Embroidery Questions Answered:

Can My Logo Be Embroidered On a Visor?

Most embroidered logos can’t fit on a visor because of the 1” height limitation. If your logo is more than one inch high then its best to embroider your business name and possibly a short tag line. The important thing to remember is to keep the text simple. If you want to use a fancy font then you may need more space so that will mean eliminating your tag line. 

What Are Women’s Plus Sizes?

Women’s Plus sized shirts are designed with more room in the bust area. This gives larger women additional room without adding unwanted length in the sleeves and torso.

Is It Possible to Find an Embroidered Polo That Won’t Shrink or Fade?

If you’re looking for a basic polo that won’t shrink or fade then a polo in a blend fabric is your best choice. If you prefer 100% cotton then you can choose a style that has been treated to resist fading and shrinkage but expect to pay more for this. 

Embroidered Polos: Can Women Wear a Men's Polo?

I am sometimes asked, "Can women wear men's shirts?  I've been told that I can order a men's polo and use the smaller sizes for the women.  Will this work?"

Sometimes men's shirts are ordered for women but most people order the ladies companion polo because most women prefer a shirt that is contoured for them with a shorter hemline and sleeves and feminine styled plackets.  If you aren't certain whether employees will be men or women you can order men's shirts for everyone but since many shirts have a ladies companion style, most women prefer to wear an embroidered  polo that's cut for them. 

Embroidered Polo Shirts: Match an Existing Design

Your team wants to order custom embroidered polo shirts that match shirts owned by another team but you can't order from their embroiderer. How can you get embroidery that matches the existing design?

If you lend your embroiderer a sample shirt that will help you get the closest match to the original embroidered design. The artwork you provide will serve as a template for your embroidery set-up but it can't be used to identify some stitch types, give precise sizing of embroidered elements and show thread colors.

Embroidered Hats: Get the Right Design!

You've decided to order custom embroidered hats for a friend. You want to have an image of his boat embroidered on the hats. You don't have a picture but you know what it looks like. How do you proceed? Will using a clip art image work? How can you locate that?

You might find a usable image online but if you can't provide artwork your embroider might have something that will work. When you speak with your embroiderer, give them a basic visual description of the type of boat. One important thing to remember is that embroidered designs can run the gamut from detailed logos to less stitch-intensive, minimal representations. If cost is a factor, a simplified design will be less expensive. But, if your friend loves detail you'd better spring for an accurate image!

Screen Printing: Correct File Type?

One question I often receive is, "What type of file is suitable for screen printing"? The answer is, " A vector file, or a file with an ai, cdr or eps extension". What if that type isn't available? A high resolution bit map will work but a low quality image will need to be vectorized.

What is "vectorized? Vectorization is the process of converting a bitmap into sizable line art. Vector art consists of points and lines rather than the bits or "boxes" that form bitmap files. Vector art is clear, crisp art that prints cleanly. Why is a vector or high resolution file needed? High resolution files contain the information needed to produce a clean print. Without that the resulting print will be fuzzy.

Embroidery: Artwork with Gradient Colors?

Does all artwork translate well into embroidery or screen printing? Not necessarily. Variables such as the number of colors, size of detail, desired quantity and purpose factor into the decision of what decoration process will work best.

With the current popularity of Photoshop we receive a number of logos that don't adapt well to embroidery or screen printing. For example, we recently received a logo titled "Eclipse Landscaping". This design uses subtle color gradients to create the look of an eclipse. Although this logo has a cool, unique look it doesn't work well for embroidery or screen printing because of the gradients.

For embroidery, the colors would be simplified to a three to four color logo. This would embroider well but the logo would loose it uniqueness and it wouldn't support the business name quite as strongly. If you want printing then this logo wouldn't work for standard screen printing because the gradients would be printed as solid colors so the effect of the design would be lost. To preserve the look of the logo the design must be printed using either four color process (cost prohibitive for a small run), heat transfers or direct garment printing. Which process is best for you? Heat transfers have been available a while and should be effective if applied correctly. Direct garment printing is most like traditional screen printing without the screen set-up fees and works well on ligh-colored garments. How do you choose your process? Contact your decorator and after they've seen your logo they will explain what process will work best for you.

Embroidery: Finalize Your Order

Once you have a good idea of how your embroidered shirts will look its time to find an embroiderer. Look for someone who will answer your questions, has reasonable pricing and will provide quality work. If you need your shirts for an upcoming event, ask upfront if your deadline can be met.

After you've chosen an embroiderer, verify that they will supply you with an embroidery set-up proof before your shirts are embroidered. Although many embroiderers prefer to email the embroidery set-up, if you have any questions about the quality of the embroidery, readability of the design or the thread colors request an embroidered sample before your order is embroidered.