With embroidery on-demand, you can create custom embroidered products to sell online, with no need for any sewing experience or expensive machinery!

We have a team of dedicated embroiderers who are passionate about creating your embroidered products, and in this guide, we're going to show you how to create embroidered products to sell in your store.

We work with brands from all over the world to create their custom embroidered designs and we take care of every detail--from digitising your design to shipping it to your customers. Plus with 32 thread colours to choose from, it's easy to create any design you want!

Ready to get your stitch on? Just follow these steps:

To start with, you'll need to decide which embroidered product to sell!

Whilst we can't tell you which will work best for your brand, we can tell you that our most popular products for embroidery tend to be heavier apparel items such as sweatshirts and hoodies.

Why not try the best-selling Embroidered AWDis Sweatshirt or the AWDis College Hoodie?

The key thing to remember here is that people are looking for high-quality, fashionable apparel, so make sure the design and product combination you choose is stylish and that there is a demand for it.

When you send your design to Inkthreadable, we work with you to create a bespoke embroidered product that you enjoy wearing and want to share with the world!

However there are some limits to be aware of when creating designs for embroidered products.

One of the main limitations with embroidery designs is the level of detail you can include in your design. We can embroider your design to a maximum size of 10x10cm, and all details should be a minimum width of 0.125cm within this embroidery area.

Colour limitations are also a consideration, and you can have up to a maximum of six colours per design.

For example, in this Bee design, we have 6 colours, and have chosen them as follows:-

Check out our embroidery design guidelines for more information about designing for embroidery.

Once you're certain that your design is suitable for embroidery, save it as a PNG and move on to the next step.

To upload your design, find a product you'd like to use from the Embroidery selection.

Then, in the top-left corner, select the position for the embroidery from the drop-down. On most garments you can choose between; Left Chest, Centre or Right Chest embroidery.

After selecting the position, click Upload to upload your file.

We recommend uploading a file that's templated to the maximum size of embroidery, so for apparel, your file should be 10x10cm. You can find the templates attached under the main product photo.

Once you've uploaded your design, click Choose threads in the top-right corner.

The design will then be checked for the closest embroidery colours which are automatically selected for your design.
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The "Available Threads" section in the top row contains the number of colours in your design, up to a maximum of six, and can be adjusted to change the colours in your design.

In this example, we have five colours in the design and the closest matching embroidery thread has been selected automatically for each one.

If you have any trouble with selecting the right colours for your design, double check that you have a maximum of six colours in your design file.

Once you're happy with the preview, click Apply.

Then, hit Create Product and sit back whilst we save this design to your account.

When the product is saved, the page will reload to show you the final product. At this stage, we recommend ordering a sample before adding the product to your store.

For embroidered products, we always recommend seeing a sample before selling them publicly.

We may have to simplify your design a little bit for the best quality embroidery, and we want to make sure you're happy with the final design before any orders are shipped directly to your customers.

Having a sample also means you've got the digitising fee out of the way, and can use your new embroidered tee for product photography!

To order a sample of your embroidered product, add the product to your basket from the product page, making sure to choose "No" under "Have you had this design digitised before?".

Finally, we need to make this product available on your store.
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You'll be automatically directed to the product you just made (or if you come back later, go to /my-products and click the three lines, "Manage", on the design you're choosing to export).

Once you can see your product with the design, click the three lines and the "Export" button to begin moving this product to your store.

A new page will load where you can edit the title, description and resale price for your product. This will automatically be added to your store listing.

​​Enter a name for your product. This will become the title in your shop, too, so you may wish to include keywords!

Next, check the description. We've auto-filled some basic information about the product, but feel free to add to this or re-write in your brand voice.

​Select your Brand from the drop-down to enable custom packing slips and label prints.

Enter your resale price and check the profit margin below, aiming for 100% profit margin (for example, if your printed t-shirt costs £12.29, you should sell for at least £24.58).

The Published checkbox will determine whether your product is published as an active or a draft product.

Next, let's add your variations for export.

Select a Colour you want to add, for example White, then click the icon above the Colour dropdown to Add all variants of the current option.

This button will add all available sizes in the selected colour.

To add multiple colours, select another colour from the drop-down or the swatches and click Add all variants button above the Colour field. Repeat for each colour until you have added them all.

All of the variations you chose to offer will be listed in the "Variations for Export" field below.

Be aware that you can select up to 100 variants to export, due to limitations with certain e-commerce stores. No biggie though, this also keeps your store running fast and makes it easier for your customers to decide what to buy!

Once you have added all options you want to export, select your store from the drop-down (if you have multiple connected stores), and then select Export to...

If you wish to export the same product to multiple stores, wait for the export process to finish, then click a different dropdown option and Export again.

When it's finished, a pop-up will appear to confirm that the product has been exported.

Copy the link to open your new product page and check it out in all it's glory!

Now you know how to export products, you can create & sell to your hearts content!

Our positions are fixed to the Left, Centre and Right Chest.

We cannot deviate from those positions, we found it best to have fixed positioning to ensure your designs are always embroidered in the same place. Some products like Tote Bags and Backpacks will only have one fixed position, and we cannot change this.

The maximum size of the embroidery is 10x10cm on apparel or 12x5.5cm on caps.

Yes, you can either choose from our 50+ Google fonts in the product designer, or you can upload a design file with your text in any font!

Be aware that the more intricate your font is, the larger the design needs to be to include all of the details.

If the colours aren't displaying on the mockup, try altering the colours in your design file.

Are there any similar colours being used? You may need to increase the contrast between the colours in your design.
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Are the colours very pale or pastel? You may need to increase the saturation.
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For the best mockup result, use the HEX codes for each thread colour found in our embroidery design guidelines.

We have 32 colours available for embroidery, but if you have any suggestions for other colours please let us know!

If you need any further support, please reach out to us via the live chat below, or at support@inkthreadable.co.uk