What embroidery backing & needle do I use on a 100% Polyester Shell Jacket for my embroidery design  is a  question that I have received many times.  There are a lot of variations to these polyester shell jackets.  Some have a bonded interlining on the lining, some have a vinyl coating on the back of the jacket shell fabric, some have both the bonded interlining and the vinyl  on the shell fabric and some have a plain thin outside shell with a thin polyester lining.

On all of these jackets use a tearaway backing and a sharp needle.  I prefer to use the 70/10 sharp needle for this type of embroidery  application.

There are some new jackets on the market with a vinyl coating on the back of the very thin shell fabric that seem to be very troublesome when you try to embroider on them.  This fabric has a lot of Spandex in it and is very stretchy.  For these jackets I would use the same 70/10 sharp needle, but I would switch to cutaway backing even though it is a woven fabric.  It appears to be a very thin fabric before the vinyl coating was applied and the embroidery wants to eat up the fabric.  I had to come up with a solution to fix 12 very expensive jackets for a customer that ruined these jackets.  This was a very experienced embroiderer, but it was a fabric that was very new and on the surface, it did not appear to be any different than many other jackets that they had embroidered in the past.

Make Sure Each New Embroidery Order Is Tested And Is Approved On The First Garment

Be very careful when you are faced with a new type of fabric and make sure that you test out the embroidery first.  If you have nothing to test on, it would have been better to run one single jacket and check it before you put all 12 on a 12 head machine.  When I had my embroidery shop, this was a requirement for all of my embroiderers, when they started a new job.  Run one and get it approved before you run the entire job!  If this is not a rule in your shop, make sure that you start doing this immediately!  It will save you a lot of headaches, money and unhappy customers!

Have you ever been faced with a situation like this?  Comment below and let me know how  you solved it?

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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I am in the process of creating a brand new embroidery video training site.  If you are or have been a student of mine in the past, you are familiar with my current site EmbroideryTipsAndMore.com.

Within a few weeks I will have the brand new site up with more information on it than the old site.  I am very excited about this new site.  It is going to be very clean and easy to find any of the information that you need at the time that you need it. 

It is also going to be able to be viewed in Firefox and on  MAC computers as well as Internet Explorer!  This has really been a huge issue in the past because my current site can only be viewed in Internet Explorer!

All of the current students will be grandfathered over into the new system at the current prices.  Anyone that joins our program between now and the new release date will be able to get in at the current price and will be able to stay at that price level.  I have an entirely new membership system and there are going to be more levels of membership in the new system. 

I do not have an exact release date at this time, but I will keep you posted.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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Sunday, February 28th we get on the ship for our Embroidery Cruise.  This is such a busy an exciting time for me, preparing the lessons for the cruise and, finalizing my book and getting it to the printers, just in time for the cruise!  I am busy preparing the lessons that I will be teaching on the Embroidery cruise and  I am really looking forward to sharing what I know with my students.  Some of the embroiderers will be new to me and I am so anxious to meet them.   My daughter Kathleen will be joining me for this spectacular event!  7 days of fun, relaxing, sharing with my daughter, networking with other embroiderers and teaching my favorite subject!  Life does not get any better than that!

I will be teaching the following courses:

• How To Work With Stock Designs
• How To Save Time In Design Creation
• How To Work With Small Lettering
• How To Create  Pricing Structure That Will Create A Profit For Your Embroidery Business
• How To Market Your Embroidery Business -Including Marketing Your Business On -Line

I finished writing my book and I will have some copies  with me on the cruise.  My books will arrive just in time for me to leave!  The title of my book is “The Truth About Embroidery Business Success”  and the sub title is “7 Elements To A Profitable Home Based Embroidery Business”.  I have been working on this book for several months but it is finally finished.  As soon as I am back from the cruise, I will be creating a website for my book and I have some exciting plans for the future that I will be sharing with you shortly!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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New Features For Embroidery Tips And More Video Training Site

I am so happy to announce that we are adding some exciting new features for all of the members of our Embroidery Tips And More Embroidery video training site.

• Personal Call In Time Once Per Month
• Personal 15 Minute Consultation For All New Members
• Private Members Forum
• Webinar Will Be Held During The Day Time Hours Every Other Month

Call In Time-Personal One on One Time With The Embroidery Coach

This new feature will start on January 21st.  This call in time will be held the 3rd Thursday of every month.  This will be your personal one on one time that you can call in and ask me anything that you would like to know about running your embroidery business.   I am very excited about being able to spend time with you personally.

I would love to be able to work with each person  on a one on one basis,  and I thought that this will be the  best way for me to be able to connect with you and give you your own personal time with me. You will be allowed 10 minutes for this call. Save up your questions and be ready for this one on one time with me.  All members will receive an email with the actual call in times and phone number to use.

Personal FREE Embroidery Business Consultation For All New Members

Each new member will be called and welcomed.  You will receive a 15 minute consultation about your embroidery business.  This will give me a chance to find out a little more about you, your business and will help me to discover how I can help you more with your embroidery business.  Each new member will be sent an email to schedule their Free consultation.

Private Embroidery Tips And More Club Members Forum

We are working on a Private Members forum.  This will only be available to all of the Embroidery Tips and More.com Embroidery Club members.  This forum will be open to any questions about embroidery applications, design issues,  or any other embroidery business issues.  I will be announcing when the Forum is open.

New Day Time Embroidery Webinar Hours

I have heard from many of you that  you cannot attend the Embroidery webinars because they are held in the evening.  I have decided to rotate the times for the webinars so that you will be able to attend during day if the night times for the webinars have been impossible to work with your schedule.  Traditionally our webinars have been held at 8pm Eastern Time and this is not always the best time for everyone.

When I first started holding the Embroidery webinars, I asked for the best times and this time worked for the majority of the club members.  Times have changed and I have decided to rotate the times for the webinars to best suit everyone.   The webinar this month will be held at the same time, at 8pm on the last Tuesday of the month,  but next month I would like to start the rotation schedule.

The recorded version of the Embroidery webinars has been available for all of those that register, but the live interaction is always better for the attendees.  I will continue holding the webinar on the last Tuesday of the month, but I would like to have some opinions as to which times of the day works best for you.  At the end of this post, I would like for you to comment and let me know which times will work for you.

• 11:00 am Eastern Time
• 1:00 pm Eastern Time
• 2:00 pm Eastern Time
• 4:00 pm Eastern Time

I would like to accommodate everyone, but obviously that is impossible.  If you will please let me know which time is best for you, then I will schedule the day time webinar for the majority.

Thank you so much and I am really looking forward to working with each and everyone of my Embroidery Tips and More Embroidery Club Members in 2010!  This is going to be such a great year!!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach
Author of the forth coming book,
“The Truth About Embroidery Business Success”

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The big question that I get a lot is What Golf, Polo, or Knit shirts can I order for my embroidery customers that will not shrink?  I ordered from Sanmar and the shirts that I ordered shrank after I washed them.  Who should I order from?

Actually Sanmar is about the best out there that I know of.  They are very easy to deal with and offer a huge variety of products and quality.  What brand did you order?  That is what you are going to have to pay attention to, not the supplier.  All of the knit shirts are going to shrink a little bit.  This is something that is totally unavoidable.  Knit shrinks no matter what, especially when it is put in the dryer.  I do not care how expensive the shirt it, there will be a small amount of shrinkage.  Some are a lot worse than others.

“Order 3 Different Golf, Polo Or Knit Shirts In 3 Different Qualities And Test For Shrinkage”

Try ordering 3 different shirts, 3 different qualities, all well known brands and test from there and see how you make out.  How are you testing the shrinkage?  Lay the shirt out on a piece of backing,  I mean from a large roll and trace around it.  Wash and dry it and then lay the shirt back on your drawing again and compare that way.  This is how I used to test my shirts.

I always offered 3 different qualities to my customers and I told them in advance about the shrinkage.  If they were more interested in price, that was their issue, not mine, they were told.  Sometimes they just order the next size larger to compensate for the shrinkage.  Not only does this work, but it also covers your butt, so to speak.

Good luck, and remember no matter what shirt or how much shrinkage, the shirt will always need a little press to look great!  The embroidery will always pucker or cup under a little after washing and drying when you have a lot of fill stitches in the design.  A little press takes care of this issue.  So many embroiderers think that it is the design when this happens, but that is not necessarily true.

If this tip helps you please leave a comment and let me know!  I would really appreciate it.  Sometime I do not know if my information is getting to you or know.  If you let me know, then that will help me to deliver the kind of information that you are looking for.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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Each morning I receive a Quote of the day from Brian Tracy.  My quote of the day is “Time Flies.  It is up to you to be the navigator”!  This quote was first by Robert Orben, but it is so timely, I just had to share it with you.  Thank you Brian Tracy for those words of wisdom for the day!

I am sitting here in my bed, recouping from surgery with my foot in the air!  I am working from my laptop, my phone is ringing off the wall with requests for digitizing of embroidery designs, emails are coming in with  more requests for embroidery designs and I am trying to prepare for Lesson 2 of our series teaching home embroiderers “How To Create Their Own On Line Embroidery Marketing System”!   I thought the quote was totally prefect for the day and I know that all embroiderers will understand when they read this email.

When you are involved in your own business, you do not have the luxury of taking too much time off.  You have to keep going and adjust to whatever the circumstances are that are thrown at you from hour to hour.  This is especially true for embroiderers.

Last night about 8pm my Son came in, Mom I need a favor!  He is still the manager of the embroidery shop that I owned for 25 years.  He had a last minute order of caps that needs to be done today and of course had no design for it.  He did not need the digitized design until noon today!  Of course Mom came to the rescue!  I was preparing for my upcoming webinar at that time, but dropped  what I was going to digitize his design!

That is a typical in the life of an embroiderer! That is unless, you are the type that has everything planned out and lets nothing change your plans!  Do you know anyone like that?  I don’t!

Stop, Have A Cup Of Tea And Laugh!

Just remember when you day starts off like this one has for me, the first thing you need to do is Stop, have a cup of tea and laugh!  That is My Quote for the day!!

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This morning my husband and I are at my neices condo on Anna Maria Island in Florida.  We have been sitting right outside this beautiful condo that is right on the beach.  It is  an incredible sight at the moment.  There are 3 dolphins that have been playing around on the edge of the water for quite sometime.  There are a few people that keep swimming out to them and the dolphins are swimming around them.  I have never seen anything like this.

Last night we saw several dolphins swim past us going south and my neice says that they usually swim north past them in the morning, but this morning they are pretty much staying in one spot and just paying around.

This is an incredible vacation.  We have done so much relaxing and have seen many sites that we do not normally see.  It is so refreshing to do something besides work!  I have done quite a bit of work also on this trip but begin able to relax is really great!

We will be leaving the condo late this afternoon to go back to Ocala, Florida.  My neices home is about 2.5 hours northeast of the condo on Anna Maria Island.

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