Design Tips for Your
Embroidery Projects

Pondering some embroidered items for your business? Here are a few tips to get you started to make your next embroidery project a rousing success. It may seem overwhelming at first, with lots of issues to address, but we're here to make it much easier. The end result will be a garment you'll be proud to wear.

Your art and finished logo size

Our first concern is the image quality of the artwork you submit, such as your company logo. It should be the best you can provide. (Of course, if you have already had your logo or artwork digitized for embroidery, this step is already done.)

Crisp line art will reproduce better in embroidery than, say, a photocopy of a logo. A good, clear photo is also acceptable. We discourage copying a logo or photo from a website because of quality issues.

For submitting artwork, the .jpg file format works the best and is what digitizers prefer. We can work with other file formats, however.

We also need to know the finished size of the logo—how big do you want it to be on the garment?

Embroidery vs. screen printing

The next major decision is between embroidery and screen printing. Screen printing is superior for fine detail such as small lettering under 1/4 inch. It is also best if you want to cover a large surface area on the garment.

However, embroidery excels in durability and in its three dimensional, classy look and feel. An embroidered product will generally look better longer than something printed.

People sometimes assume that screen printing is far less expensive than embroidery. That's not necessarily true. Our embroidery prices are very competitive with screen printing, so if price is your main concern, call and ask what we can do for you.

Type of garments to be embroidered

Next, we need to know the type of garment or product you wish to embroider. This is particularly true if you'll ever want hats. If you think you may want both hats and shirts, now or in the future, we'd have your logo digitized now for both uses. Planning ahead means not having to digitize the design again later. This step saves money.

Digitizing is what gives the embroidery machine computerized instructions on how to produce the work. A curved hat needs to be produced differently than something flat like a shirt. Different embroidery designs also require different stitching instructions to assure the proper look in the end.

Jackets

Large jacket back designs will be digitized especially for that purpose. Unlike many art programs, you cannot resize digitized files to make a large design small or vice versa. Large designs are usually more expensive to create and have many more stitches.

Hats

Hats require special design care in addition to digitizing. Due to size constraints on assembled hats, designs for hats cannot exceed 2.5 inches tall. We also recommend a bolder font choice for hats. Lettering that looks great on shirts may look ill-formed on hats due to hoop curve.

Also on hats, designs with text above and below a logo do not embroider well. It is best to place the text either above, below, or to the side of the logo graphic. (Note: this applies to added text that has not already been digitized within the logo.)

More design considerations

Oval, square, and round-type patch shapes look great on shirts until you wash them. Then, especially if they've been popped into a hot dryer, the shape can curl at the edges. One solution is to iron the logo from the back of the embroidery to flatten it out. Another solution is to design a more curl-resistant abstract shape that will better hold up to laundering. We have ten years of experience with this, so please ask if this is a concern.

Lettering in embroidery should be larger that one-quarter inch; otherwise, quality may be compromised.

Embroidery in more than one location on a garment looks very cool. Of course, embroidery in multiple locations does add some labor cost.

It helps us greatly to know something about the personality of your business or organization for which the embroidery is being produced. Some clients want more conservative designs and colors; others like something more flamboyant. Different thread combinations, color choices, and stitching techniques can make striking differences in the final output.

For a particularly elegant, classy look, try color on color. This matches the color of the embroidery thread with the color of the fabric it is being embroidered into. It renders a raised, textured appearance very pleasing to the eye and to the touch.

Color on color example

Hats in large quantities

A great option for hats if you are ordering large quantities (usually 288) is for us to have them made for you. The huge advantage to this process is that you can have larger logos embroidered (more than 2.5 inches tall). You can also have more embroidery stitched all around the hat or on the bill. This versatility is due to the embroidery being done before the hat is constructed, not after.

Hat giveaway programs are a great way to advertise your company. If you think of a hat as a walking ad that doesn't get tossed into the recycle bin, you can see how this could be a great investment for your ad dollar.

Quoted prices

Whenever we quote a price, it includes embroidery.

Call us at (503) 365-1955

We are eager to help you create a successful embroidery project. We'll be happy to answer your questions.

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