Embroidery Questions Answered: Design Placement

Occasionally during the process of obtaining an order a customer will email a mock-up showing the correct placement for an embroidered design. That's useful for illustrating unusual placements such as the lower front of a polo but isn't necessary for standard locations such as left chest. Although some design programs include a shirt template that can be used to show design location, it serves as a general guide that doesn't account for the variances in different styles, sizes and whether the shirt is for a man or woman. To accommodate for these variables embroiderers use a hooping station that provides consistent placement for different sizes and styles.

Embroidery Questions: Choosing Stock Designs

Need to find a stock embroidered design? Its easy to locate many types of designs but how do you know if the design's size is suited for a left chest shirt location?

The optimum left chest embroidered design is 2.5" to 3.5" wide. It can be up to 4 inches if its narrow or has small detail. Stock designs range from less than one inch to full jacket back size. If the design is for the front of a polo or button down shirt its best choose something that is 2" to 4" wide/high. If text is to be added you'll need to leave room for it. Also keep in mind who will wear the shirts. If the design is for children or young adults a large design may be overwhelming.

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.