How does Embroidery work?

How clothing, bags, and other personal items can be turned into wearable art using machine embroidery.

Thanks to technology, embroidering a company logo or slogan on wearable merchandise is affordable and easy. It's also a great advertising method! Attractive logo wear can quickly become favorite clothing articles, and in some instances it could even turn into a fashion trend.

Embroidery cost is calculated using several factors, and the first is stitch count. One square inch of solid embroidery is equal to about 2,000 stitches, so the base cost of your project can be determined by the overall size of your artwork. Of course, volume is also a consideration, which means that you could receive a discount for higher quantities. You should also expect a set-up fee for digitizing the artwork and programming the machines, but this fee is often waived on subsequent orders (and sometimes even if the same logo is embroidered on different products).

Embroidery works best with images that have limited colors and bold, recognizable images. You should thoroughly consider your color choices before approving the embroidery. If the artwork is designed using PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors, then thread may be matched exactly to the colors in the original art, but there are far more PMS colors for print than for thread. Unless the logo is planned in advance to be color-matched for thread work, an exact match may not exist; however, there is a good possibility that several close matches could be found because of the wide variety of colors available. Nearly every color in the spectrum is represented in thread, so any color design should be possible if it does not have to be an exact match.

Design size can vary, but it should ultimately be determined by the size of the area to be embroidered. Lettering—even on a pocket—should never be less than ¼ inch in height for readability. Designs can be sewn on any article of clothing, including socks and hats, or they can be sewn on other products like athletic bags, purses, totes, drink koozies, umbrellas, towels, and virtually any other object that has a suitable size area.

The first steps of the embroidery process are fairly simple. First, the design or logo is digitized, and then the machine is programmed and set up with the desired threads.

The embroidery area is backed with a material stabilizer, which may be cut, torn, or sometimes soaked away after the process is finished. Once the sewing is complete, the extra backing is removed (unless it's water-soluble) leaving backing only under the stitching where it's needed. Then, each piece is loaded on to the sewing area by hand.

The machine quickly sews the design and the operator removes the piece and loads the next. Finishing touches include clipping stray threads and cutting away extra backing. Finally, each item is inspected for stitch-quality and for damage.

Putting a company logo on embroidered clothing and everyday promotional items is like creating miniature billboards. Logo recognition grows each time a logo is seen, which means that wearable art is a very cost-effective addition to any advertising budget.