Im looking to get into embroidery...

[chongsta]

Hi all,

Im getting more and more customers ask if i do embroidery. Even though i offer printed vinyl for tshirts and polos, the prices of competitors embroidery is making it harder to sell printed vinyl.

So...i was thinking of dipping my toes into this and hopefully you guys could help.

Initially i guess im looking for a single head machine to start with. Im familiar with image editors like photoshop for designs but ive also seen the embroidery software at work and it doesnt look that difficult (tempting fate!).

What are the pitfalls of embroidery with regards to daily usage? I use large format printers and i get problems every day, no matter what printing experience i have, so im guessing that embroidery machines have the same 'niggly' temperament as printing?

Is it best to go 1st or 2nd hand and is maintenance an issue? does every problem warrant an engineer or could i turn my hand to it? Ive taken apart £10k printers and managed to put them back together, is an embroidery machine a place of death or fully repairable (within reason of course)?

Any pointers are good...

cheers
Dave

[logobear]

embroidery machines that are well maintained are very robust.
digitizing (converting an image to a set of machine instructions) is not for the amateur, - I have used photoshop for nearly 20 years, - and we send everything away, netdigitizing etc - cost about 12 bannanas per design back in under 12 hours.
Embroidery machines really hold their value. A good single head machine can cost nearly as much as a quality 8 head machi.
ne. The cost of doing a job is virtually zero, - just a bit of thread, and some time, so if you have the space, go for a multi head machine. All heads will only be able to do the same design at an instance, and if you get a thread break, ALL heads stop. It is mostly about the hooping charge. The big commercial embroiderers run hundreds of heads in a very noisy factory, and have teams hooping up, removing and inserting hoops, and stripping backing to bag.
The software to run embroidery machines can be very expensive. Wilcom is trade standard, same software can run 1 or 16 (or even 64) heads for same cost.
Slow embroidery is a VERY competitive market place, do you have a good channel to market?
My single head embroidery setup cost as much as all the other equipement i have put together! There is money in it, but if I were to start again, I might not bother with embroidery.....
IMHO

[gstk]

We have wondered the same on many occasions. I think you would do better to strike a relationship with a local embroiderer. That's what we are trying to do

[smitch6]

embroidery is 1 area i love working in
i've done quite a few works polo orders for ppl and it's great to see them out and about wearing the shirt you supplied.
i have a brother innov-is its a single head so not any bigger than a standard sewing machine well it is a standard machine but with a proper embroidery attachment.
cost quite a bit tho and thankfully got it 3 months old i went in the shop the day after the person traded up

i love it so glad i bought it.
i use embird but trust me it is so hard to digitise and can take hours so for the sake of £10 get someone else to do it and just charge the customer for artwork, it'll work out cheaper to outsource, but shop around i have tried 4 or 5 so far and they all look good until you start embroidering and the pattern goes over and over itself causing the thread to break.

i did a lovely cross design a while ago for some cushions and it was a nightmare if i had a £1 for everytime the thread broke i'd of retired now
i think the final design had about 7 layers and like anything it doesn't like sewing over the top of already sewn stuff (if that makes sense)

i do run a new embroidery forum if you'd like to join it's VERY new so very quiet and we're always looking for some new input and ppl to help out to get it busy.

steve

[boristrump]

count me in smitch6

[smitch6]

kool the url is on my signature

[socialgiraffe]

I agree with Logobear. I have a four head machine plus the digitizing software which is an extension of Coreldraw so its really easy to use. However there is a lot more to digitizing than meets the eye, so anything complicated is sent out. We are also finding that the "big boys" with stacks of machines are doing trade prices that means there is no point in me even considering turning the thing on.

Gstk has the right idea, strike a relationship. Not only does it mean you do not have the worry, but there is the potential for them to be passing you work from their customers.

[Stitch Up]

There's a lot of competition in the embroidery marketplace. School uniforms are a no go for us as Tesco has just undercut everyone, so we don't even attempt to compete. We do have some regular repeat business but it's a tough market.