Custom embroidery is the process of decorating apparel with designs using stitches or threads and a needle. Embroidery on business wear, such as polos and button-downs, and also hats is a very common occurrence. The process of custom embroidery has been automated and is used by machines that are set up in rows that can be operated by one person. Here is a picture of a row of embroidery machines:

Creating custom artwork for embroidery is not very hard. There are a few limitations, however. As we’ve mentioned before with custom screen printing, printing images such as photographs is very hard to do. When it comes to embroidery, the stitching with a needle process makes it impossible to print photographs. But just like we have shown you before, there are many ways to create a very good looking decorated garment with embroidery to get your theme or concept across. The very best artwork for custom embroidery is with thick solid colors that does not include any fading or halftones. Here are a few examples of good artwork for custom embroidery:

After your embroidery design has been created and approved, it then goes into the process of digitizing. Digitizing is putting the artwork into a format that the embroidery machine can read. This format provides instructions for the machine to know which direction and colors the threads will be sewn onto the fabric. Here are a few examples of embroidery artwork, and their subsequent digitized files:

After the embroidery design has been digitized, it is then ready to go into production. This is done by placing a hoop around the location that is going to be embroidered and setting it up on the embroidery machine. The embroidery machine takes the information from the digitized file on the computer, and sews the stitches directly into the fabric. This process can take as short as five minutes or as long as two hours depending on the amount of stitches involved in the artwork. Incidentally, the amount of stitches and number of locations is also what determines the price. We will cover more on that later, but here are a few pictures of what embroidery actually is:

As we just mentioned, pricing on embroidery is based on the number of stitches in the artwork and the number of locations embellished on the garment. There is typically a set up fee involved with embroidery for the digitizing process that we covered above. However, at You Design It with our all-inclusive pricing, you never have to worry about hidden fees. Please contact us if you have any questions about your next custom embroidery project.