PANTOGRAMS IS NOW THE EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR FOR MEISTERGRAM EMBROIDERY EQUIPMENT FOR NORTH AMERICA.

Pantograms is now the exclusive distributor for Meistergram Embroidery Equipment for the United States of America and Canada. Whether you want to start a new home-based embroidery business, expand your current apparel business, or take your embroidery business on the road, the Meistergram product line can take you all the way. All Meistergram Embroidery Machines feature a 5 Year Warranty.. For training, there is a comprehensive video training CD and two days of training at the Pantograms office. To see the company’s entire line of embroidery software programs, books, embroidery equipment, and training videos go to www.pantograms.com. For more information click here or call (800) 872-1555; fax (813) 831-0441; e-mail: sales@pantograms.com.

With the new Artist’s Color Wheel Mixing Guide, offered by EmbSupplies.com, you can create the illusion of more colors with fewer threads. Blending threads is a great technique to use when creating animal fur, nature scenes, photographs, or replicating paintings in thread. By blending thread colors, you can create shaded effects and muted hues to give an embroidered design more interest, texture, and variety. With the color wheel, you can better understand color relationships so you can visualize how they relate to one another. You can see how to blend thread colors to get exactly the shade that you want. You can also use it to control color values so your embroidery doesn’t look flat. It works with any manufacturer’s thread colors. EmbSupplies.com offers a full line of embroidery supplies including thread, stabilizers, needles, hoops, scissors, and accessories. For more information go to EmbSupplies.com or contact EmbSupplies.com at (888) 805-2417; e-mail: webmaster@embsupplies.com .

THINKING OUTSIDE THE STITCHES

Left chest logos and Caps; that’s what typically embroidered as you peruse the shopping mall, flea market, or local embroidery shop. Often times, professional embroiderers find themselves sharing a small piece of a very large pie. However, this is just a taste of what embroidery has to offer.

Why do we see or visualize left chest logos and caps when we think of embroidery? There are a few reasons for this:

Everyone already does it.
When you are starting a new business, it’s harder to learn something new without proper training. However, if you are embroidering left chest logos, you can jump on an internet forum and find your answer; it’s a short road.

Most machines do it.
Even some non-commercial grade machines can do a shirt logo, or some limited cap embroidery. You don’t need to own 2 or 3 different machines to expand.

Minimizes the need for out-of-box thinking.
No need for explanation. Just find a local business or local school and get their logo from them.

Sounds easy, right? Don’t you want more than that though? Wouldn’t you rather have repeat business that is unique to your shop and your business? A niche market, something that your competition doesn’t offer!

Yes, I know you would love to do something different but maybe you cannot afford a whole separate machine for one niche product, or you would love to try something different but you don’t have anyone to teach you.

These are all part of the reasons why Pantograms has developed unique hooping systems and training for the extremely versatile TOYOTA ESP9100 NET. Now you no longer have to be limited to run-of-the-mill embroidery. You can expand, grow, change, think outside of your world and grow your business to new and profitable ventures!

One great system Pantograms has for the TOYOTA is the Patchmaster system. This embroidery hooping system and software package allows you to truly run production of patches. This system gives you the ability to embroider up to 16 different patches at once; 16 different names or logos. If you think about it as $10 a patch, you can embroider a $160 sale in 1 hooping. The Patchmaster system comes in 5 different variations and can expand your embroidery business to new levels.

Another extremely profitable sector is the automotive accessory industry. People who love cars, love their cars. They spend thousands of dollars on personalizing everything from the seats to the floors. Well, embroider it for them! Pantograms offers the Carpetmaster for embroidering on carpet mats or small rugs. A set of customized floor mats will cost an enthusiast over $100. Putting pennies worth of thread into a blank floor mat can increase its value over 5 times.

Don’t stop there! Embroider the seat covers too. You can use the TOYOTA 9100’s border frame to embroider a design up to 20.5” X 14.5.” You can cover nearly the entire center of a seat cover with a beautiful mix of stitches than can produce an amazing profit center for your business. Wouldn’t you love to sew and sell 100,000 stitches in one hooping?

These are just a few examples of the versatility Pantograms offers with its TOYOTA ESP 9100 NET. Other items include: a Sequin device, Cording device, Boring Device, Cylinder arm(shirt sleeves, golf club covers, pant legs, socks), 7-in-1 Hoopless Hooping system (shirt pockets, collars, cuffs, toilette paper), Military name tape, dog collars, Karate Belts. This is all on one embroidery machine your business can own.

If there is a way to hoop it, you can embroidery it. If you cannot hoop it, call Pantograms and we have a hoop for it. Don’t know how to embroidery it, Pantograms will train you.

HAPPY TIP FOR CAPS

There's several things to consider when sewing on finished caps. One of the most commonly over looked is the presser foot. Since caps are slightly raised above the needle plate, the presser foot needs to be raised as well. Leaving it down results in broken needles, poor stitch quality, and sometimes a bent presser foot.

Typically, adjusting the presser foot height is fairly complicated. Happy has made this adjustment quite simple on the Voyager. Two screws attach the presser foot on the right side, and there is a third screw hole in between them that is unused. Remove the bottom screw and loosen the top. Now reinstall the lower screw but into the middle hole. Tighten both screws and your presser foot is raised to the perfect height for sewing caps.

TAMPA APPAREL DECORATING BUSINESS WORKSHOP FOR THE DTG

Saturday, October 18 from 9am - 2pm at Pantograms Corporate Office - 4537 South Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611. We will be demonstrating the profit producing benefits of operating a DTG Direct to Garment Printer with a TOYOTA embroidery machine and a Happy Voyager.

Increase growth potential be adding another profit center to your embroidery business by combining embroidery with direct to garment printing. Sign up today...

 

EMBSUPPLIES.COM 

EmbSupplies.com is your one stop source for embroidery supplies. In our store, you'll find everything from backing and bobbins to hoops and embroidery thread. We offer the highest quality products in the industry. Isacord thread manufactured by Ackerman dates back 140 years to a family owned German business. Stitch Backers by Hollingsworth & Vose has been perfecting products since 1843. EmbSupplies products and excellent customer service is the reason for our success, and we will be one of the reasons for your success. All shipped quickly and at competitive prices from a company you can trust.

PANTOGRAMS OFFERS THE CARPETMASTER EMBROIDERY CARPET FRAME 

Open up new markets and sell more to your existing clientele with the CarpetMaster, a specialty frame designed for embroidering on carpet mats. This versatile frame can be used to embroider on rubber-backed carpet pieces used as welcome door mats for businesses and a variety of car mats. Its sturdy frame consists of a heavy-duty steel base with spikes to hold down the carpet. It is designed to hold a variety of sizes. When sewing, it is recommended to use polyester thread with a 90/14 sharp titanium needle at a machine speed of up to 900 stitches per minute.

CarpetMaster frames are available for the Toyota 850, 860, 9000, 9100ESP-3, and the ESP 9100 Net. For more information about Pantograms’ line of apparel decorating equipment and accessories, contact the company at (800) 872-1555; fax (813) 831-0441; e-mail: sales@pantograms.com.

EMBSUPPLIES.COM OFFERS WATER-SOLUABLE EMBROIDERY STABILIZER 

A new water dissolvable stabilizer, Cutaway/Washaway, offered by EmbSupplies.com is designed for creating free-standing appliqués or emblems that can be used to decorate apparel. Hoop Cutaway/Washaway as usual and sew out your design. Cut excess pieces away with scissors. All remaining stabilizer pieces are easily removed by soaking the embroidery in warm water.

Cutaway/Washaway is soft and sheer and provides great support to any type of free-standing embroidery. In addition to soaking it in warm water, in some cases, the item also can be run through the gentle cycle of the washer to remove excess.

Wash-Away is ideal for embroidering on fleece blankets, handkerchiefs, free-standing lace, napkins, and other similar applications where both sides of the piece are visible. It comes in a 12-inch wide by 25-yard roll.

EmbSupplies.com offers a full line of embroidery supplies including thread, stabilizers, needles, hoops, scissors, and accessories. For more information go to http://www.embsupplies.com or contact EmbSupplies.com at (888) 805-2417; e-mail: webmaster@embsupplies.com.

THE RIGHT THREAD FOR THE JOB 

Thread is available in different fibers. The most common in machine embroidery are rayon and polyester. One may also on occasion, use cotton, monofilament nylon, and metallic threads. For many years, rayon was the most popular thread due to its rich color and high sheen. It however, has relatively low strength. Polyester is very strong and bleach resistant but, until recently, it was not available in the vibrant colors and sheen that rayon is known for. Today the differences in appearance between rayon and poly are minimal.

Cotton is often required for military application such as nametapes. Monofilament nylon is utilized in institutional applications such as uniform emblems where patches may be applied, removed, and reapplied repeatedly. Metallics are often used to add interest and sparkle to a design. Another unique choice is solaractive thread. When exposed to UV light in normal sunshine the thread changes color. Indoors, the thread appears white but when taken outside the garment comes alive with color.

All Pantograms machines come threaded with polyester unless otherwise required by the customer.

HOOPING HINTS

One of the most important embroidery techniques to learn is hooping. Hooping is simply the act of placing the sandwich of backing and cloth within a frame so it can be attached to the machine. The important factor is placing the right amount of tension on the fabric.

Backing does not stretch, so placing tension on backing is achieved by smoothly pulling it across the face of the hoop and reaching what people call a "tambourine skin" tension. If one lightly taps on the backing it should resonate almost like a drum or a tambourine. The actual fabric of the garment is a more delicate matter. It needs to be smooth and tight but not too tight.

The secret in hooping is to first consider the garment construction and how it will be used. A sweater, for example, is rarely worn loose. More often they are slightly stretched when worn. This needs to be considered when hooping. One would typically hoop the garment so the fabric would be slightly stretched. This way the logo or design applied would fall naturally on the fabric as when it is worn. By the same token, care must be taken not to overstretch garments when they are hooped. If a pique knit shirt was stretched to its limits during hooping and then relaxed when it was worn, it would create puckering around the design.

BACKING BASICS

Backing is known as the foundation for any good embroidery. Without backing the embroidery has no stability or structure. The importance of the proper type and weight of backing cannot be over-emphasized. Many people get confused as to what exactly backing is.

Backing is a type of cloth, usually non-woven, that consists of fibers laid in random directions. These fibers in some cases can be easily torn. When a fabric is woven or knit, certain properties like stretch are inherent in the fabric. If embroidery were laid down on typical fabrics they would have a tendency to distort the fabric and pucker and eventually lose their shape and definition. When the fibers of backing are laid down in random directions they form a fabric that holds it shape and does not stretch in any direction. Backing maintains this property even through washing cycles. Typically, one would use a heavier backing on lighter, stretchier fabrics and could use a medium to heavy cutaway on pique knits. Backing is generally divided into three major categories: tear away, cutaway and specialty backings. Fiber strength determines whether backing is considered a tear away or cutaway.

THINKING OF STARTING AN EMBROIDERY BUSINESS?

The Commercial Embroidery business is a $47 Billion per year marketplace. That translates into unlimited opportunity for your start-up business!

The nature of the embroidery business enables you to have your workshop at home. You can keep your costs low while you build your business and work when it's convenient for you. Read more...