2005 catalog

See all the new products

Product of the Month

Tear ‘N’ Wash

July 2005

Download our Current Catalog (PDF)

File name: Crestapkm.jpg
This crest, which is idea for designing a custom logo for a corporate customer, is just one of 10,000 designs now available on the Web site of The Embroidery Store.

The Embroidery Store Adds Full Collection
Of Grand Slam Stock Embroidery Designs

Embroidery Store is now to distributing Grand Slam’s complete library of more than 10,000 stock embroidery images. The designs, which are available via e-mail, CD, floppy disk, or Internet download, are available at the same price from both companies.

Designs are available in money-saving sections and packages, as well as through the popular Pick 5/Pick 10 program. Customers can pick any five designs for only $35 or any 10 designs for only $50. A small shipping and handling charge is added for designs sent by CD or floppy disk.

Designs are available in all standard home and commercial formats. Catalogs are available for $25 each. This amount is deducted from your first order. Stop by the Web site to see the full collection available in convenient pdf format that can be downloaded to your own computer for later reference.

April Web Specials

Each month, the Embroidery Store offers some great deals on the supplies you need most on its Web site at www.embstore.com. It’s a wonderful opportunity to stock up on things you use everyday at bargain prices. To order, call (800) 504-9757. These are available for the month of April only so don’t delay.

July

Permacore Polyester Monogram Thread
6,000 yards
Regular Price: $7.25 Sale Price: $5.75

Size L Bobbin Case
Regular Price: $6.25 Sale Price: $4.60

Peel ‘N’ Stick Tearaway
40 inches by 10 yards
Regular Price: $24.50 Sale Price: $14.75
#B10430

Cap Backing Medium Weight
3 ¾-inches by 8-inch sheets, 250 sheets per pack
Regular Price: $4.85 Sale Price: $3.25

Kingstar Metallic Thread
1,000 meters
Regular Price: $6.75 Sale Price: $4.75
#B9950010

Product of the Month

New Tear ‘N Wash Leaves
No Trace After Being Laundered

When you need stability for professional-looking embroidery that will hold up under wear and tear but need to get rid of excess stabilizer because the back of the embroidered area will show, try new Tear ‘N Wash offered by The Embroidery Store. This medium-weight tearaway is specifically designed to dissolve when the item is run through the washer. It is ideal for towels, chair backs, napkins, and other types of things where the back will be showing.

It comes in a range of convenient sizes including 57-inch rolls in 10-yard, 25-yard, and 50-yard quantities. Or if you prefer precut squares, these are available in 7 1/2 inch by 7 ½ inch and come in 250-piece packs.

The Embroidery Store stocks more than 10,000 parts and supplies and offers the top brands in the industry. It also is a resource for custom digitizing via the Internet at www.embdigitize.com. All parts and supply orders placed on the Internet, fax, or phone by 3 p.m. EST Monday through Friday are shipped the same day. Check the Web site often at www.embstore.com for new products and specials. For more information, contact The Embroidery Store at (800) 504-9757 or e-mail info@embstore.com

Karin Jones
KC Jones Design Co.
P.O. Box 21521
Cleveland, Ohio 44121
216/382-0102
fax 216/382-0402
E-mail: karin21521@yahoo.com

KFile name: KCDesignsTulipK.jpg

This beautiful tulip alphabet was designed by Karin Jones specifically for the Meistergram. You can use two or three colors, and the size can be adjusted anywhere from 1.5 to 4 inches.

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KCDesignsBestGrandpa
KCJonesfamilytree
KCDesignsask_me

After noticing the popularity of family designs, Jones started working on variations to offer her customers like these pictured.

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One of Karin Jones most popular collections is this swirl alphabet. She is working on packaging all of her designs into collections for sale to other Meistergram users.

T

Customer Spotlight

Dedicated Meistergram Digitizer
Focuses On Taking Designs To The Edge

By Deborah Sexton

After seven years with Meistergram, in 1987, she was given the job of developing Meistergrams’ first digitizing system, the MED. “During that time, I really got to know the MED system from the inside out, and I enjoyed seeing how I could push the limits of the zigzag Meistergram machine,” says Jones.

In 1991 Jones left Macpherson Meistergram to become general manager over four Monograms Today stores, now-defunct franchises, in the Georgia/South Carolina area. Based in Savannah, the franchise owners hired Jones after buying a MED digitizing system from her. Hardly a year had gone by when another MED customer from the not-so-distant past contacted her saying he hadn’t been able to use the MED because he’d been too busy. Then came an irresistible enticement, one that would move her to the other side of the country.

“He offered me a deal where if I was willing to move to Northern California, I could use his system to start my own digitizing company and help him manage his business as well,” Jones says. That’s when she began KC Jones Design Co. in 1992. After two years in California Jones purchased the MED system she’d used while there, moved back to Cleveland, bought a used Meistergram machine, and set up in her home. However, by 1997, Jones was “getting a little burned out on digitizing.”

“I was digitizing more than 80 hours a week,” she says. So she opened a retail store for a change of pace. Bearing the same name as the company she started in California, the store lasted for more than two years, closing its doors in 2000 mainly due to Jones being tired of the long working hours (again, more than 80 hours a week), and high overhead.

But even though the store did not work out, Jones remained optimistic. “If you really love what you do, you’re going to succeed one way or the other,” she insists. Fortunately, while she had her store, she had maintained a core group of digitizing customers so she had a solid base to build from when she returned to full-time digitizing. In fact, she won back quite a few clients who had gone to other digitizers.

Now, with work hours she keeps to manageable levels, Jones indeed loves what she does: full-time digitizing with some custom embroidery in the mix, about 80% contract digitizing for other Meistergram owners and 20% in custom embroidery. Of the digitizing, about 75% is corporate logos. “There is a big demand for custom logos,” she says. Of her 25% nonlogo digitizing work, Jones finds herself doing lots of florals with the categories of baby/wedding most popular, along with wildlife, sports, and decorative alphabets.

One of her clients, a chef coat company, asked her to digitize a skull with a big knife dripping blood in its mouth, a bit on the radical side for a chef logo, but she did it all the same. When the “crazy” chef ended up being profiled by People magazine, Jones had the thrill of seeing her logo in the magazine.

Because Jones has such a huge library of designs she has done over the past 15 years, she is putting together a stock catalog. Boasting hundreds of designs, her biggest challenge has been finding the time to organize them into packages. Her current offerings include a Tulip alphabet, a Swirl alphabet, a sports package, and a Christmas/holiday package, her goal is to complete one package a month. Some of my biggest collections are babies, weddings, and florals, she says. “Those are the categories I’m working on right now.

Jones also is working on a group of family designs due to the popularity she has seen of this category. “People bring me these battered, stained family sweat shirts from 10 years ago and want me to add a couple of names. I try to talk them into a new one, but they prefer to hang on to the old favorite. So I came up with ‘Ask Me About My Grandkids’ where you drop the kid’s names in. I also designed a ‘Best Grandpa, Hands Down’ with five handprints and a family tree design.”

Her customer base includes all types of embroidery businesses from home-based to
retail stores. “Everyone’s businesses are so unique – it’s interesting to hear what the
popular designs and items are. Now that some of her customers are managing Web stores, it’s cool to see how they market their business online.” Jones has dipped her toe into the Internet by marketing some embroidered items on EBay.

Jones has learned a number of lessons over the years and now feels like she is heading in the right direction. “I need to reach out more to my community and to make sure I am balanced,” she says. “When all my eggs are in the digitizing basket, I get burned out. I can’t be everything to everybody and so now I focus on choosing the markets I enjoy most.”

Piqué knits can be tough to embroider due to the loose weave of the fabric. Using underlays and avoiding small lettering and columns can help keep stitches from sinking into the fabric.

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Technical Tip

Through Thick And Thin

Here are some tips on how to embroidery on two difficult types of apparel.

By Stephen Batts

Two challenging types of apparel that embroiderers are frequently confronted with are either really thick fabrics like heavy jackets or fine or delicate fabrics like organza or silk.

With a thick item, the hardest part is getting it into the hoop. Leather jackets and Carhartt jackets are so thick and dense. You have to loosen the hoop as much as you can. You can find wooden hoops, and they typically have a longer screw, so you can open them more. Also, wood hoops aren’t as slick, so the item doesn’t slide.

The item’s front is where it really gets difficult, because you’re trying to hoop a small area. Some small shops use bag clamps when embroidering left fronts on Carhartt jackets. But if you’re looking for conventional means, take your adjusting screw out of the small hoop and use a larger screw from a bigger hoop. That will give you some extra room. Also, with Carhartt jackets, I don’t use backing because it’s one more thing that gets in the way.

Some thin or delicate items, like slick, unlined baseball jackets, are a pain because they want to move around in the hoop. You can combat that by tightening the hoop all the way, but this can cause hoop burn. The oldest trick in the book is wrapping the hoop with velvet ribbon or masking tape. Be careful when you remove the tape because it could leave a mark.

Stephen Batts is the owner of Righteous Threads, Greensboro, N.C. In addition to doing custom embroidery, he also does contract digitizing for a variety of clients.

Support A Worthy Cause

National Charity Helps
Disadvantaged Children

The Textile Division of Variety, The Children’s Charity, is the official charity of the decorated apparel industry, and a national organization dedicated to providing disabled and disadvantaged children with support they need through the efforts of local chapters known as chapters or "tents.” Each year, it holds an annual fund-raising event at an Imprinted Sportswear Show (ISS) as well as smaller events at ISS and other trade shows such as Printwear.

With the money it raises, the organization provides transportation in the form of large vans that allow groups such as the YMCA and others to take children to activities that they would otherwise not be able to attend. The Embroidery Store has been an active supporter of The Variety Club for many years because it believes that through the spirit of fun, creativity, and cooperation, it’s possible to renew the hopes and realize the dreams of children challenged by poverty, violence, neglect, and physical disability.

To find out more please go to www.varietytextile.org

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