Really Annoying Visor Beanies

SoccerEmb

I have a design that's between 3.5 and 4 inches tall with quite a bit of small lettering in it. The customer wants this design embroidered on knit visor beanies. Unfortunately the smallest hoop I have that will fit the design is too big for the beanies. For other similar sized designs I have manged to hoop them with my hat attachments/hoops/clamps, whatever you want to call them. Basically I hoop them just like a normal cap with the addition of a clip at the bottom pulling the beanie tight. The few other designs I've embroidered this way have come out just fine, but this one comes out crappy every time so far! Any suggestions as to how to hoop these annoying beanies successfully? For reference, I have a Barudan four head.

Eric

I HATE HATE HATE embroidering those. lol

If its got fine lettering thats the problem. In your cap driver they fabric is not being held stable enough, and you're getting stretch as the needle sews. Unfortunately they really do need to be hooped traditionally.

I would see if you can get the customer to agree to shrinking the design, I assume you are having to use the 18cm hoop. It is ok to stretch them ever so slightly to get the hoop in, and once in, it doesn't really matter how much the back stretches to go over the arm.

Unfortunately small lettering is not a good idea on beanies to begin with, as the lettering can get lost in the nap of the fabric.

Somewhat of a solution if your customer has their heart set on it just the way it is, is to digitize in what is called a ghost fill, take a thread color that best matches the beanie, and sew a grid in the general outline of the lettering, similar to the base layer of what would be a complex fill/tatami stitch

OR

Do an invisible shadow behind the letters, for instance make the letters sew tatami BEHIND the actual letters (in a thread that matches the beanie, so you won't see that they have been "outlined") then sew the satin letters on top. Yes, this makes a lot more work, and a lot more thread, but it IS a way around.

Hope that helps.

SoccerEmb

Man, I was hoping someone would have magic trick to make them easier. Oh well. I'll look into the ghost fill idea and see if that helps. I would love to shrink the design, but I would have to get rid of the small lettering (which personally I don't think needs to be on the hats) and they absolutely insist on it being there. Thanks for the help.

Oh, speaking of things I hate embroidering, I had a customer ask to have his name put on the velcro strap of a cap. It made me nervous trying to do it, but I did manage to make it work. I was just curious if anyone else has done it and has some tips for how to handle it in the future. And embroiderer friend I asked about it said he won't do velcro at all.

Eric

I don't like doing cap back velcro either.... Its nasty on your needles, not to mention, sometimes it can push the loops down into the hook and eat the cap.

They sell clamp systems for doing name tapes, dog collars, and things like that, but in order to justify the price, you will need to do A LOT of them, lol

SoccerEmb

I actually do have a clamp, which I mostly use for backpacks and duffel bags, and that was the only thing that I could use for the velcro strap.