What is embroidery? Simply it's the art of turning an image or text into a stitched example of the same thing. What is not so simple is to ensure any stitching is uniform. You may have seen hand stitched embroidery from years gone by. Even the most skilled embroidery would have difficulty in completing a number of pieces exactly the same. Today computers assist in changing the image to stitches, but a great deal of skill is still involved. This is called digitising. During this process the number of colours to be used is determined. Each individual stitch can be edited and various effects employed depending on the item to be embroidered. Computers may help a great deal but the digitisers eye is the most important piece of the work. A digitised image can then be saved in a format ready for an embroidery machine to stitch onto the garment or media. Lotus logo stitched to teamwear fleece A piece of thin felt called backing is placed on a hoop device onto which the garment is then placed. Usually another hoop this then placed on top which holds the garment tightly in position. We use two styles of hoop. That aforementioned or a flat hoop with sticky felt which helps with difficult work such as working on a shirt pocket already stitched onto the shirt. Some felt can also be placed over the garment to crush the pile of a fleece or towelling for example. This does not affect the pile and dissolves when water is applied on completion. Our machinery contains 15 needles. Most contain 9 or 12. This allows us to increase the usable thread colours within a design. We set the threads onto the embroidery machine and thread each needle. We have access to over five hundred thread colours which can include metallics and multi-tones. The latter would contain, as an example a mixture of blues. The completed piece would have a effect of tone variation and no two items stitched would be exactly the same. Perfect for a bland text style or block colour image. The hoop and garment are set into the machine and the start point for the first stitch is set. We trace the maximum dimensions of the embroidery image to ensure no snagging of the needles. Now we can start the embroidery machine. Firstly it stitches an underlay which bonds the garment and felt making the design steady for the full stitching. Our machinery can stitch at 1200 stitches per minute. We usually stitch at about 900 s/m which allows less breakage. Even then a broken thread is not the end of the world. The machine stops automatically and we can move it back through each single stitch to start from before the breakage. The advantage of embroidery machinery over hand stitching is the volume of stitches within a small area. This allows maximum consistent coverage. Once complete the hoop is taken from the garment and thread on the underside are trimmed off. The felt is ripped away and the piece is finished. We use single head machinery which is referred to as a modular system. A mutli-head machine allows a number of the same garments to be stitched at the same time. Our modular system works in the same way or with an advantage the multi-head can't match. Each head can be set to do a different design at the same time. Or, to do a fleece on one head, a polo on another and a baseball cap on another. When a thread breaks the other heads continue working. With a multi-head the whole machine stops until that one thread is dealt with. Our machinery ensures we can work quickly and with small or large volume. We only set the number of heads required with no expense in using a multi-head machine for one garment. Polo shirts, T-shirts and Fleeces. These are the most popular items sewn. Usually we would be asked to digitise a logo and place it on the breast. We can add text and other graphics anywhere they are required such as the sleeves, back, pocket or collar. Bear in mind many items you own with embroidery have been done before the garment was sewn together so a few restrictions apply. You can't sew within 10mm of a sewn pocket edge, nor on the front of a collar where the stitching will show below. Baseball caps etc. We can stitch to the front of a cap in an area of about 6cm high and 10cm across. This is using a cap frame. Without using a cap frame we can stitch to most parts which can be laid flat, such as sides and rear. We can stitch the back fastening except where it is velcro. Peaks cannot be sewn without the rear stitching showing below the peak. If you wanted a large number of caps (approx. 200 plus) then we can have them made to practically any design, style and colour you want. Each cap can then have embroidery wherever you wish. If you want team shirts stitching it's no problem. We may even be able to heat press vinyl numbers and logos is required, which saves cost on embroidery. Not only that, we can embroider football boot tongues for individuality, together with holdalls and other team orientated items. Badges. These can be stitched on badge felt and you can decide what to and when to sew them. It releases your commitment from embroidering garments which may not be used. Another reason for badges is their use on fire suits such as Nomex racing suits. They cannot be embroidered once complete as the stitching would be a fire risk reducing the effects of the Nomex. You can, however hand stitch a badge which allows your suit to be sponsor friendly. Safety. We strongly suggest you don't request embroidery onto childrens outerwear or a place where others can identify the child. It would be nice to have a childs name on their favourite top but this could be used by those with other motives. How much does it all cost? Digitising. There is a charge for the digitising which works out at about £10 per 1000 stitches. That cost is a one-off and would not be charged again unless an alteration is required. Obviously if you are having a logo digitised you pay just for the complete work then the next time work is required the cost does not apply as we hold that example. If you use our pre-prepared logo's and fonts then only the set-up charge of £20 is applicable, unless you wish to vary the design. Digitising does make a single item expensive so a pre-prepared design is the best route. Stitching. We charge 50pence for each 1000 stitches sewn on a garment we supply. A logo of 10,000 stitches would cost £5.00 per garment. If you supply the garment we charge £1 per 1000 stitches. Other charges. There aren't any. Either use our own designs and fonts or have something prepared. We can supply most items for embroidery. All work is charged at 50% deposit when ordering and 50% balance on release of goods. Copyright. Whatever you ask us to do you must have copyright or licence in writing to use it. You would indemnify us against any breach in copyright should you use us to create an unlawful piece. Racesuits. Racesuits contain a Nomex or flame retardent lining. This is stitched to the outer in squares thus air flows between the layers. Embroidery has such tight stitiching it cannot be applied to an off-the-peg race suit as it will reduce the retardent effect. It will also invalidate the FIA approval. We do not embroider racesuits.