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Embroidery machines need to be told where, when and how to place the stitches required to create your design - this information cannot be coded into a standard image file like PNG or JPG as it would have no instructions for what is being 'drawn'.

Instead of an image, embroidery software uses a specialised digitised file to decorate products with your design. It's a bit like a set of instructions that guide the machine through every stitch.

But before any work begins on converting designs from paper to fabric, some guidelines must first apply. These will vary depending on which product has been chosen, but they're important factors worth considering before ordering embroidered designs.

We've updated our service to allow 6 colours per design instead of 4, and we've also added additional thread colours! We now offer a huge 40 colour palette to choose from, between standard and premium threads.

Premium threads cost an additional £0.99 per colour due to higher supplier costs and the additional labour involved in using them.

You can have choose any colours, mixing between standard and premium, for a maximum of six colours per design. You can choose to use one colour too, for example, if your design is all black, choose the thread colour 'Black' first, and then 'None' for the rest.

The colours used can be changed, even after your design has been digitised. The digitised file does not determine the colour of thread used; that's decided when fulfilling your order.

Please be aware that it's unlikely the thread colours will match exactly with what you designed in mind - threads are dyed before they can be embroidered on fabric!

We currently have 40 colours available split between standard and premium threads.

The colours/hex codes listed should not be taken as a guarantee of the colours in your design after embroidery. Due to inconsistencies in dye batches and the differences between colours displayed on the screen and seen in person, the colours you see here may look slightly different in person.

Embroidery is versatile.

It can be applied to almost anything, adding warmth or professionalism instantly in a range of colours to match your design. It can also achieve different results through the use of 3D foam to create a more bold, raised finish.

Designing for flat vs. 3D embroidery requires a different approach, and you need to keep the differences and strengths/weaknesses of each in mind as you create your artwork.

Flat embroider is the standard service used for the majority of orders, unless 3D is selected when creating your products. It's like the style you're most familiar with, where a design is created by stitching colours through the garment fabric and an additional layer of backing behind.

By following our guidelines you can achieve amazing results with your embroidered designs.

The size of our embroidery varies across hats, but on all clothing, it’s always 10x10 cm (this will cover an area about the size of a drink coaster).

We've recently added the option for embroidery up to 18 x 18 cm on specific products in our catalogue.
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Your design can be any shape or size, as long as it fits within the boundary of the product you're having embroidered.

Embroidery works best with bold designs. For best results, stay away from intricate or fine detail and keep things simple. Think, "Can I draw this with a fat-tipped marker?". If not, it's likely too detailed.

For best results, we recommend an absolute minimum line width of 0.125 cm for flat embroidery projects. Any smaller than this, and the threads will become lost in the fabric and appear messy. Make your lines as thick as possible to a minimum of 0.125 cm.
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For text, please stick to a minimum width of 0.5cm per letter.

If the lines in your design are thinner than 0.125 cm, or the text smaller than 0.5 cm per letter and you're unhappy with the embroidered result, 99% of the time this is the reason why.

This is an example of the same text embroidered at different font sizes to illustrate how sizing affects the quality:

For the best result, we advise against using negative space in your work. Fill any empty areas of your design with a solid colour for a more polished look and feel.

For example, if you're embroidering on black textiles like this beanie, covering it up with white will give you a much neater finish.

3D embroidery can really make your design pop, but there are restrictions on what is possible. There are a few best practices to follow to get the most out of this process.

Using 3D foam limits the available thread colours to two per design. The same rules apply as for flat embroidery; mix and match your colours, or use just one, but you can only use a maximum of two.

We recommend choosing white or black, or very light or very dark colours. The foam we use is either black or white, so foam may be visible through thread colours that contrast more.

3D embroidery is currently only available on caps, and the print area is the same as flat embroidery at 12 x 5cm rectangle.

3D embroidery needs a wider design area to ensure the foam within the design can be tightly sealed underneath the thread; otherwise, more foam will be visible underneath the thread.

The simpler and wider the design, the better the result, and we recommend an absolute minimum width of 0.75 cm.

The design below is at exactly 0.75cm, where you can start to see some of the foam start to poke through the thread.