Garment Locations
It is very important to include the correct embroidery location on your Purchase Order sent to RGR. Also for clarification, if you need embroidery on the upper sleeve of a long sleeve shirt, please specify "upper left/right sleeve" and not cuff.
Below is an explanation of the most common garment embroidery locations and how they are to be used in
correspondence with a Purchase Order sent to RGR.
Mens Polo Left Chest
Typical Left Chest placement is approx. 7 to 9 inches down from where the shoulder seam meets the collar and centered between the placket and the sleeve.
Ladies Polo Left Chest
Typical Left Chest placement is approx. 5 to 7 inches down from where the shoulder seam meets the collar and centered between the placket and the sleeve.
T-Shirts Left Chest
(shirts with no pockets or plackets) Typical Left Chest placement is approx. 7 to 9 inches down from where the shoulder seam meets the collar and centered between the center of collar and the sleeve.
Shirts with Pockets Left Chest
Typical Left Chest placement is approx. .5 to 1 inch from the bottom of the pocket, and centered between the edges of the pocket.
Sleeve Placement Short Sleeves
Typical sleeve placement is approx. 1 inch above the cuff and centered on the shoulder seam.
Sleeve Placement Long Sleeve Upper Sleeve
Typical sleeve placement is approx. 4 to 4.5 inches down from the shoulder seam centered on the shoulder seam line.
Button Cuff
Centered vertically on cuff, also logo is centered on cuff opposite the buttons on the underside.
No Button Cuff
Approx. 1 inch above the cuff centered opposite the underside sleeve seam.
Yoke Placement
Placement on the yoke of shirts has many variables depending on how the shirt is made. General guidelines are approx. 2 to 3 inches down from the collar seam, centered on the collar.
Abbreviations:
Left Chest: L CHST
Right Chest: R CHST
Left Sleeve: L SLV
Right Sleeve: R SLV
Left Cuff: L CUFF
Right Cuff: R CUFF
Center Chest: C CHST
Full Back: F BACK
Yoke: YOKE
Cap Front: FRONT
Cap Back: BACK
Left Collar: L COL
Right Collar: R COL
Upper Left Sleeve: UL SLV
Upper Right Sleeve: UR SLV
Embroidery Hoops
There are many many different hoops available to the embroidery sector. Hoops sizes are important because they dictate the size that your finished embroidery can be on the garment, and they will determine whether a particular garment is embroidery friendly in a specific location. Listed below you will find the different hoop sizes available at RGR. Also you will see the maximum sewing area associated with each different hoop.
Note: Because of the shape of the most common hoop sizes, this puts a constraint on the height of a design in respect to the width of the design. For example: When using a design that is 3.5 inches wide X 3.5 inches tall a larger hoop size must be used than the Tajima 12cm because the needle would come into contact with the hoop at that height. This becomes important when a particular hoop must be used due to constraints with the garment such as bags. If there is only one hoop size than can be used to embroider the garment it directly relates to the size and layout of a design that can be successfully imprinted on a garment.
Tajima 12cm Hoop
Commonly used for Small Left Chest, Sleeves, Cuffs, Cap Backs, Bag Designs
Hoop Size
Maximum Sewing Area
Tajima 15cm Hoop
Most commonly used for Standard Left Chest, Bag Designs
Hoop Size
Maximum Sewing Area
Tajima 18cm Hoop
Most commonly used for Large Left Chest, Large Bag Designs, Small Yoke Designs
Hoop Size
Maximum Sewing Area
Tajima 21cm Hoop
Most commonly used for Small Full Chest, Small Full Back, Yoke Designs
Hoop Size
Maximum Sewing Area
Tajima 24cm Hoop
Most commonly used for Full Chest, Full Back, Large Bag Designs
Hoop Size
Maximum Sewing Area
Tajima 30cm Hoop
Most commonly used for Full Chest, Full Back, Jacket Backs
Hoop Size
Maximum Sewing Area
Question: Why is the maximum sewing area less than the hoop size?
Answer: The "pressure foot" or needle guard on the sewing machines must have clearance to avoid hitting the hoop. Therefore, the sewing area is less to allow for clearance on all sides of the design.
Logo Size Limitations
There are many different variables that can limit embroidery size on a particular garment. We have already discussed how hoop size effects embroidery size. There are several other factors that we will attempt to address concerning sizing.
General Sizing Guidelines:
These are general sizing parameters that we prefer to use at RGR. These figures are not set in stone they are only to be used as a general rule for sizing information: Obviously not every logo will fall into these parameters, but as a general rule, these sizes will give the best look on the finished garment.
4 inches wide X 2.75 inches tall or smaller
4 inches wide X 2.75 inches tall or smaller
3.5 inches wide or smaller
3.5 inches wide or smaller
11 inches wide X 11 inches tall or smaller
2.5 inches tall X 6 inches wide or smaller
3.5 inches wide or smaller
Hat Decoration
Imprinting Finished Hats
Imprinting caps is a specialized embroidery process using a special type of frame. At RGR we use the Tajima cap frames enabling us to embroider the front of the cap and both sides in one sewing, thus saving time and money in that only one digitized tape has to be used to embroider 270 degrees around the hat. The below picture shows the coverage area of our cap machines.
Coverage Area
The 270 machine can embroider essentially the first 4 panels of a 6 panel cap in one embroidery tape. To embroider on the back of the cap is considered a second location because the hat must be taken off the machine and put on a different embroidery machine to imprint the back.
Dimensions
The main concern with cap embroidery is the height of the embroidered logo. For the best quality on hats, the max height should be 2.5 inches. In some special cases we can embroider more than 2.5 inches but you should consult an RGR representative first. The width of the design is more flexible. Widths can be as much as 6 inches or more due to the versatility of the 270 cap machine.
Cap Backs
Cap back embroidery has become very popular, especially in doing websites and company names. The logo is normally embroidered in an arch around the back "ponytail" hole on the back of the cap as shown in the picture at right. Cap backs are limited to 3.5 inches wide. Height of the design is usually not an issue unless the design is tall and can interfere with the eyelets of the hat. If you are unsure if your design will work, please contact RGR for clarification. Note: Cap backs are a second location embroidery charge separate from the front embroidery.
Embroidery Stitch Types
An embroidered design is made up of 3 major stitches types: Satin Stitch, Fill Stitch, and Run Stitch. Satin stitches are essentially columns of stitches used for making letters, borders, and areas of a design that need columns of stitches. Satin stitch sizes can go from approximately 1/16th of an inch wide to .25 inches wide. Rarely do you want to go wider than .25 inches because of the risk of "picking" the stitches of the finished design. The Fill Stitch is used for filling in larger areas of the design. Fill stitches can also be used for lettering and large column areas when it is too large to use a satin stitch. Run stitches are single lines of stitches primarily used for thin outlines or borders, and for connecting individual elements of the design.
How Stitching Works
Satin Stitches
The animation to the right shows how stitching of the letter "R" is accomplished using running stitch underlay and satin stitches for the construction of the letter. The satin stitches are laid from side to side of the column of the "R" to fill in the area. Of course this is a rough representation of how the needle moves on the fabric to create the letter.
Run Stitches
Running stitches are simply used to connect sewing areas in the design and for thin outlines or borders and areas of detail when a satin stitch is too large to be used. Running stitches are only as wide as 1 strand of thread.
Fill Stitches
Fill stitches are used to fill large areas with color. Simplified...they are simply large areas of running stitches that are placed side by side to cover a large area.
