Sometimes we spend way too much on the holidays buying gifts, stressing over what to get everyone and then adding up the costs, but a great little technique called embroidery digitizing is changing how you will shop this holiday season. Have you seen t-shirts with school logos or mascots sewn on them or hats that have emblems or church names and logos? These are samples of embroidery digitizing and as software and equipment prices come down, it’s easier to create your own designs. When you learn now to use the equipment, you can create your own hats, t-shirts, pillows and monogram towels with ease. What does your school need? You can now create it. What is your church looking for this holiday season – new choir robes with a cross or the church name? Guess what, you can do those to. It’s as simple as buying the fabric that you want to use, buying the equipment and supplies and learning how to use the embroidery digitizing to custom create your gifts for family, friends and more! Now let’s go over everything step-by-step:
Equipment needed: This is where you may have to do some research to shop around online or in your local supply store so you know what supplies you will need and the costs of each product. Look for a new or used embroidery digitizer machine that you can easily find on Ebay or other online stores so you can save money. And remember, when you shop online, you might find other ideas for your gifts like custom patches and even quilt ideas so don’t limit your options.
Starting out: When you start making your embroidery digitized gifts, maybe start small with a patch or a cap to introduce yourself to the world of embroidery. You can also watch videos on the process or purchase the software that you can load in the computer and this can show you step by step.
What Designs are Best: Once you’ve decided on the items you want to use for your design gifts, you have to decide on the embroidery designs to use for each product. For example, if you are designing towels that you want to give to a friend as a holiday gift, you might want to use flowers and make them the colors of your friend’s house. Eagle Digitizing offers free downloadable files that have samples products if you’re not sure what to use in your designs or if you need ideas.
Making Your Gifts: Because there are so many programs out, you can see step-by-step how to create your products. Use the tutorials, grow comfortable with them and don’t worry if one baseball cap looks a little different from another, just take your time and have fun. Remember, these are gifts that you’re giving and the general idea is to give from your heat, so don’t worry if you can’t make a 6-foot quilt just yet. How about a 6” throw pillow? Build your confidence and you will find that the sky is the limit!