Most people who are having large numbers of clothing garments embroidered (from fancy dress costumes for fun nights out to promotional uniforms) are interested to find out how the magic actually happens. Embroidery techniques may have advanced to the stages of digitalisation, but computers can’t simply do all the work.

A design must first be digitised before it can be embroidered by a sewing machine. This means that the design needs to be scanned in and changed into a certain format, involving the use of CAD and CAM technology (Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture, respectively). Often the digitising process produces images that are ‘messed up’ or that look very different to the original, because the number of pixels in the scanned image and the number on the computer screen are different. Therefore, before the design can be embroidered onto the fabric a human must oversee the computers to check that they are digitising the images correctly. Even though much of the process uses machinery, it is absolutely essential for this monitoring from humans, or there could be so many poorly digitised designs embroidered onto fabric and sent out to very unhappy customers.

After the checks to ensure the digitising went well are carried out the digitised design can be transferred to a machine ready to be sewn onto the fabric. Any designs that have been warped during digitising will need to be processed by hand to be returned to their original state. Next for the sewing machine comes the process of reading the image and the pattern that was formulated from it. The way these patterns are put together sometimes means that the design doesn’t look anything like it should do until it’s finished, due to the layers of thread and different shaped and colours that need to coincide. Because the pattern was derived from the original image you can rest assured that it looks perfect at the end.

The only interruption in the process comes when the colour of threads or the strength of needles need to be changed by a human, rather than by the machine itself. As a result, customers usually have to wait between one and two days for their designs to be sewn on from when their image reached the embroidery company’s manufacturer. Each design only needs to be digitised once because it gets stored on the memories of both the sewing machine and the computer, making multiple copies of one design very easy to process. As a result, the time taken to embroider the same image on a whole boxful of garments is considerably less than it is for even just half a box of different designs.

This brings us to the conclusion for the process of embroidering a design onto a garment, explaining how they are done both individually and in mass corporate clothing manufacture. The now thriving industry owes itself to advances in computer aided manufacturing technology, which has cut down the time it takes to embroider an item of clothing considerably. This brings us to the conclusion for the process of embroidering a design onto a garment, explaining how they are done both individually and in mass corporate clothing manufacture. The now thriving industry owes itself to advances in computer aided manufacturing technology, which has cut down the time it takes to embroider an item of clothing considerably.