The Perfect Embroidery

What makes a perfect embroidered product? Have you ever noticed an embroidered logo or sewn garment? Did it strike you as being a quality produced product, or one that looked like it was mass produced and sewn in a "cheap" fashion?

Nearly 10 years ago I founded my Denver based embroidery company with only one thing in mind - Perfect Products. Finished products that people would notice and want to wear or display. Since then, our business has grown 1000 fold. And we have always kept to our motto of "perfect products, guaranteed quality, satisfied customers".

But what makes a quality, embroidered product? Let's begin with the design before it is sewn to the garment. Was your design created in vector art using Adobe Illustrator? From these "AI" files, we are able to utilize our custom digitizing techniques, which translate to machine readable files and subsequent sew-outs on our Tajima and Barudan Embroidery Sewing Stations. Another important ingredient is choice of color. Why chose a quality embroidered design while selecting a less than desirable color scheme? We use only the pantone color schemes when selecting our sew outs. And speaking of color schemes, what about thread selection? Have you ever considered that some embroidery threads are low-quality, and will break after only a short time in use? Our thread selections only allow for the best thread offerings, including Ackerman and (the German one). Threads are offered in nylon and cotton, depending on the article to be sewn. Make sure your embroidery company selects the appropriate thread, no matter what the color.

All of the above factors will be meaningless unless the digitized image has appropriate stitch count (density) when finally sewing the image. Make sure your design does not come up short when digitizing your image. Many companies will reduce stitch counts during digitizing to allow for less embroidery thread (cheaper) and less dense sewn images (less time to be sewn), all resulting in poor quality finished goods.

We at Corporate Imprints are aware of all the shortcuts, and assure all of our customers that only a quality finished product is our goal. Next time you inspect your embroidered shirt, cap, or other wearable; decide if it was produced with an eye on quality, or an eye on the embroidery company's bottom line. Then call us for a quote and with assurance that once we have earned your business, you will never need to look elsewhere for quality embroidered products.

Tammy Briggs is the owner of Corporate Imprints, a Denver, CO based machine embroidery company. Corporate Imprints offers state of the art in-house machine embroidery, keeping an eye on "Perfection" of finished goods, screen-printing, embossing, graphics consulting and design, and specialized imprinted promotional products (ASI Membership). Visit http://www.corpimprints.com to find out more!

History Of Embroidery

Embroidery is an age old art form that has decorated clothing, bedding, and household goods for hundreds of years. Using colored threads to create patterns has dated back to the time of ancient Egypt, when women sewed metallic threads into clothing for decoration. The trend caught on with Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Hebrews, who all began incorporating embroidered pieces into their clothing.

The oldest embroidered piece in existence is the world famous Bayeux Tapestry, dating from approximately 1066. Although the piece is called a tapestry, it is actually as embroidered composition reaching an astounding 231 feet long. Recalling the Battle of Hastings, the piece still hangs in the town of Bayeux in the province of Normandy in France. This beautiful embroidered piece is though to have been created by over 100 noble women in the town and is speculated to take several years to complete.

European embroidery changed a great deal over the years, but became a highlight of fashion during the 18th Century in France. These elaborate embroidery designs?often made with metallic and silk threads?decorated everything from women?s dresses to men?s breeches. This style soon caught on in popularity with the rest of the continent and soon men, women, and children were wearing heavily embroidered fashion. The decoration also served as a symbol of status and wealth in addition to simply adding glitz and glamour to the garments.

Embroidery continued in popularity and soon became a right of passage for girls to be taught by their mothers the time tested stitches and often completed a lovely sampler to showcase the different stitches and techniques. These samplers were passed down for generations and have been sold at auction for phenomenal amounts. Another popular use of embroidery was to dress up homely clothing. Often, homespun cloth or poor quality purchased cloth was the most a family could afford to outfit the members, so the matron of the house embroidered the clothing to make the outfits look fancier.

The end of the 19th Century saw founding of embroidery shops where scores of women completed the delicate stitches by hand. The year 1880 saw the advent of the first embroidery machine, which further mechanized the embroidery shops and produced even more products. Switzerland soon became the forerunner in embroidery designs and technology, with the United States in second, as shops popped up in New York City and Chicago.

Although the times have changed, the embroidery stitches and techniques have remained the same. Technology has greatly advanced and left the 1880s embroidery machine in the dust. Today?s machines can replicate thousands of pattern by just a simple push of a button. Donna Somerkin specialized in embroidery machines. http://www.embroidery-machines-1.com