Embroidery Digitizing for Caps – Your Top 10 Tips for Succes

As powerful as baseball caps are promotional tools, the trickier it is to get their digitizing right. These hot advertising favorites have started to reach the digitizer’s desk more often than not, bearing all sorts of insignia from monograms to logos, taglines and even website addresses. The unique shape and fabric on caps make them difficult, but not impossible to digitize.

Considering that successful advertising begins with flawless designs, here’s a compilation of the top ten tips that will help you deliver perfectly embroidered caps:

1. The first tip will actually require some cooperation from your client-side, as it involves finding a cap brand that will perfectly match the frames of the embroiderer. Not all caps are created equal and differ in terms of shape, size and even paneling. Before beginning the digitization process, get your client to test a few samples to discover the brand that best fits the equipment, so that there are no hitches once you begin.

2. Do make sure to ask about the frame type used by the embroidered. While some keep a selection of frames, others tend to use only one or two that come with the machine. This will further help you narrow down on the basics.

3. While the height of your design more or less depends on the size of your cap, we suggest sticking to a maximum height of 2 inches or 5cm to prevent crooked letters and misaligned outlines. However, when embroidery digitizing for pro-style caps you can go up to 2.5 inches or 6.25cm, while on low profile, unstructured caps can only go up to 2.25 inches or 5.75 cm.

4. When embroidery digitizing for a design wider than 4 inches on 6-panel caps or even small letters close to the peak, remember to go from the middle out in order to avoid any puckering.

5. Center seams can be a great bother for some, however, for best results we recommend using 80/12 needles and shift from a ballpoint to sharp point that’ll help the needle stay strong throughout the embroidery process. In addition to this, you should also opt for Teflon-coated needles and polyester thread for smooth production runs.

6. For perfectly aligned letters with outlines, it’s best to digitize all the elements (letter + outline) and colors in one go before moving on to the next.

7. In case of unstructured caps, heavy and stiff backing garners best results, while relaxed cap styles do better with double layers of tear away backing. Avoid the use of backing altogether for leather caps and rather increase stitch lengths or column width.

8. When embroidery digitizing for a high pile, heavy weight fabric such as fleece or corduroy, do remember to suggest appliqué to your client. While extra underlay and pull compensation can work, appliqué offers more professional results.

9. Whenever faced with an order to embroider the front as well as the sides of a cap, make sure to suggest a 270 frame. These frames help sew out the entire design without having to rehoop, making for an excellent pick for wraparound designs. Also, a continuous piece of backing works best in such cases.

10. Always advice your clients to go in for fresh digitizing when placing that left chest logo on a cap, as this little investment will help them save on losses incurred due to ruined caps, distorted designs, damaged needles and stalled production.

At Powerstitch.com, we offer embroidery digitizing services for baseball caps and more, backed by knowledge and practiced expertise gained over almost a decade of successful operation. You can count on us for impeccably digitized artwork at the most competitive rates, delivered on time, each time.