Creating High Quality Embroidery I Embroidery Project

As an embroiderer, you probably can’t pass by a rack of embroidered garments in a store without taking a closer look. If you’re like most of us, you carefully analyze the craftsmanship of the sewing, inspecting it for the tiniest flaw. And when indeed you do find something, (as undoubtedly you will) you bask in the glow of triumph over an unknown competitor. Knowing that another embroidery shop blindly allowed such an obvious mistake to go out the door is insulting. But never fear, because you, the self appointed guardian of perfection, have unmasked this sacrilege!

Now, before you go patting yourself on the back, you need to realize a few things. Yes, you managed to find a flaw in someone else’s work. But chances are, they can find a defect in your sewing as well. You see, there are so many variables in the embroidery process, that it’s nearly impossible to get a perfect job every time. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well the same can be said for quality. Sure, there are plenty of obvious things, like unraveling letters, but there are plenty of subtle things that typically go unnoticed by everyone else but you. This is a critical element! Some of us are such perfectionists, that we can never truly be satisfied with any sewing job. Then we do something really stupid like point it out to the customer, who would have never noticed it in the first place. You see, we know too much, and we spend too much time looking for the slightest flaw.

What does this mean? It means you have to set standards for what is acceptable and what is not. I’m not proposing that you get complacent about quality. In fact, the number one reason for lost customers in this industry is poor quality. So, you should always strive for the best product. But, you must realize that while the customer is the ultimate decision-maker as to what is good and what is not, in the majority of the situations, their standards will never be as high as yours. Let’s go back to the rack of embroidered garments in the store. You identified a quality issue, yet people are happily buying the product, right before your very eyes. This should tell you something.

So let’s talk about what constitutes obvious embroidery flaws, then discuss ways to prevent them from happening. The first step is to make a list of quality issues.

1. The finished product matches the work order.
2. The design is balanced.
3. The design is readable.
4. The design fits in the allotted space.
5. The embroidery is neatly trimmed and finished, front and back.
6. No loose stitches.
7. No bobbin thread showing on top.
8. The design has the proper density.
9. The design is straight and correctly placed.

You may be able to add more to the list, but this is what’s going to be obvious to the customer. Now let’s address each issue, one by one during the next series of articles.