Do you ever see something you absolutely love at the store? Maybe it’s the colors or the quality that call to you. Maybe you can’t quite put your finger on why the item is so appealing. Embroidery is like that. People want to hold it in their hands and touch it. It has a raised, dimensional quality that begs for attention. But some embroidery just has more pizzazz, more class, more what the French call “Je ne sais quoi”—which means “I don’t know what it is, but it’s there.”

Add to the already classy appeal of embroidery a quality prep job, a dynamite design, impeccable color choices and a top quality garment and you’ve got a winning combination that can’t be beat—especially by a competitor who doesn’t know how to achieve it, or doesn’t realize that it matters.

Color selection is critical to a successful embroidery design. Note in these two examples of the same piece on the same background how alternate color selection makes one version fly off the shirt, while the other barely hovers. Careful preparation

If the shirt ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. The weave/pocket/stripes/trim have got to be straight, the fabric mustn’t be stretched, the backing should cover securely all the way around, the hoop should be recessed a little to allow the goods to ride the throat plate, there should be no collars or sleeves or tails caught under the hoop and, when you tap on the backing, it should make a nice thunk, like a taut drum skin.

How do you accomplish these things? Check the construction and weave of the shirt before you begin. (Quality control at the garment factory is not always 100 percent.) Smooth the fabric before you hoop—using water-activated backing or spray adhesive to secure the backing to the goods can make this part a lot easier—and, if things pucker or wrinkle, begin again: Don’t tug on the garment in the hoop. Use a hooping device, that same adhesive or water-activated topping, or your eyeballs to make sure the backing is secure all the way around and, if it’s not, begin again. Give the back of the hooped goods a little flick to hear that thunk. And don’t forget to recess the hoop a little. Some hooping devices accommodate this “automatically.” Run your hands under the hoop to check for errant parts that don’t need to be stitched.

The end result will be a smooth surface, no puckering or holes at the edge of the stitching, and no hair-tearing when you discover a sleeve sewn to the left chest of the garment.

Stellar digitizing

Digitize things the way they are. If leaves are divided, plan them in two segments, with a different stitch angle for each side so the color appears different and the leaf looks real. Plan some extra underlay for loft down the center of leaves to give a rounded look. You can do the same thing with a fire hose, a water spigot, a horse’s haunch, Santa’s mustache. Run a center line underlay stitch down the center of a leaf and out the end before you digitize the cover stitches, and watch the pull of the fabric create a fine, sharp point.

Build your embroidery designs from back to front, paying attention to any choices in stitch angle, direction, artistic underlay or pattern that can make a design really sing. Play with your patterned fills to create shingles, bricks, wrought iron and more. Cram those patterned fills into small spaces, change the parameters and watch lace and ringlets of hair appear under your needle. You will be absolutely amazed at what patterned fills can create—even more so if you combine them with some of the tweedy, variegated or other special threads available.

Savvy color choices

Educate yourself about the three attributes of color: hue (color family), value (darkness or lightness), and chroma (brightness or dullness).

The toughest color challenge is fixed form and fixed color. That is what we have in embroidery. We can seldom change the proportion of one element of the design as opposed to the others. As we can’t mix the threads like ink, fixed form and fixed color requires savvy color choices.

For our purposes, value is the most important of the three color attributes. A photographer’s gray scale is a good way to learn about color value. Scan your color chart and your garments and view them in shades of gray. Compare them with the photographer’s gray scale. Your color choices should be two or more value steps away from each other—and the goods or garment—in order for the design to read well from even a short distance. If you choose your values near to each other the colors will blend in your eye.

Values that are close to each other are great choices when you have a message in your design and you don’t want your colors to compete. But if the message is the design, you want the colors to pop right off the garment.

I rack my threads by value, not hue, which makes choosing the values that work best a simpler task. After you have scanned your thread card, arrange your threads from light to dark.

Get in the habit of considering your color-value choices more carefully and you will give your designs an edge that the customers might not quite understand, but will know that your apparel has a little more zing to it . . . which can ring in your cash drawer.

Photographing a design in black and white—to take the quality of hue (color family) off the table—then comparing it to a full-color version of the same design reveals significant information about color’s other two attributes, value and chroma.

Quality goods

I am such a believer in knowing your product that I wrote a whole chapter in my first book about how to read the catalogue and understand construction and fabric. I can’t stress it enough, and often use the analogy in my workshops about the carpenter: If he doesn’t know the difference between oak and pine, you may not have a hardwood floor. If he chooses poplar instead of cherry, your kitchen cabinets will be prone to scratches and scarring. He has to know the substrates with which he works. And so do you.

If a customer’s washer or dog eats the husband’s favorite shirt and the tag is gone, you can match the construction points and replace the shirt. This means you have to know the difference between placket styles, collar construction and more. You have to know that some shirts have a seam down the side; some don’t (called tubular goods). Does it have a drop tail, vented sides? Is it ringspun cotton, piqué knit?

By the same token, if a customer asks during a presentation why one shirt costs more than another, you will be prepared to answer with professionalism and likely upsell that customer on the pricier garment.

Learn the terms used, what they mean and how to “read” the catalogue descriptions. Nothing will build more confidence with your customer than a professional demeanor and a knowledge of product as well as process.

Playing to win

I went to a ball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox while I was at the Printwear Show in July. Even after two home runs, the Orioles were trailing by one in the bottom of the ninth. The fans who didn’t believe were long gone.

Suddenly, the tying run was on first. The player stole second accompanied by the screams of an appreciative crowd and, after a base hit, was dancing on third base. A bobbled pitch sent the runner home, sliding on his chest for what seemed an eternity, and tying up the score.

The tenth inning had the remaining Baltimore fans gloating that their faith was being rewarded—with more exciting baseball. The Sox went down one, two, three and the Orioles were ready to fly. After an intentional walk, bases loaded and two outs, a rookie stepped the plate. Instructed to bunt, he tried . . . twice.

Then he decided to swing.

His batting average was in the basement and the crowd held its collective breath. Just long enough, the ball sailed between second and short stop. The player on third did fly, across home plate and you could almost see flames shooting from his cleats.

I was reminded of one of my favorite poems—by Guillaume Apollinaire—that I used as the conclusion of my second book and often quote in my seminars:

Come to the edge
He said. They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge
He said. They came.
He pushed them, and
They flew.

Winning embroidery can be yours. Just go for the hit. Practice and study and always strive for more than even you know you can do. Set yourself apart by becoming a professional, with preparation, killer designs, unbeatable color choices and quality garments. Don’t settle for a bunt—swing for the parking lot!