by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing, Embroidery Tip
I’m new to Embroidery and I am really having trouble trying to sew high quality embroidery designs on caps. Can you help me?
Trying to get high quality embroidery designs on caps can be a real challenge when you are new to embroidery. But with a little practice and experimenting, you can overcome those challenges.
- For best results, always start your design at the bottom of the cap working up and from the center working out. This will keep the hat more stable in the frame and prevent the design from pushing too much in one direction.
- Always make sure the holding strap of the cap frame is adjusted to grip the cap snug and the bottom of the visor is tight against the visor bracket. That will keep the cap from shifting position in the frame as it is moving. This is the most common mistake new embroiderers make.
- To make sure your design stays in registration, always finish one section before moving onto the next .
- All finished caps have a size limit for designs depending on the style of cap, the shape of the logo, and the type of machine. The logo for a standard size adult cap should not be much more than 2.10 inches high. If you are working on a low profile cap, your design usually cannot be more than 2 inches high. I try to stay within the 2 inch high category for all of my cap designs. That way hat style is usually not a factor. Very often your customer will want a repeat order but may decide to change the style of cap for the new order. If the original design does not fit on the new cap, you will have issues if the customer wants the design to be the exact same size. Sometimes 2 inches is too high for a design if you have more than 1 line of straight lettering or if you have a design that has a long line of small straight lettering on the bottom. This can be a real problem. Your bottom line of lettering may pull up in the center of the cap.
- Make sure that the bottom of the design is at least one half of an inch up from the seam where the cap front and the brim are sewn together. If you are working on a stiff cap front your letters may distort if you are too close to the bottom. A lot of this depends on how the cap is made and how stiff it is at the very bottom of the front where it attaches to the brim. When you are hooping your cap, you must make sure that your cap facing is really tight into the lip of the cap framing device.
If this does not work you have to either shorten your design to compensate and distort your lettering the opposite direction. Sometime just shortening the height of the design and moving it up slightly on the cap front will take care of the problem.
- If you are using an embroidery design for a cap that has been created for a left chest, it is not always possible without editing the design to make it embroider properly on the cap. If you have lettering on the bottom of the cap you will have better results if you edit your design so that this lettering will stitch out first. I have found that this works the best. Make sure that your lettering is set up to stitch center out. If your lettering is not stitching center out, it is best to re-sequence the lettering.
- Always use cap backing when you are hooping your caps, regardless of how heavy or stiff your cap is. This also will help to produce a higher quality embroidery design on your caps.
Find out more about embroidery on caps at the EmbroideryBusinessAcademy.com
The Embroidery Coach, Joyce Jagger simplifies the complex world of embroidery into easy to understand lessons. Her passion is to help get the new embroiderer off to a fast start and help the existing embroiderer improve their skills so that they can provide higher quality embroidery and increase their profitability!
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
The way that Business is being done today is totally different than it was even a short time ago. Today, business is all about building relationships and providing information through Social Media marketing. The prospects want to know all about you, what you have to offer, and what you can do for them before they will even think about doing business with you.
There are 5 things that you must implement in your business in order to successfully do business in today’s market!
- Find Your Market -Your Niche Market
- Create Your Message-The right message for the right market
- Get involved through Social Media Marketing-Facebook-LinkedIn-Twitter-Instagram
- Send your friends and followers to a lead capture form on your website. This is a must. You do not own your list on the Social your Media sites!
- Start social media marketing to your prospects and customers with content through your marketing system! New prospects must get to know you, like you, and trust you before they will purchase anything from you.
Social Media marketing is playing a huge role in our business today and it keeps changing and evolving more every day. The internet has put all businesses, large and small, on the same level playing field. This is a great thing!
Social Media Marketing is the easiest way to attract new clients and increase the size of your market.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Tip
Working with customers that request custom embroidery thread colors is an issue you should be prepared for but does not happen every day. The most common occurances would be large companies and institutions that have specific colors that coordinate with their branding. For them, you will often need to special order colors. Also, you will always have some customers that want to be treated special and want custom colors no matter what you have in stock.
When a customer requests a thread color, show them what you have in stock first. You always want to encourage them to pick from your standard color selection because you have already invested in that thread. The majority of customers will be totally happy with what you have to offer. The average embroiderer carries 30 to 50 embroidery standard thread colors in stock at all times. I have always found that this was an ample selection. You can easily expand on that number as your business grows.
All of the thread manufacturers have color cards that show swatches of every thread color they make. Many embroiderers will allow the customer to pick a color from one of these thread charts. I never recommend doing this as a first step. You can end up spending your entire profit for a job just because you did not have that particular shade of color in stock. The thread then sits on the shelf because no one else is going to use that particular color. It also causes confusion for the customer with so many choices.
New embroiderers will often order an entire thread collection of small cones for a display and allow their customer to select colors from it. Do not do this. It is an unnecessary waste of your money. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars to get one cone of each color, and you will never use most of them.
If your customer is not happy with your standard selection, offer to order their custom color but make sure that they understand there will be an additional charge for this service. You will need to charge for the thread as well as the shipping to you.
What if the customer wants to take his embroidery thread with him?
If the customer wants to take his embroidery thread with him because he paid for it, let him. Personally, I have never had a customer ask me for their thread, and I have had to order customer colors many times. The customer always pays!
Do not get caught in that embroidery thread inventory trap!
Please leave a comment and let me know how you handle a customer that requests custom embroidery thread colors.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Education
Which Golf, Polo, Or Knit Shirts Can I Order For My Embroidery That Do Not Shrink?
This is a question that I get a lot. What type of shirt is best? Who is the best supplier to order from for the shirts that do not shrink? All knit shirts are going to shrink; some more than others. Even the most expensive knit shirts will shrink a small amount. This is something that is totally unavoidable.
It does not matter who your supplier is. There are many good ones. Pay attention to brands and fabric content more than suppliers. The solution that I found to this problem was to order 3 different shirts, 3 different qualities of well-known brands, and do my own shrinkage test.
How Do You Test For Knit Shirt Shrinkage?
Lay the shirt out on a large piece of paper or embroidery backing or stabilizer from a large roll of embroidery backing and trace around it. Wash and dry the shirt, lay it back down on your drawing again, and compare the size. Repeat this for each quality shirt. You will be able to tell at that point which shirt shrinks the most or the least. This is how I test all of my shirts.
I have always offered 3 different shirt qualities to my customers, and I told them in advance about the shrinkage. If they were more interested in price, that was their issue, not mine, they were told. Sometimes they just order the next size larger to compensate for the shrinkage. Not only does this work, but it also takes the responsibility off of your shoulders. (more…)
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Planning
I just received an article from my bank that would help you as you are learning how to control your cash flow in your growing embroidery business. If you are a one person shop some of this article may not apply to you, but now is the time for your to learn “How to Mange Your Cash Flow” and will help to give you the tools to be able to actually grow your embroidery business.
Many embroidery business go out of business because they lack the cash flow to keep them going especially during the tough times and to me this is very sad. I really hate to see this happen when it could be totally avoided with the right education and systems in place. Learning how to control your cash flow is a must if you want to stay in business and take your embroidery business to a level that will give you the profit that you are looking for in your business.
If you find this article helpful, please leave me a comment below. I would really appreciate it.
Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
