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Screen Printing vs Digital Printing: 6 Key Differences You Need to Know
Ever wondered how your favourite custom T-shirt designs are printed? Knowing the correct printing technique will help you—whether you’re a…
Embroidery
Want your logo stitched rather than printed? Here's what embroidery involves, where it works best and how to prepare your artwork.
What Is Embroidery?
Embroidery means stitching your logo or design directly into the fabric with coloured thread.
Embroidered script on a varsity jacket
Instead of ink, the design is built from thousands of individual stitches sewn into the garment (usually a polo, cap or jacket) to form your artwork.
A stabiliser backing on the inside keeps the stitches firm and flat so the design doesn't pucker.
Recent Embroidery Projects
1. Where Embroidery Works Best
Embroidery isn't the right call for every item, so it helps to know where it performs best.
It suits sturdier fabrics such as piqué polos, twill caps, fleece jackets and workwear, with small to mid-sized logos on the chest, sleeve or cap front. Thin, stretchy fabrics are a poorer fit because stitching can pull them out of shape.
Thread doesn't crack or peel, so an embroidered logo usually lasts as long as the garment itself, which is why it's a favourite for uniforms.
A cap front being stitched on a multi-needle machine
Today, almost all commercial embroidery is done on computer-controlled machines.
They repeat the same design with the same stitch placement on every piece, so the first cap and the five-hundredth look alike.
2. How Our Embroidery Machines Work
A commercial machine runs at hundreds of stitches per minute and switches between a dozen or more thread colours automatically.
Each machine has one or more sewing heads, and each head carries a set of needles, one per thread colour.
The garment is clamped tight in a hoop, and the machine moves the hoop under the needles to trace out the design.
Logo stitching in progress for a recent order
3. Preparing Your Artwork for Embroidery
The step that matters most happens before any thread is used: digitising your artwork.
Digitising turns your logo into a stitch file that tells the machine where every stitch goes. Clean, high-resolution artwork (vector files are best) gives the sharpest result.
Planning a Custom Order?
Ordering T-Shirts or Corporate Gifts in quantities of 20 pieces or more? Talk to us and we'll take care of the rest.
Prefer to watch? The video below shows the process.
Hopefully that answers the main questions people ask us about embroidery.
It takes the right software, machines and experience to do well, and the finished result is worth it.
Want bold colour across the whole garment instead? Take a look at sublimation printing.
4. Embroidery: Strengths and Limits
Here's a quick look at the trade-offs to help you choose between embroidery and other T-shirt printing services.
Advantages
- Premium look – stitched logos add texture and depth, and suit corporate and uniform wear.
- Durability – thread won't crack, peel or fade the way some prints can, even after many washes.
Disadvantages
- Cost at scale – every piece is stitched from scratch, so unlike silk screen printing the price per piece doesn't drop much on large orders.
- Fine detail and gradients – very small text and colour blends don't translate well into thread. For those designs, Digital Heat Transfer Printing or DTG Printing is usually the better choice.
5. Embroidery at Ministry of Print
Embroidery is one of the most popular choices with our corporate clients.
That's why it's included in our Instant Quotation pricing for items such as Polo T-Shirts.
Most of these customers want smart, professional-looking uniforms their team is happy to wear.
Cap embroidery from a recent order
Got a multi-colour logo? No problem: we offer full-colour embroidery.
Ready to brand quality corporate apparel on a sensible budget? Send us an enquiry today!
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