Embroidery Business

Embroidery, or the art of embellishing or adorning any kind of fabric with ornamental needlework, has been part of our culture since time immemorial. One always reads about white haired grannies or spinsters embroidering fabrics while weaving their tales. However toady, embroidery has come a long way since those days when people used to labor over a piece of cloth for weeks on end. It has been some years since computerized embroidery machines changed the way the world embroidered fabric. And with the advent of technology in the field of embroidery, more and more young entrepreneurs have taken to starting their own embroidery business.

Starting one’s own business is the best option for people who want to be their own bosses. When you own your own small business, then you are in a position to determine how much you want to earn and how many hours you want to put in. Apart from this, starting a business related to the crafts, like an embroidery business, gives you a chance to unleash your creativity as well. Starting an embroidery business of your own is a good idea if you want to stay at home for some reason or are already a stay at home mom. This is because you can easily set up a business at your home only, by designating even as less as one room as your work area.

Computerized embroidery machines have made getting into the embroidery business extremely easy. You do not need to be an experienced embroiderer in order to start an embroidery business of your own. You will just need to take a small tutorial, which is generally offered by most machine manufacturers on using your machine with an embroidery software and viola, you are in business! When programmed correctly, these embroidery machines can create complicated designs almost perfectly. So all you would need to know is how to use your software. These machines, as you might have guessed , are not cheap, but even then, most machine manufacturers offer very good financial deals and you can start your own business by investing less than thousand dollars also.

Starting an embroidery business is a very good idea right now, because the commercial embroidery market is worth 47bn dollars per year. On top of this, embroidery generally gets sold with at least 50%-100% markup on the cost price. You can start with selling to local organizations like clubs and sports centers. Educational and military institutions are also almost always in need of some embroidery services. With a little hard work and enterprise, you will soon be able to earn a lot of profit.

Embroidery Summary

Embroidery can be defined as the process of decorating a material, mostly a piece of cloth, with patterns that are stitched to it. This skill has a long historical background that has been passed in many generations from different cultures. There is mention of needlework even in the Old Testament Bible books such as Exodus. As an example,
there were a number of intricate designs stitched on the official robe of a high priest. Indeed, religious embroidery was more intricate, where vestments and alter pieces were delicately adorned. Church and court embroiderers were more professional than secular ones. The Red Indians in America embroidered their pieces of skin coverings with dyed porcupine quills.

In all these cultures, the common denominator has been the fact embroidery was a show of high status in the community. It was and still is very distinct from patching up an old cloth. Egyptian mummies have been found wrapped in garments completely covered with gold stitches. In some cultures, women were expected to posse’s embroidery skills.

Many different materials are used when making embroidery. These decorative objects include jewels, beads, shells, feathers, and metals among others. They are used in different ways that result in different classifications. The embroideries are mostly categorized depending on the relationship of placing stitches on fabric, for example whether the stitches pass under the fabric or not. Another classification depends on how the design is placed on the fabric, whether on top or through it.

During the early periods, both men and women had their attires embroidered. At present, however, embroidery has largely remained for female clothing’s. The method employed has also rapidly changed from hand-operation to computerized technology. The sewing machines are controlled by computers that read digital files. This has succeeded the use of designs punched on paper tape, which had a high error margin that required complete restart of a project. The use of computers in this field was introduced by Wilcom in 1980. The Internet has propelled the process even further as currently you can find practically thousands of designs for free. In addition, the reduction in costs of computers has made it accessible to more people.

Once you have a digitized embroidery design file loaded on an embroidery machine, simply place your fabric in the machine. Of course you need to stabilize the fabric first in order to prevent wrinkles. Finally start and monitor your machine.