Buying guide · Embroidery artwork
Embroidery is drawing with a needle that refuses to draw anything smaller than a stitch. Most disappointing logo results were decided before the machine started — in artwork with hairline details, six-point text and gradients thread can't make. Here's what survives the needle, and how to prepare for it.
The constraints
The needle's alphabet has minimums: text below roughly 4–5 mm tall fills in and blurs — the registered-trademark symbol and web addresses are the classic casualties; fine lines below about a millimetre disappear or bulge; gradients don't exist in thread — a fade becomes stepped bands of solid colour, which a good digitiser designs deliberately or (better) the artwork avoids; and large solid fills get heavy, stiff and pucker-prone on light garments — outlines and partial fills wear better. Colour is genuinely excellent news: thread colour is vivid and permanent, standard palettes match most brand colours closely, and a dozen colours cost no more to run than two (the machine just changes thread).
The digitising step is where quality lives: converting artwork to a stitch file is a craft decision about stitch types, directions, densities and underlay per fabric — which is why the same logo needs adjusting between a stable twill and a stretchy pique, and why the digitised file, done once and kept, is what guarantees every future batch matches (the one-off cost our pricing guide explains). Supply the cleanest artwork you own — vector (.ai/.eps/.svg) ideally, or the largest sharp image — plus brand colour references, and say which garments it's going on.
The rules
| Check | The rule | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest text | ≥ 4–5 mm stitched height — drop straplines that break it | Fills in below the needle's resolution |
| Line weights | ≥ ~1 mm at final size | Thinner vanishes or blobs |
| Gradients & photo effects | Redesign as solid-colour zones | Thread has no opacity |
| Final size by placement | Left chest ~80–100 mm wide; caps ~55–65 mm | Cap panels are the tightest canvas |
| File supplied | Vector preferred; big sharp raster acceptable | Digitisers redraw from what they can see |
Good to know
Questions
Vector formats (.ai, .eps, .svg, or vector PDF) digitise cleanest because every shape is mathematically defined. Failing that, the largest, sharpest raster image you have. The digitiser converts it once into a stitch file, which is then reused identically for every future order.
A stitch has physical width — below roughly 4–5 mm letter height, letterforms fill in and read as texture rather than text. Straplines, web addresses and ® symbols are the usual casualties; the fix is dropping or enlarging them in the workwear version of the logo.
Not literally — thread is solid colour. Digitisers can suggest gradients with stepped bands or directional stitching, but the honest answer is to redesign fades as solid zones for the stitched version. Most brands run a simplified 'embroidery version' of their logo for exactly this reason.
Everything in these guides is stocked, embroiderable and priced for teams.