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| 2004
catalog |
June
Web Specials Save money on items you need |
Product
of the Month Portable Steamer |
Technical
Tips |
Customer Profile Morgan’s Monograms |
Darold's
Design Tips Backing for Meistergrams |
Web
Wise Pay Per Click Advertising |
Embroidery
Essentials Stabilizer Strategies |
Design
of the Month Sailboats |
Contact
Us We’re Always Ready To Help |
| June 2004
Remove oil and grease stains from wool, cotton, silk, and synthetic materials with Spot Lifter, on sale this month at the www.embstore.com. |
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 June only so don’t delay. Portable
Hand-Held Steamer Spot
Lifter Water
Soluble Topping Medium
Tearaway Stabilizer Medium
Cutaway Stabilizer
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Provide a more professional, finished look to your embroidered pieces by getting rid of puckering and wrinkles with this portable, hand-held steamer, a brand-new product just added to The Embroidery Store inventory this month.
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Improve
Finished Appearance This lightweight, compact unit provides 600 watts of steam, which is three times the power of most conventional portable models, according to The Embroidery Store. Simply fill it with regular tap water, no salts or other chemicals are necessary. It has a convenient on-off switch and an indicator light so you do not need to constantly unplug it after each use. The extra-long 9-foot cord ensures that it goes wherever you need it to go. The water turns to steam in two short minutes, and it will shut off automatically when the water is depleted to reduce the chance of accident or damage to the steamer. For more information, contact The Embroidery Store at (800) 504-9757 or e-mail info@embstore.com. Visit the Web site at www.embstore.com to see the full online catalog. |
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THE
EMBROIDERY MALL
Scan your patch and digitize an outline around the patch’s edges to make a placement line. Be sure to put a color stop after the outline.
Hoop a piece of adhesive-backed stabilizer. Put it on your machine and it will “draw” your outline and stop. If you have a six-head, hoop six of these sticky papers at once.
Now place your patch inside the outline and sew it.
Pull off the patch and leave the hoop on the machine. Then add another piece of sticky paper underneath the hoop, and you’re ready to repeat the process.
Here’s a completed patch. You probably want to put only one patch per hoop. I mark patches up 100%.
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Boost
Profits With Making patches is a simple, profitable thing to do. Using the step-by-step method I describe here, you can do up to 750 patches a day. The only problem with doing patches yourself is that there’s no clean way to finish the edges. That’s why I recommend buying ready-made patches. They’re available from more than a dozen suppliers either presized or custom cut, and you can pick the color of the Merrowed edge and the patch’s background too. If you use presized patches, you can find one that’s close to your design’s size, and adjust your design slightly to fit. Scan your patch and digitize an outline around the patch’s edges to make a placement line. Be sure to put a color stop after the outline. You’ll need a piece of paper with a tacky, sticky side. Some sticky paper can really gum up your machine, so don’t scrimp—buy the good stuff. (The Embroidery Store offers Peel ‘N’ Stick, #B4704010.) Hoop this sticky paper and put it on your machine, which will “draw” your outline and stop. If you have a six-head, hoop six of these sticky papers at once. Now place your patch inside the outline. This ensures that your design is placed properly every time, rather than just hooping the patch and hoping for the best. You don’t want to accidentally sew your design into the Merrow. You can finish things up in one of two ways. You can pull off the patch, and leave the hoop on the machine. Then add another piece of sticky paper underneath the hoop, and you’re ready to repeat the process. The advantage here is that you don’t have to stitch the outline on the sticky paper every time. The second option is that you can take out the hoop, hoop some sticky paper, and repeat the entire process. If you do the first option, keep in mind that you’ll eventually have an outer layer that’s really bulky from all the layers of sticky paper. But you can usually do up to 50 patches or so before it’s time to start fresh. You probably want to put only one patch per hoop. Otherwise, when you pull one patch out of the hoop, you take away some of the paper, and you might not have enough support for the other patches. I make a ton of money on patches, and so can you. I get $3 to $4 per patch, and I’ve made $1,200 in only four hours. Niche markets like truckers and bikers really love patches, and they’ll pay handsomely for them. Other customers include farmers, hunters and fishermen, clubs, collectors, hobbyists, uniform companies, gas stations, and more. I have a minimum of 10 pieces, because that’s the minimum for many suppliers. And I mark up the patch by 100%. Best of luck! Bunny Eisele is the owner of Echo Embroidery, Denver. She’s been in business 11 years and specializes in contract work. She also does contract digitizing. You can contact her echoemb03@msn.com or www.echoembroidery.com
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Morgan’s
Monograms
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Steady
As She Grows By Deborah Sexton Some people go a few weeks, or even a few months, without a day off. Mary Morgan went nine solid years with no R&R — and it has paid off plenty. Morgan, owner of Morgan’s Monograms in San Diego, Calif., today presides over a $2 million embroidery operation with 45 employees, 63 heads, and lots of happy customers. But building that operation was a slow, steady effort from Morgan, one that required years of tireless output. Back in 1983, Morgan was a widow raising a small child single-handedly, cleaning houses to pay the bills. After recognizing embroidery as a field with money-making potential, she got a singlehead machine and worked out of a 250-square-foot office space, hitting the pavement for customers in the daytime and running her machine at night. “I came into the business at a good time,” she recalls. “There was only one other embroiderer in San Diego then, a guy with a singlehead — and he was going out of business. It was a lot of work.” That work paid off, though, as she steadily built her business. Today, she has her own 5,000-square-foot building that’s home to a 15-head, a 12-head, three 6-heads, two 8-heads and two singleheads — and in-house digitizing. Morgan has even been able to cut back her work hours as she entrusts the business to her long-time staff and her daughter, Shana, who has been with the company for four years. Morgan’s Monograms has a diverse customer base, an average order size of about 200 pieces, and a mix of 60% contract, 40% custom, with plans to grow the custom side. “I’ve built my business so that we don’t count on one customer,” Morgan says. “I’ve seen so many customers go down, so I work with everybody, whether it’s one piece or 2,000. The most important thing is customer service, quality work, and turnaround time. That’s what I preach over and over.” Her commitment to quality resulted in several business awards, including two Businesswoman of the Year awards, and a Business Partners of the Year, an award she and Shana earned. Morgan credits her award-winning success to her focus on quality embroidery. “That’s what gets us the positive word of mouth,” she says. “We’re not the cheapest, so the quality has to be perfect. If we mess up an order, we’ll fix it. I’ve had to fix $6,000 worth of shirts. But if we make a mistake, we replace it, no matter what.” Which is why Morgan avoids leather — it’s much too costly to replace. “I’ve had to eat leather orders too many times. It’s so hit and miss. The stress of it is just too much.” Attaining top-quality embroidery and service is much easier, now that Morgan no longer has to be the one handling sales and production herself. “”I have individual sales reps for all my accounts,” she says. “I have seven reps, and they put the jobs through. One rep has 90 accounts.” In all, Morgan’s Monograms has about 500 accounts, to which she sends wholesaler’s catalogs each year. “That pays off in additional sales,” she says. “We also tried sending fliers a few years ago, but that didn’t get us anything.” Still, business is busy enough that she sometimes hits 700 to 1,000 hours of overtime for two-week pay periods during busy seasons. “In January, for the first time in 21 years, we raised our prices and started charging for rush orders,” Morgan says. “That’s cutting down a lot of our overtime.” And Morgan’s days of overtime for herself are over, too. Today, she spends most of her time watching her four-and-a-half year-old grandson. “I’m only working part-time now,” she says. “I have a great production manager who handles employees. I have the best team.” Morgan
is thankful not only for the work her employees do, but for the
fact that she can provide them with work. “I may have done
the initial work on my own, but boy, it’s nice to look out
the window and see all those cars in the parking lot, and say, ‘I
did this.’ All of these people have income and new cars and
that feels good.” |
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Darold's
Design Tips By Darold Schubert In most cases, the best backing for designs done on a Meistergram is a heavyweight cutaway. Because the zig-zap motion of the stitch tends to pull, a heavyweight better stabilizes the material and prevents problems such as design distortion or looping. A good cutaway should not rip easily in either direction. If your backing rips easily in only one direction, make sure that this side is hooped up and down and not side to side where your pull comes from. This is especially important on any solid-filled designs with lots of detail. Darold
Schubert co-owns Frolic Athletic Embroidery Digitizing based in
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, which offers contract embroidery
and digitizing services. He has been digitizing for the past 15
years. He digitizes in any standard format, but specializes in Meistergram
designs. You may contact him at (800) 453-4477 or e-mail darold@frolicembroidery.com.
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Buy
Pay-Per-Click Ads The two easiest methods to get started in cost-effective Internet advertising are Google’s Adwords program and Overture’s Pay-for-Performance Search systems. Each service allows you to write your own ad copy, select keywords, and choose how much you’re willing to pay for each visitor. Google’s program shows your ads within minutes of creating your account and first ad. Overture, on the other hand, approves each ad before they display it on their network of search engines (MSN, Yahoo, Altavista, etc.), so it could take 24 to 72 hours before each new ad will appear. By carefully selecting keywords that match your products or services, you can instantly attract new visitors. Since you control how much you pay per click, you easily maintain your advertising budget. Spending as little as $50 per month can yield hundreds of new visitors. Jason Sherrill is president of InetSolution, a company that offers Web site software and development, Web site hosting, consulting, and products to make Web sites easier to use, less expensive, and more secure. He has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in accounting with an emphasis in business information systems from Western Michigan University. He has 10 years of e-commerce business operations experience and nearly seven years in Internet development. InetSolution can assist you with creating accounts and advertising campaigns using the tips in this article and other pay-per-click advertising solutions. You can contact Sherrill at http://www.inetsolution.com. |
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Your embroidery backing is designed to prevent movement during stitching that can cause unsightly loops and puckering. Make sure you have the proper stabilizer, and it’s properly hooped for top-quality results. |
Common
Sense Strategies By Helen Hart Momsen The key to good embroidery is choosing an appropriate stabilizer and hooping it with the proper tension. The goal is to have a firm embroidery surface. You should be able to tap on the hooped goods and hear a thunk like a taut drum. The tension should be even with no stretching and no surprises. Between the frame’s movement and thread tension, a garment undergoes stress. Backing relieves this stress resulting in a clean, crisp design. Without stabilizer, a design can pucker and distort from too much movement. Backings are used to prevent movement while stitching, and the backing has to be stable enough to do that job. If the fabric is too loose in the hoop, the needle will deflect off your material and design registration will look blurry. That means that your outlines may not line up with other portions of the design. If the fabric is too tight, it will spring back when the garment is removed, leaving the goods puckered and distorted. This does not necessarily mean that you have chosen the wrong backing. You may need to practice correct hooping. Helen Hart Momson has been in embroidery for more than 20 years. In addition to running her home-based embroidery and digitizing company, she is a regular contributor to industry trade magazines and a speaker at industry events. She also owns the Embroidery Line, www.EmbroideryLine.net, which offers professional and aspiring embroiderers with a free, uncensored forum for education and idea sharing. This tip was extracted from her latest book, “Professional Embroidery: Business by Design” (Binnacle Publishers, 2003), which covers a wide range of topics of interest to any embroiderer getting started. For more information, go to www.HelenHart.com or e-mail her at Hart@HelenHart.com. |
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Nautical
Markets Are A Natural Summer is the season for sailing and with this classic sailboat Meistergram stock design, #000014, you will be able to do placket shirts, caps, and nautical tote bags for niche markets such as marinas, boat dealers, and boat shows. The design can be sized from 2 inches to 5 inches, and it is featured in four colors. Add a name drop and it also makes an ideal resort design for any coastal area. The Embroidery Store now offers a full line of more than 1,000 stock embroidery designs for Meistergram machines. These hard-to-find predigitized images are offered individually or in packages for cost savings. To order, simply call the toll-free number, e-mail, or visit the Web site. |
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Easy Ways to Order: All orders placed on the internet, fax or phone by 3:00 p.m. EST Monday through Friday are shipped the same day. e-mail: info@embstore.com
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