Embroidery is the same, wherever I order my workwear from, right? 
Well actually you might be surprised to hear, that no, it's not. 

Embroidery is a skill in its own right and depends on multitude of factors. 

1. Digitisation of the design - we need the design to be digitised so that the embroidery machine knows what to do. This is huge skill, get this right and the design will be made so as not to distort the fabric of the item, a digitisation for a thin polyester shirt is different to that of a towel. The stitches need to be the right type of stitches for the fabric and the appearance of the image and the correct density. What we do different - we use the largest digitisation house in the UK, we do not contract out abroad due to difference in language interpretations, even in English speaking countries they differ. Also due to time differences, as we carefully look at each design to check the digitisation is what we are looking for and often ask for tweaks. We do not do this inhouse, as it is not our skill set, and takes many years to learn correctly to give the best results. 

2. Preparing the fabric for embroidery - the fabric needs to secured so that during embroidery it does not move and distort the stitches and in doing so distort the image. What we do - we always use a cut away stabiliser on the bottom of the fabric of items worn, which holds the fabric better for items that are frequently washed, meaning that your design looks great for a long time, it takes longer to cut away than tear away which is used on items that are not washed as frequently and so do not need the same level of security. On the top of the fabric we always use wash away stabiliser, no matter the fabric. This helps the stitches placement and sit on top of the fabric not sink into it, especially important with fleeces but we even see a difference in t-shirts, so it costs a little more but we feel it gives best results. 

3. Choosing the colours, we carefully select colours to match your design, we spend a long time not just doing this by computer but as a human in different lights. Threads look different in different lights. Black isn't always black for instance. If we do see an area where colours could work better because of the chosen fabric colours we will let you know and ask what you would like. We don't rush this part of the process as it is important to the finished result

4. Hooping the design for embroidery, placement is manually done and we use special hoops that reduce hoop burn, we carefully position the hoop so that the placement of the design is in the correct position. We consider this when discussing the order too. 

5. We set the embroidery machine up with the correct colours and design, we are sometimes able to work whilst the machine is embroidering but whatever work we do, needs to be work that can be put down so that we can attend to the machine. The machine often needs attention with thread breaks, bobbin runs out, thread doesn't catch after being cut, if the machine feels emotional that day, some days they are more temperamental than others . Most designs take about half an hour to stitch out, some can take 5-6 hours or more depending on number of stitches.

 

6. Once the design is finished it is carefully checked before moving off the machine to make sure all areas have been stitched and no errors have been made by the machine. We then take the design off the machine and unhoop the design. The design is checked for little jump stitches that are snipped and any other imperfections that are manually dealt with so that the design is perfect for you. This is extra time that we take.

 

7. The stabilisers are cut and removed, we are very carefully not to snip the items at this point.

 

8. We photograph and fold the items so they are ready for collection. Delivery items are folded, wrapped, weighed and ready for post. Tracking numbers recorded and they are then collected for there onward journey.

 

All embroidery is NOT the same.

 

The logo above was stitched for Tweedle Entertainments (thank you) who we recently met up with at the Event Hire Show, probably a year later and the garment had been well worn. The embroidery and design looked as beautiful as the day it was stitched, I was very pleased with it.

 

If you are looking for beautiful embroidery, that stands the test of time, we would love to help.