# Best weight tshirt for embroidery



## positiveattitude

What is the best weight tshirt to use for an embroidered design?


The design will be 4-6 words on one line that would be approx. 2.5 inches wide and 9 inches long.

I am looking for American Made tshirts.

Diane
Positiv' Attitudes


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## AndTees

We frequently embroider on Port PC61's... 6.1oz 100% cotton. They work and wear well and look nice.


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## PromoTshirtCrazy

I wouldn't recommend embroidery on a t-shirt, the weight of the embroidery would weigh down the shirt and it would feel awkward. You're better off embroidering a polo shirt, and since the material of polo shirts are generally thicker the embroidery will hold better.


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## positiveattitude

I don't have the image ready yet, I am talking to a graphic artist about it.

In one of my other posts I questioned about using one place to work on my design, digitize the graphic, supply tshirts, and embroider them. 

Rodney suggested I use a separate graphic artist because many times the supplier will want to keep the design so you will continue to order from them.

The person I am going to start with is a friend's brother. Is there anything special I need to specify with him because my image is for embroidery? What about if I want to use the same image for screen printing? Will they work with the same file type?


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## positiveattitude

Here is another question regarding t-shirts. As I mentioned before I want to use American made products. 

At first, I was thinking about American Apparel because they seem to be very popular on these forums. However, I noticed some posts that mentioned American Apparel t-shirts are lighter weight and have a slim fit. Are Port shirts made in the U.S.A?

I would like to use a t-shirt that is heavy enough for the embroidery, and has a more relaxed fit. I don't want to use unisex shirts that generally are very loose, just something that does not run small or is fitted. Any suggestions?


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## craftycorner

I embroidery on t-shirt I like the heavy one
at least 6.1 weight. I use a cutaway on the
back to support the design and a clear one on white, its all in the backing and the design
Bigger designs needs to be heavier, and I also would use polo or pull over with alot of 
body. But, t-shirts are good affordable and do up nice with a good retail price.
Linda


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## jtrainor56

T-shirts do not hold up well with embroidery, you are better off screen printing. With that said i would use a Hanes Beefy-T if you have to do embroidery on a t-shirt. As for the design, an embroidery design requires a digitized file that needs to be created with digitizing software. The design for the screen printer can be created on a graphics software such as Corel or Illustrator.


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## phocused

Have to agree with above posts, embroidery on T-Shirts is less than ideal. Good embroidery is all about stability and Tees just can't provide enough. Even with a hefty sandwich of backing and topping they tend to pucker after a few washes.

If you have to do it use a smaller design, 1-2 inches wide 2-3000 stitches. Really subtle. The type of design your talking about sounds like it should be screen printed.

Another thing to consider is dealing with your decorator up front about the ownership of your files. Request your vector art and digitized files on disc with your finished product. They will either give it you no hassle, charge you a small fee or flat out say no. No harm in it, pretty common.


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## lizziemaxine

phocused said:


> Have to agree with above posts, embroidery on T-Shirts is less than ideal. Good embroidery is all about stability and Tees just can't provide enough. Even with a hefty sandwich of backing and topping they tend to pucker after a few washes.
> 
> If you have to do it use a smaller design, 1-2 inches wide 2-3000 stitches. Really subtle. The type of design your talking about sounds like it should be screen printed.
> 
> Another thing to consider is dealing with your decorator up front about the ownership of your files. Request your vector art and digitized files on disc with your finished product. They will either give it you no hassle, charge you a small fee or flat out say no. No harm in it, pretty common.


I disagree with this. I embroider on t-shirts all the time and have never had a complaint from my customers that the embroidery that they puckered or didn't hold up. Thread is going to hold up better than ink to repeated washings. 
With the right design and the correct stabilizer, embroidery works very well on tee shirts.
After I embroider on a tee shirt, and most other items, I press the design area on my heat press - 300 degrees for 10-15 seconds. Seems to eliminate most "after washing" puckering.


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## Liberty

Bravo - I agree. We've been running a multi head embroidery operation for 22 years and if done right, embroidery on tee shirts is just fine. I'm certainly not a fan of embroidery on some of the perfect weight and burnout tees but good embroidery with good thread and stabalizers and a properly digitized design will be just fine on a tee. None of the above posters would hesitate to embroider on a 4.5 ounce Nike Golf polo so why not on a 5.6 ounce 50/50 tee?

A few years ago we embroidered a 180,000 stitch design on a $10 long sleeve tee - why? Because the customer insisted. We charged her a $60 setup on top of the $135.00 embroidery charge and she not only loved it, she wears it constantly and has refered several really good customers to us since and she came back to have the same embroidery put on a cheapo sweatshirt. I get a Christmas card from her every year now. And ya know what, I was not the first embroiderer she talked to - she had been told by several that "you can't embroider that on a t-shirt."

Tell ya what, if any of ya don't want to sell embroidered tees, send the customers my way...

Now with that said, are there times where screen printing or DTG are more appropriate? Of course. And you should always offer the alternatives to the customer but in the end - there is absolutely nothing wrong with embroidery on tee shirts.




lizziemaxine said:


> I disagree with this. I embroider on t-shirts all the time and have never had a complaint from my customers that the embroidery that they puckered or didn't hold up. Thread is going to hold up better than ink to repeated washings.
> With the right design and the correct stabilizer, embroidery works very well on tee shirts.
> After I embroider on a tee shirt, and most other items, I press the design area on my heat press - 300 degrees for 10-15 seconds. Seems to eliminate most "after washing" puckering.


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## lizziemaxine

Liberty said:


> Bravo - I agree. We've been running a multi head embroidery operation for 22 years and if done right, embroidery on tee shirts is just fine. I'm certainly not a fan of embroidery on some of the perfect weight and burnout tees but good embroidery with good thread and stabalizers and a properly digitized design will be just fine on a tee. None of the above posters would hesitate to embroider on a 4.5 ounce Nike Golf polo so why not on a 5.6 ounce 50/50 tee?
> 
> A few years ago we embroidered a 180,000 stitch design on a $10 long sleeve tee - why? Because the customer insisted. We charged her a $60 setup on top of the $135.00 embroidery charge and she not only loved it, she wears it constantly and has refered several really good customers to us since and she came back to have the same embroidery put on a cheapo sweatshirt. I get a Christmas card from her every year now. And ya know what, I was not the first embroiderer she talked to - she had been told by several that "you can't embroider that on a t-shirt."
> 
> Tell ya what, if any of ya don't want to sell embroidered tees, send the customers my way...
> 
> Now with that said, are there times where screen printing or DTG are more appropriate? Of course. And you should always offer the alternatives to the customer but in the end - there is absolutely nothing wrong with embroidery on tee shirts.


Well said.


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## imeccentric

I have to agree with the last two posts. T's hold up well with the proper stabilizer. Also, heat setting the design "retrains" the thread memory so it won't pucker as much. In reality, most of us embroider on LOTS of things worse than t's. I just got an order for 150 "performance" shirts that are so thin you can see through them and they are VERY stretchy. Makes t's look like denim


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## positiveattitude

I own several t-shirts that are embroidered and they still look great years later. 

I guess when I talk to design/embroidery houses, I will see what they say. If they recommend only screenprinting, then I think I will look elsewhere. If they don't recommend embroidery on tees, it is probably because they haven't perfected the procress. And they are right, I probably won't be happy with their product.

Ok, now any recommendations on an American made, regular fit, 6.1 oz t-shirt?


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## moondane

I have done a lot of embroidery on Bayside brand tees - made in USA. They are nice , heavy tees that look great embroidered. 
Judy


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## Liberty

Bayside and Jensen may be your only US made choices. Both are good tees. There are lots of other cut and sew options but for off the shelf, these two are about it.


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## positiveattitude

Liberty said:


> Bayside and Jensen maybe your only US made choides. There are lots of other cut and sew options but for off the shelf, these two are about it.


What are these other options?


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## Liberty

Before I point you to a few cut and sews, are you prepared for their higher prices and minimums? Most US made cut and sew tee shirts would be 3 to 4 times the price (or more) and that is if you are buying on the order of 100 dozen or more per color and sometimes per size per color. For tube cut garments the shops have to buy a roll of material in each color and size. This is different than a panel cut shirt (with side seams) where they can cut different sizes from the same yardage. And, if you want the union made label it is another beast alltogether.



positiveattitude said:


> What are these other options?


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## positiveattitude

Liberty said:


> Before I point you to a few cut and sews, are you prepared for their higher prices and minimums? Most US made cut and sew tee shirts would be 3 to 4 times the price (or more) and that is if you are buying on the order of 100 dozen or more per color and sometimes per size per color. For tube cut garments the shops have to buy a roll of material in each color and size. This is different than a panel cut shirt (with side seams) where they can cut different sizes from the same yardage. And, if you want the union made label it is another beast alltogether.



Thanks, but no thanks. I do want to stick with US made, but I can't support the higher cost or quantities.

I will stick with the blank shirt companies that have been mentioned. 

Does anyone know anything about Eagle or King Louie?


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## Liberty

Not familiar with eagle? King Louie makes a nice USA made shirt but I don;t think they have a t-shirt? Mostly golf shirts and jackets...


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## positiveattitude

lizziemaxine, imeccentric, liberty, moondane, and any others who do embroider on t-shirts,

What is the lowest weight t-shirt you would recommend doing embroidery on and still get great results? 

Have any of you used American Apparel? What style number?

I am ordering some blank samples to see what shirts I like best. (for fit, washing etc.) 

Do you think I will have a problem if my local embroidery shop doesn't carry the shirt I want? Will most places allow you to supply the t-shirts? 

I know the embroidery would probably cost a little more per shirt because they wouldn't have the markup of the tees. 

When I contact an embroiderer I would like to know if their policies are standard.

I think I read that it is best to have the person doing the embroidery digitize your graphic file. Do you suggest that also, and if you digitize the file who owns the rights to the design? 

I would like to have everything on a disk of my own. If I find the right embroiderer I would contine to do business with them, but if I have to change I would want to have the rights to my graphics file.

Any advice please?

Diane 
Positiv' Attitudes


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## Younus

positiveattitude said:


> I own several t-shirts that are embroidered and they still look great years later.
> 
> I guess when I talk to design/embroidery houses, I will see what they say. If they recommend only screenprinting, then I think I will look elsewhere. If they don't recommend embroidery on tees, it is probably because they haven't perfected the procress. And they are right, I probably won't be happy with their product.
> 
> Ok, now any recommendations on an American made, regular fit, 6.1 oz t-shirt?



I have done embroidery (full chest size ) with 85000 stiitches, 7 colours ( 3.5 inch height x 10.5 inch wide ) words/lettering.

Nothing is impossible, And there was no complaint.

Yes, the fabric was Single jersey +270 GSM.

Rgds

Younus
All Embroidered


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## Liberty

Diane,

We regularly embroider on knits as light as 4 oz. Be they golf shirts or t-shirts, it is still a knit vs. a woven.

If you are looking to have garments embroidered I would consider this, treat the process as three separate steps with three separate vendors.
1. Buy your garments from a garment supplier.
2. Have your artwork digitized by a professional digitizer.
3. Have the garments embroidered by a contract embroiderer.

IF you can combine these steps with one or two vendors, fine, but it is not a requirement. There can be advantages to one stop shopping but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I personally prefer to deal with professionals in each of the three steps and by doing so I am in control of the process from beginning to end. Even though we embroider and digitize in-house, there are times where we outsource all or part of the process. Obviouesly, we buy garments from a number of manufacturers and wholesalers. We use six different digitizers on occasion, two for our overnight overflow work with basic logos, one for tiny lettering, one for fins, feathers and fur, one for extreme detail and one for multi media jacket backs. We use two contract screen printers and a couple of contract embroiderers and we use a few specialized full service shops like Carolina Caps.

There are vendors that excel at one stop servce. Vantage Apparel sells fantastic garments and has a top notch decorating department. Carolina caps provide great custom caps and their decorating quality is very good. I'm sure there are many others. But for every one full service contract shop, there are dozens of shops that do one thing very, very well. 

Don't be so hung up on "Local" embroiderers. Seek out contract decorators and they should be shops that ONLY do contract work, not shops that are predominantly your competitors but take in contract work to stay busy. If they are local, fine, but if not that's OK too. Internet, e-mail, phone and fax can cover a lot of distance in a hurry. Just be mindful of additional freight costs. Lots of contract shops provide free pickup from the major garment distributors to help out in that area.

One last note, there are no standard policies. Just so there are policies and both parties agree, that's what is important. In your dealings with contract shops it should be obvious that they exist to serve their contract customers and that will be obvious from the outset. They will have policies and procedures in place to move your garments in and out with little effort and no opportunities for ambiguity. Look at places like Target Graphics, Vantage apparel, Minds Eye Graphics... they all have very clearly established policies, price lists etc. 

Good luck...


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## chiliman

Hello All, as a screen printer I can't say much about what works well with embroidery. But I use a proclub shirt for alot of my business. Its one of the heaviest in the industry at 6.5 oz. It will hold up really well and has a nice cut with nice collars.
I am soon to purchase an embroidery machine, of course i'm somewhat unsettled as to what machine is best for me. But I imagine it will come together soon. 2 or 4 head? Tajima, Swf, Barudan, Happy. O the joys of business. 
I would like to add: this is an awesome place for info. It has given me lots of insight, and left me with many questions. This probably doesn't belong in this section but I am open to hear the good and the bad that anyone may like to share regarding these machines.

Thanks Much for all this info!!


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## BarInk

Thanks to all, this info. had been very helpfull as I also want to try my hand at embroidering a small design on tee's.


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## dan-ann

Interesting Jane - do you heat press sweatshirts when you are done with the embroidery. think I will give it a try


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## American logoZ

dan-ann said:


> Interesting Jane - do you heat press sweatshirts when you are done with the embroidery. think I will give it a try


This is to Jane, and I hope she responds because she seems to have a lot of experience and gives good advice. But I'll toss in my .02. I press almost everything I stitch. Stitches down. On a teflon pillow (so stitches are set but not crushed). And I use a Floriani press n bond backing to further stabilize, cover the back of the embroidery, and feel nicer against the skin.


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## TAJIMATECH

I am an embroiderer and my husband is a embroidery machine service tech and you can absolutely embroider on t-shirts. Just walk through a children's clothing dept and you will see many embroidered items. I prefer Port Authority 6.1 oz they are soft and don't feel too bulky. I don't like the beefy t for its heavy feel. I am attaching a pic of an embroidered t-shirt. I recommend using 2 sheets soft and sheer or cutaway. Cutaway will be heavier so if you can the make the soft and sheer work go with that. Another trick I have learned is to seal it fusible embroidery backing.... All Stitch has some call cover a stitch. This prevents puckering and seals the backing and emb so it is not scratchy. You also need to you a ball point needle and increase your pull comp. I only use polyester thread so they can bleach it.


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## TAJIMATECH

Oh and one more thing. It is a must that the shirt is preshrunk. Last I checked American Apparel's shirts shrink 5% after washing. This will cause puckering no matter what you do. You would need to wash the shirt 1st before embroidering.


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## lizziemaxine

dan-ann said:


> Interesting Jane - do you heat press sweatshirts when you are done with the embroidery. think I will give it a try


I heat press everything I embroider.


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## dan-ann

Thanks Jane - I always press all my embroidery to set the stitches but just use my iron with a pressing cloth. Heat press would be quicker


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## sharlynn

Hi, I have been embroidering Gilden T shirts for 3 years with no problem. cheers ed


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