Your Embroidered Logo: Adding to Existing Logo?

Can you add text to an existing design and still have it work for a left chest embroidered logo? Possibly. It depends on the amount of available space in your design and what you want to add to it. An employee's name can usually be placed underneath a logo but adding more information such as additional text can overcomplicate your logo.

Let's say you have simple design that consists of your business name in a custom font and you want to add a short tag line. That will probably work but you may need to decrease the size of your existing logo to gain room.  Is that a smart move? Will adding a tag line that might make your logo less readable be more beneficial than keeping the professional-looking design you already have? Maybe not. A better option might be to freshen up your design by giving it a more current look. Consider using cleaner lines, a simplified shape and new colors to give your logo an updated look that will attract new attention.

Your Embroidered Logo: Sizing Elements?

Designing your embroidered logo? Wondering how to size the different elements in your logo?

Left chest embroidered logos are limited to 3.25” to 4” wide. Some designs are smaller and a few are slightly larger.  But, they can’t be much bigger because of the limited amount of space between the center of a shirt and the shoulder seam. 

How do you size the different elements in your logo?  Give the most room to the most important element - your business name - and save the remaining space for an image or tag line or possibly both. Even though you may have a great image, avoid the desire to make it bigger than your business name. A larger image may catch someone’s attention but limit the size of your name and make your logo less readable. Want to include your phone number or web address? Avoid the temptation and limit your design to key elements so you have a professional-looking logo rather than a design that looks amateurish because it contains too many details.

Your Embroidered Logo: Embroidered Gifts?

You’re shopping for gifts before the holidays. You see a chic bag at a terrific price and think it would make a great gift for Aunt June. After returning home you decide that adding your aunt's initials to the bag would make it the perfect gift. You call different embroiderers but soon realize that not everyone will accept your job.  Why not?

You understand that most embroiderers are busy and there often isn’t much profit to be gained from a small “embroidery-only" order. Are there other reasons why it's difficult to find an embroiderer to monogram your bag?

Yes. Most embroiderers like to supply what they embroider because they can make a profit from the item in addition to charging for the embroidery. But, the additional profit isn’t their only concern. The quality of the item is also an issue. Items sold by embroiderers are designed to be embroidered and have a certain quality level so those products are easier to handle. Customers' items can require more time and are more likely to be damaged during the embroidery process because of their unfamiliarity. If damage occurs, the embroiderer is faced with giving their customer the bad news so many embroiderers avoid the situation by only handling items they can easily replace.

While many embroiderers don't accept “gift” jobs some love and specialize in those types of orders. They may not have the biggest embroidery shop but they can be equipped with more specialized tools like monograming software and are better able to handle your job. But, they can be extremely busy before the holidays. Want to avoid the last-minute rush? Locate an embroiderer before the holiday season and ask them when you should place your embroidery order.

Your Embroidered Logo : Correct Logo Size?

Your manager wants you to order embroidered business shirts. Your company recently had a new logo designed by a graphic designer. You pick an embroidery company and email them your logo specifications packet. They respond by saying that the requested size for the logo is too small for embroidery. What do you do? Look for another embroiderer?

You can check out other embroiderers but if you’ve already decided on a particular embroidery company then you may want to ask them why the sizing is too small and what size they suggest.  If they say the smaller size won’t embroider well and your design must be larger to be readable than what if they are right? What should you do? You want to follow the directions specified by the graphic designer but what if your logo isn’t readable when embroidered at that size?

Ask your embroiderer to send you two embroidered samples, one that adheres to the graphic designer's specifications and a larger version that meets your embroiderer's standards. You can request either embroidered swatches or shirts. Have your manager compare both sizes so they can make a decision. Then you can order your shirts knowing that your embroidered logo will be sized correctly.

Your Embroidered Logo: Stock Embroidery Designs?

 Wondering about stock embroidery designs? Read on!

1. What are stock embroidery designs?  Stock designs are images that have been set-up in stitch format. They can be used alone or with text.

2. When are stock design used? Stock designs can be used to personalize an item or create a business logo.

3. Where can you find stock designs? There are many web sites that sell stock designs. Some of the most popular sites are Great Notions, Dakota Collectibles, Embroidery Library and Urban Threads.

4. Will any design size work for any project? No, you must pick a design that is sized correctly for the placement you want.

5. How do you know what design size to choose? Your embroiderer can suggest what size will work depending on the placement and if text will be added to the design.

6. Can the size of a design be changed? Most designs can be resized 5% - 20% depending on the amount of detail in the design.

7. Can the colors be changed? The thread colors can be changed but you can’t add additional areas of color. For example, you can change an area from green to blue but you can’t make it green and blue.

8. Will all designs sew well on all fabric types? No, stock designs are usually set-up to sew on stretchy fabrics like polo shirts. A design may need to be edited to work on a particular fabric type.

9. Can stock designs be embroidered on hats? Possibly not. Hat designs are set-up differently so they will embroider well on a curved surface.  Unless the design says it was set-up for hats it probably won’t sew well.

10. Which design format should I pick? Most likely your embroiderer will download the design but if they ask you to purchase it then they will specify what file format to choose.

Your Embroidered Logo: Using a Stock Embroidery Design?

Choosing a stock embroidery design for your business logo? Pick a design that’s small enough to allow for plenty of room for your business name.  Even though you may love the look of a detailed embroidered design, your business name should receive primary focus so your design shouldn’t be too large. Look for a design that’s approximately 1.5" - 2” wide or high. Having a smaller design will allow you to make your business name clearly readable and help create a more professional looking logo.

Your Embroidered Logo: Match Colors?

Having different pieces of clothing embroidered? Trying to select different styles in the same color?

Let’s say you want T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats in the same shade of royal blue. Just because all the items are available in “royal blue” doesn’t mean it will be a same shade of royal blue.  Royal, like other colors, can vary greatly. There are royals with more white, more black, more red and so on. Even when the items are made by the same manufacturer there can be different “royals”.

How can you get matching items? Ask you embroiderer.  They may be able to suggest styles with the same PMS (Pantone Matching System) color which means the shade is the same. Even then, differences can occur due to washing frequency, wearing conditions and fabric variations. You might find that initially everything matches but after a couple of months the T’s look lighter because they’ve been washed a lot and the hats have faded from being worn in the sun while the sweatshirts look about the same because they haven’t been worn or washed much.