“Cruise To Embroidery Success”

It is time to plan for your next vacation and join us on Royal Caribbean’s “Mariner of the Seas” for a fantastic time on our 3rd annual “Cruise To Embroidery Success”.

On January 23, 2011 we will be departing from Los Angeles, California for a vacation of a life time to the Mexican Riviera!  This past cruise to the Caribbean was such a great time and I am really looking forward to the one coming up January 2011.

I had the opportunity to meet some of the most wonderful people that I have ever met in this industry. These  embroiderers came from all walks of life. We had embroiderers that were just starting out in the business as well as embroiderers that had been in the business for over 15 years.  There were young embroiderers and others that started their business’ after retiring from their life long careers!  We had a grand time networking and sharing all kinds of information about our personal lives,  embroidery, heat transfers, digitizing, and whatever else was on the minds of the embroiderers that would help to grow their business!  This was networking at it’s best!

Visit the ISS Show Before The Embroidery Cruise

This year the cruise will be held in conjunction with the  “ISS Show” in Long Beach, California. This is the largest ISS Show held during the year!   This is a great opportunity for  you to see all of the new equipment and products that are available and have a chance to talk directly to your suppliers.  The show starts January 21 and we are leaving for the Mexican Riviera on January 23rd.

This is an opportunity of a lifetime that you do not want to miss!

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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I want to wish you a very special Merry Christmas.  You only have a few more days for preparing all of your Christmas presents and finishing up all of the embroidery for your customers presents!  This has really been a busy time for all of us embroiderers!

It seems like December goes by faster than any other month of the year!  There are so many necessary preparations for our own celebration and yet this is the busiest month of the year for most embroiderers.  And then there is the coming new year!  You are bombarded with so many tasks that need to be finished by the end of the year in preparation for starting the new year.  The bookkeeping needs to be all caught up with, the taxes have to be paid and much organization and planning is a must for the coming new year.

Even though you have so much to do, please do not forget to take time out to celebrate our season and the reason for the season.  Enjoy your family time; those children are grown and gone way too soon.

I want to give you a special present for this holiday season.  It is a beautiful embroidery design that I created and it has been very popular for me.  I have embroidered this design on pillows, blankets and even the neckline of a blouse.  It is a large design, measuring 8.5 inches wide by 6 inches tall.  It really works out great for a corner placement.  Here is a picture of the design.  I can only offer it in a .dst file.

This design is 15,500 stitches with a lot of open areas.  It has 10 color stops.  I have embroidered this design using all white thread and I have embroidered it using the pinks, reds, yellows, purples and blues.  All of the color combinations work out very well.  I wish that the .dst design would show up in the correct colors, but this never happens.  When you  bring up the design in your software, you can view this picture and change the colors that will work for you and the item that you will be using it on.

Click on this Large Rose Bouquet design to download it and use it for your own, but you cannot sell it.  What I mean by that is, you can use the design for your customers items, but you cannot sell the design to anyone else.  This is my design that I created and I am allowing you to use it.  I hope that you enjoy it and have a wonderful Christmas!

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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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Setting Up Your Marketing System

In Lesson 2 of our “How To Create Your Own Embroidery Marketing System On-Line“, we are going to be going through  and setting up the back end of your Marketing System so that it will be search engine optimized from the very first blog post.  Next Tuesday night July 28th, at 8pm is Lesson 2 in this series.  If you missed the first lesson, you can sign up for the next lesson and get caught up.  Videos of the first Lesson will be sent to you.

Having a website and marketing system is just as important to a home based embroidery business as it is to a large corporate embroidery business.  You need to be able to stay in front of your customers at all times and make it easy for them to find you and purchase from you.  I have created an entire system that will walk you through step by step as to how to create an entire marketing system from choosing your domain name to filling up your shopping cart.

This is not a marketing system that is available any place else, especially for the price that I am charging.  After our series of webinars, I will be creating an entire home study course on  DVD’s with workbooks and it will not be sold at this rediculously low price!

I am making this available to all my Embroidery Tips Club Members for free because I want everyone of my students to succeed.  It is extremely important to me to be able to help all of my students  to succeed to whatever level they aspire to!

How To Create Your First Blog Post

During Lesson 2 I will also teach you how to create your first blog post.  Creating your blog posts is an easy way of keeping in constant contact with your customers.

Step by Step Embroidery Marketing Course

This step by step course is divided into one hour sessions held every 2 weeks for the next several weeks.  This course does have homework with it, but at the end of the course, you should have your fully functioning website on-line and fully optimized for the search engines.

Monday I will be sending out a link to all of the Embroidery Tips Club Members to register for the webinar.   Last month I sent out a link to all of the members to the videos after the webinar.  I will not be doing that this month.  In order to be able to view the videos after the course, you must register for the webinar.

If you are not a member of the Embroidery Tipsandmore.com Embroidery Club you must go to The Embroidery Webinar of the Month website and sign up for the program.

If you have a website that is NOT bringing you lots of sales each month, or DO NOT have a website at all, you need to be apart of this webinar series.

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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Applying the proper settings and using the correct backings or stabilizers are extremely important when you are creating an embroidery design to be sewn onto the soft stretchy wicking shirts.

I have had many requests from embroiderers wanting to know how to embroider on these soft stretchy wicking shirts.  The main issue is trying to keep the embroidery from puckering and pulling.   These shirts should be treated like any other knit shirt, using a small ballpoint needle.  I never use more than a 70/10 needle for this application.  If the lettering is tiny, I will use a 65/10 ballpoint needle and if this is the case, I also use the 60 weight thread.

Adding Embroidery Underlay And Pull Comp Settings

Your underlay settings are going to depend on your design, such as the size of the lettering or the segments within the design.  I have found that if I am creating a design with lettering that if over 1.5 millimeters in column width, I will use an edge run or contour stitch along with a zig zag stitch for my underlay.  The pull comp will vary, depending on how stretchy or fine the fabric actually is.  This is something that you must experiment with.

If the letter is less than 1.5 millimeters in width, I have found that it is best to use one pass of a center run or perpendicular underlay.   Sometimes the zig zag underlay is also necessary and sometimes not, again it all depends on the fabric itself.  Trial and error is the only way to find this our for sure.

Keep Embroidery Density Light

Keeping your embroidery stitch density on the light side is also very important.  It is actually better to use more underlay and less top stitching than little underlay and heavy density.  You do not want to take a chance on creating any holes in this fabric.  It runs and snags very easily!

Use Correct Embroidery Backings Or Stabilizers

The proper backings technique that I have found that works ideally every time is 2 layers of No Show cutaway backing along with 1 layer of a crisp medium weight tearaway.  The tearaway is placed next to the skin so that it can be ripped away.  This layer of tearaway helps to hold the lettering and keep it crisp and clean while the no show backing or stabilizer will keep it soft and pliable.  I also use a topping for these shirts.  Not only does it help to keep the thread on top of the garment, it also acts as a lubricant as it is sewing through this troublesome fabric.  I have embroidererd these soft stretchy wicking shirts many times using these settings and backing techniques with great success!

I hope that this answers the questions that I have been receiving from many embroiderers.  Are you having any issues embroidering on these shirts?  Have you found any other tips that work great for this application, please share them.  Please click on the link that says No Comments and leave your comment or question.  I really would appreciate it.  It will help many other embroiderers!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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This past week end I was at the ISS Show in Atlantic City and it was a great show!  I had a wonderful time and  met a lot of my students. I also met a lot of new faces and it is always so much fun meeting new people!

I was able to get re-aquainted with people that I have not seen in a long time and the experience was great!

John Urdahl from Stone Mountain Graphics Custom Screenprinting and Embroidery in Owings, MD was the winner of the embroidery training DVD  “How To Create A Profitable Price List For Today’s MarketPlace!”  Thank you John for visiting us at the show.  Please let us know what type of an impact this valuable information will make on your business!

Tracy Trill, my assistant and I spent a lot of time in the Robison Anton booth with some incredible people!  They have excellent quality products and everyone that represented Robison Anton was very knowledgable and gracious!  I had the pleasure of meeting  Bruce Anton, Maxwell Tripp, Harry Katz of KYS Embroidery Supplies and Jory Bender of Dashew Sewing Supplies, all representing Robison Anton.  I also spent a lot of time with Jeff and Gary Kaufman from S.M. Cristall who were also representing Robison Anton.  I am known Jeff and Gary for many years and all of these people represent excellent quality customer service. You have heard me speak of S.M. Cristall many times.

I also had the preasure of meeting Cliff Bolder from Diamond Needle.  When I was in business with my embroidery shop, I purchased a lot of Tajima embroidery machine supplies and parts from Diamond Needle.  They were always very quick to ship and provided good service.    Cliff said that they still carry Tajima parts.

Fred LeBow of Lebow Consulting, invited me to speak in his class on Sunday morning.  He had a very receptive audience that enjoyed his presentation on backings and toppings.  I spoke about my embroidery training website,  my new community site, The EmbroideryCoachClub and the embroidery training videos that I have created.  It was a great class!

I spent the remainder of my Sunday morning in the Hirsch-Tajima booth.  That booth is always wall to wall people with so much activity going on.  The North East sales team were there along with Gaby Finely and Henry Bernstein with the Seit Laser equipment. I had the pleasure of speaking to Kris Janowski and Paul Gallagher, the executives from Hirsch.  Everyone in that booth was very busy during the entire show.

All in all I think that the show was very much a success.  For anyone that was there, thank you for coming!  I look forward to seeing many more of my customers in July at the ISS Show in Rhode Island.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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I will be attending the ISS show in Atlantic City, NJ at the Convention Center Friday-Sunday,  March 13-15.  There are always new products and so much information  available with so many catalogs to pick up.  If you are attending, make sure that you bring a rolling cart to carry all of them.

Please stop by the Robison Anton booth to register for a FREE DVD Program, “How To Create A Profitable Price Embroidery Price List For Today’s Market Place”‘.  This is a great program that will teach you how to price your embroidery to create a profitable business!

I will be  around the Robison Anton booth or the Hirsch-Tajima booth. Please stop by to say Hi and don’t forget to register!

I am really looking forward to meeting you.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

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