Embroidery Tips

Embroidery can elevate apparel from commonplace to extraordinary. It offers a more polished, professional look for a range of apparel like polos, jackets, and hats. However, there are some factors that should be taken into consideration to get the most from custom embroidery.

Consider these embroidery tips:

Keep It Simple

Simple designs are more legible and produce better results than more complicated ones. Often the detail in complex designs doesn’t translate well to embroidered designs, since the thread size used is standard and cannot adapt to fine detail.

We recommend removing extra words, dates, phone numbers, and unnecessary details to clean up your design.

Select The Right Product

Embroidered elements look good on a wide range of products, but some produce better results than others. Generally, products that use thicker fabrics tend to be better candidates for embroidery. These include:

• Hoodies
• Sweatshirts
• Pullovers
• Jackets
• Polos
• Hats & Beanies
• Towels

Choose Lettering Carefully

Lettering should be bold, clear, and simple to achieve the best appearance possible. When creating your design, consider these factors:

• Size - Lettering smaller than ¼” is rarely legible and doesn’t produce a good result.
• Font Style - Use simple, clean fonts. Sans-serif fonts are ideal
• Case - Use of uppercase letters can increase readability.

Avoid Shading & Color Blending

Applying a shadow or using a blended color can produce inconsistent results in embroidery, so they are not recommended. Since individual colored threads are used to produce color blends, the result can produce a fuzzy, less polished appearance.

Limit Size

Smaller embroidery designs produce a more polished appearance and tend to produce better overall results. While larger embroidered areas can look good on sports jerseys and jackets, they can lose detail and feel heavy when applied to most garments.

Match Colors

Companies with an established brand should use colors that closely match their established brand to maintain a professional appearance. This can include Pantone matching, or simply working to select colors that approximate their color palate.

Proper Placement

Selecting a location that compliments the strengths of an embroidered design will produce better results. For example, we’ve found that the chest, sleeve, or back of the neck locations present simple embroidered elements well.