digitize In-House?

Follow these steps to pick the best software for your embroidery business 

Monogramming on Fleece

Monogramming has surged in popularity during the past few years and now has become a fashion statement similar to the way it was in the 1950s…

Quality Control Starts Upfront

We all have bought something and — upon opening it — wondered how it ever left the manufacturer that way.

Moving Up to a Multihead

All habits — both good and bad — become magnified when expanding from operating singlehead embroidery equipment to a multihead configuration.

Stitching the Changing Face of Fleece

You’ve probably heard it before, but the following old adage always rings true: Change is the only constant you can count on.

Anticipate ‘Push-Pull’ in Designs

When you create a digitized design, it is important to know what will happen with the stitches in your sewout.

Edgy Cap Embellishment

Caps are a staple of the embroidery business, so it makes sense to take the time to learn how to sew them well.

Success with Stock Designs

Creating stock designs gives you the freedom to express yourself and the process can be rewarding. However, there are restrictions to that freedom.

Take Advantage of Monogram Madness

When I opened my Internet browser two weeks before Christmas, I was stunned to see the term “monogram” was the No. 1 trending topic.

Embroidery Thread Update

We all know that 40 weight is the embroiderer’s every day, go-to, general-purpose embroidery thread. But if you are looking to turn out designs that are unique, customized and considered beyond the norm, it’s important to know the other thread types that are at your disposal.

Laser Tag

One of the most untapped technologies in the decorated apparel industry is the embroidery laser.

Special-Effects Thread Options

As embroiderers, we experiment with all kinds of materials to create special effects. From 3-D embroidery foam to appliqué and Mylar-enhanced creations, we go all out to add glamour and interest to our embroidery. 

How to Embroider on Performancewear

Is the thought of embroidering on today’s popular performancewear sending you running in the opposite direction? There are reasons — billions of them — to master embroidering on this sometimes slippery, shiny, stretchy, skinny stuff. 

Pairing Shine and Stitches

As an apparel decorator, you probably see bling in tasteful touches, as
well as in excess. You may even be feeling the pressure to add a little
shine to your offerings for customers.

Tips for Easy Jacket Back Embroidery

Now that it’s evident that jackets can be as profitable — if not more so — than the “normal” stuff most embroiderers sew, let’s look at the challenges of working with jackets. 

Jazz Up Appliqué with Variegated Thread

An easy way to introduce more color and add variety to an appliqué design is by using multicolored thread.  

Thread Update: Adding Interest to Sewouts

Pricing Practices for Embroidery

If you’ve been embroidering for a while, you may have wondered, “If I’m so busy, why aren’t I rich?”

Training for the Large Shop

The larger your embroidery operation, the more you need a defined training program. Having your new-hires learn by “on-the-job osmosis” usually results in uneven job skills, an unpredictable time frame to develop trainees and no way to measure progress and retention. 

Training for the Small Shop

A structured training curriculum increases the odds that a newer employee can help in most areas where assistance may be needed more quickly. 

Determining Your Shop’s Location

There’s a lot to consider when deciding on the best place for your embroidery business.
 

Everything You Should Know About Nodes

A node is a designer’s best friend in many programs. Many embroidery software programs also use nodes to create and define aspects of a shape.
 

Weighing the Merits of Embroidery

If your customers seek a high-quality, classic look, embroidery should be your preferred decoration method.
 

How to Digitize Small Lettering

 In embroidery, no detail is more important than lettering. Your designs are labels for your customers and they must be able to read those labels — even the small print.

5 Things to Know About Your Embroidery Machine

You may think you know a lot about your embroidery machine. After all, you probably get good production from it. But we’re here to make you better.
 

Essentials for Better Embroidery

This year’s offering of embroidery machines and supplies doesn’t disappoint, with machines that are lighter, faster and more efficient than ever.
 

In the Details

This year marked the 35th annual Impressions Awards, and it represents our showcase of the industry’s  best designs from decorators of all sizes and experience levels. 

Untangling Metallic Threads

Learning to deal with the nuances of metallic thread can make your life as an embroiderer a little easier. 

Hooping: The Foundation of Embroidery

Correct hooping may be the most important part of the embroidery process. Here are 10 ways to get it right!
 

How to Find Efficiencies in Your Embroidery Shop

I’ve been around this industry for a number of years and, during that time, I have had the opportunity to make as many mistakes as humanly possible.
 

Appliqué the Easy Way

Are you looking for ways to save stitches but still produce top-notch embroidery with a good profit margin? Then appliqué may be the answer to your challenge.  

Understanding Alphabet and Font Options

By choosing one of these four ways to create data for stitching lettering, it’s possible to strike a balance between style and substance.
 

How to Embroider on Denim

In this Tech Tips Newsletter, we will be working with an array of new denim products from American Apparel to create embroidered looks your customers will love.

Made in the USA: A Case Study, Part 2 of 2

In the final installment of this two-part series, contributing writer Deborah Jones shares her findings as she revisits an embroidery company that has retooled aspects of its embroidery operation to make it more functional and efficient.
 

Essentials for Your Embroidery Shop

10 necessities can help provide you with the right tools to make for an enjoyable embroidery business. 

Puffy Letters: Foam vs. Faux Foam

In responding to the various online forums, I am finding that one of the biggest topics in question is puffy letters. 

Small-Space Embroidery Solutions

An embroiderer for more than 25 years, Connie Smith shows you how to make the most of a small space, transforming a 5′ x 8′ storage room into a productive workspace. 

Commercial vs. Crossover: A Machine Comparison

Two categories of embroidery machines exist that now are worthy to compete for consideration as your business’ singlehead, multi-needle equipment choice.
 

How to Work With Push-Pull Compensation

There are two great mysteries that digitizers must solve to build the perfect design: underlay and push-pull compensation.
 

Use Software Settings for More Quality Embroidery

Where do you think you can improve when it comes to your embroidery’s quality? Chances are good that you can correct many bothersome issues simply by using your shop’s embroidery software system. 

How to Achieve Shading in Embroidery

Although the terms “blending” and “shading” often are interchanged, there is a difference. You can blend colors without shading, but you cannot shade an object without blending colors. 

Made in the USA: A Case Study, Part 1 of 2

In this two-part series, contributing writer Deborah Jones visits with an embroidery company that has retooled aspects of its operation to make it more functional and efficient. 

The Art of Successful Color Blending

To successfully blend colors, you must know how to mix colors. 

Create Embroidery That Sells Itself

It’s one thing to be a great embroiderer, but you also must have strong sales to keep your business alive. 

Embroidery Parties Can 
Net New Customers

Finding new and clever ways to bring in new customers is a challenge. 

How to Applique on Fleece

Appliqué on fleece, like any appliqué, is a fairly straightforward process. The two variances when compared to “normal” embroidery are the placement line in the design and getting the fabric cutout to fit inside that placement line.

How to Oil Your Commercial Embroidery Machine

Oiling your commercial embroidery machine is crucial to upkeep.

How to Choose the Correct Bobbin Type

There are different types of fibers used for bobbins, including cotton and polyester.

MESA Distributors Releases Video of Highland Machine

This video, courtesy of MESA Distributors, shows its Highland HM1501 15-needle embroidery machine in action.

How to Set Bobbin Tension

Bobbin tension is very important to an efficient embroidery operation. This video shows how to set bobbin tension on an L sized bobbin.