- Can you embroider on anything?
Almost! We've all seen beautiful embroidered items such as shirts, jackets, ball caps and baby items. How about duffel/sports bags, stadium chairs, trophy items, horse blankets, duck boots, even baseballs! With my specialty clamps, I can embroider on many items, but sometimes a patch is the answer. Give me a call, we can come up with embroidery for almost anything!
- Can you “convert” my logo to an embroidery design?
There is really no such thing as converting a file to embroidery. Modern embroidery machines are literally computers that make embroidery stitches, but you must tell the machine how to produce the stitches. This is the skill of digitizing. Several software labels may promise easy conversion, but embroidery digitizing is a skill with a high degree of detail and difficulty. Auto punched designs seldom sew out efficiently, and never produce a good result. Besides: your logo is what people associate with your business. Why would you sell yourself short with ugly embroidery? My digitizer has been producing exceptional embroidery designs for over 20 years. We have an excellent working relationship and he never ceases to amaze me with the degree of detail he is able to achieve with just thread direction and texture. He is a true artist!
- What is a set up fee?
The set up fee is a one-time fee which includes having your design made ready for embroidery on my machines, 2 proofs & editing and includes test stitching. Once your design is digitized, it is retained in-house for future use. Digitizing is like a CAD blueprint for the embroidery machine. The digitizer recreates the original artwork, factoring in desired size, target location (a cap is digitized differently than is a left chest logo), fabric choices and desired texture. He also has to consider embroidery-technical things like machine type, push/pull compensation, density, tie off & jump locations. Digitizing is a specialized skill that can take years to learn and perfect, and can, honestly, make or break your finished embroidery project.
- How long does it take to have my item embroidered?
Depending on my current workload and the digitizer's turn around time, most jobs are completed within a week, even if digitizing is required. Large jobs with multiple items may take slightly longer, especially if items have to be ordered.
- Can you do “Rush” orders?
Yes! Like I said before, we're all busy. Many times things are forgotten or put off until the last minute. If I can possibly accommodate your needs I'm happy to help, but I may charge a rush fee. Look at it like this: if I have to work late to finish your job, I reserve the right to charge overtime rates.
- Can you match colors?
Yes! My thread library includes over 300 colors of regular embroidery thread, all PANTONE color matched. Many of these colors are available in FR (Flame Retardant). Besides my regular threads, I also have several specialty threads, including neon, glow-in-the-dark, frosted and metallic thread options, providing nearly endless possibilities for your embroidery design project.
- Can you embroider on clothes that I bring you?
Yes and no. Many retail garments can be successfully embroidered, however garments and other items (such as bags) from my vendors are designed for decorating, often with special finishes for superior embroidery results. Some garments simply are not suited to hold embroidery stitches. Lightweight or extra stretchy jersey (t-shirts) can't provide an adequate base to hold a heavy stitch count or a dense embroidery design. Although I use stabilizers that will help some, a too-heavy design will result in puckering, warping or other undesirable results. With my experience I've already made most of these mistakes and can suggest an alternative fabric or a different design for a similar result.
- Why do I have to sign a damage waiver?
As I've mentioned, items from my vendors are made specifically to be decorated. If you bring in an item that I haven't sourced, I will ask you to sign my damage waiver form. In the event of a machine malfunction, I will do my best to salvage your item but I will not be held responsible in any way.
- I see that you deliver. How far is your delivery area?
My business location is slightly off the beaten path, so I offer delivery to customers if it is convenient for me. We are all very busy people, so if I can help you out by dropping off your items when I'm going to be nearby for some reason, I will be very happy to do it.
- You come highly recommended, but I'm out of state. Can you ship to me?
We have done work for many customers from out of the area and are happy to do so. I will work with you to minimize shipping charges as much as possible.
- Do you offer Military / Veterans / First Responder discount?
We love and respect the military and all First Responders and sincerely appreciate the contributions and sacrifices they make to our communities. When pricing a job, I pledge to do all that I can to provide optimum pricing. For verified Military/First Responders, I can offer a 10% discount on items purchased through my shop.
- Do you offer a volume discount?
This is a difficult question! I work hard to be very reasonably priced and to offer excellent customer service. I don't have a huge shop with a multi-head machine. It's just me and my machines. Each garment or item to be embroidered must be inspected, measured and placement marked, embroidered individually, removed, trimmed and then packaged when complete. Whether one shirt or fifty, the process is the same. If your order from my vendor meets any volume pricing discount I am more than happy to pass that along.
How do I care for my embroidered item?
Most of the time, embroidered items don't require any special care at all. Properly embroidered stitches are tied at the beginning and the end so that unraveling is really not an issue. While it isn't necessary, you may choose to launder the garment inside out as it may prevent threads from snagging. Occasionally wider satin stitches may be more prone to getting snagged, but a good embroiderer will opt for a different technique in that instance. I use a very high quality polyester embroidery threads with superior color fastness and non existent shrinkage. I do suggest laundering a newly embroidered garment before use or wearing, to be sure to remove stabilizing products that may be used. In most cases, blankets and towels may even be washed with chlorine bleach and hot water, and dried at high temperatures.I'm so confused about monogramming! What is the “right” way to do a monogram?
Generally speaking, a proper monogram is first, last, middle initial, with the center letter being somewhat larger, and are normally done for ladies items. Men's items are initialed, first, middle, last, with all letters of the same size. Those are very rough generalities, lol! Sometimes, letters don't “look right” in monogram format, the letters seem to spell something awkward, or we love a font, but not in our own monogram. Believe me when I tell you that there are no monogram police and you do not have to justify your monogram choice to anyone! There are many (many!) options for personalization and none of them are wrong! Express yourself how you like, and you will be happy with the result.
If I haven't addressed your concern in my FAQs, please contact me!