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9 Tips to Improve Your Embroidery Process
Personalize a blank baby onesie, t-shirt or wearable sack with a fun design, show off your business logo or help to advertise an event/fundraiser. Whether you are new to the world of embroidery or an expert seamstress, these tips can help you improve your craft.
Our 9 Embroidery Tips will help you save time, money and improve your overall product results.
Tip #1 – Selecting Quality Garments
The quality of your finished product is only as good as the quality of the material being used. Embroidered designs look better and last longer on thicker cotton-blend garments. When searching for quality baby and toddler blanks for embroidery, we recommend purchasing The Laughing Giraffe ® branded clothes. The Laughing Giraffe ® carries a large selection of baby, toddler and youth sizes, colors and styles. Our 7.2 oz Interlock Knit garments provide decorators with a stable surface for embroidery, screen printing and vinyl heat transfer (HTV).
For easier embroidering, we have developed Embroidery-Ready styles. Our garments allow the decorator to easily place the blank over large embroidery areas without the need to remove thread off of the blanks.
Tip #2 – Test On a Spare Garment
Before you start your embroidery project, we highly recommend practicing on a spare blank made from the same fabric. Testing on a spare blank will help give you a better idea of how your final project will turn out. This also allows you to find out what embroidery techniques will work and which ones won’t
When ordering from The Laughing Giraffe ® request a practice sample from our sales team. Give us a call at 888-529-3883 to request a sample fabric over the phone.
Tip #3 – Pre-Wash the Garment in Cold Water
Washing your blanks beforehand will remove any excess dye on the fabric that might bleed into your design after the first wash. Bright-colored fabrics tend to wash out into areas of the material, ruining your fabulous colors.
We highly recommend washing clothes that are labeled as “pre-shrunk” as not all garments are actually pre-washed from the manufacturer. Fabrics usually shrink 5-8%.
Garments that have been embroidered should always be turned inside out before washing to prevent damage to your design.
Tip #4 – Choose the Right Design
Use a design template to determine the placement of your design. Many designs purchased from a book, embroidery program or online store included a template.
Try to stay away from using design with lots of intricate patterns. Designs will a lot of details and very little open space will often pucker during your embroidery process. Designs with lots of open space between the image or lettering will produce a quality product.
The orientation and size of your design matter. A horizontal design will pucker less than a vertical shaped design during the embroidery process. Embroidery design that takes up a large area on the garment may pucker in some places after a few washes.
Tip #5- Stabilizing Material is Crucial
Stabilizing the fabric is vital during the embroidery process. This prevents your design from puckering, the fabric from pulling as you stitch, and the fabric from stretching out of shape. A temporary spray adhesive can be used on the inside or back of your garment to fix your material on your embroidery area.
Tip #6 – Keep Excess Material Out of Your Way
The trickiest thing while embroidering is trying to work while you have excess material around. A simple way of keeping this extra material away from your work area is to roll up the extra material and use clips to secure it to itself.
If you are using an embroidery machine, try to prevent the material from getting bunched up during your process. Keeping your hands on the material during the embroidery process will help maintain control of what the machine is doing.
Tip #7 – Use the Right Needle
Try to use the smallest needle possible. Using too large of a needle while embroidering your blank can cause the edges of your design to pull or stretch over time. This is important whether you are using an embroidery machine or embroidering by hand.
The process of choosing the right needle will become easier as you practice your craft. You will have a better understanding of what size needle will work best on different types of fabrics.
If you have a water-soluble topper available, use it, especially if you are embroidering on a knit shirt, fleece or terry cloth. This provides you with a smoother surface that will make your embroidery stand out better.
Tip #8 – Use the Proper Hoop Size
An embroidery hoop is used to keep your garment stable during the embroidery process. Using the correct size is important and making sure the front and back pieces are secured to each other is crucial. Embroidery machine manufacturers design their hoops differently than those used by hand. The hoop must be large enough to allow you to embroider the entire design without repositioning the hoop.
There are several types of size hoops for embroidery machines and hand embroidery. Try a few of them out to find one that works best for your projects.
Tip # 9 – Clean-Up the Design
Once you are done with the embroidery process, you can clean up any extra thread. Remove extra stabilizing material leaving about 1/4″ around your design. Removing too much of your stabilizing material will eventually cause the stitches to unravel while washing and leaving too much-stabilizing material can make your garment feeling stiff and uncomfortable to wear.