Industry Advice


Print that looks like embroidery? It’s here!


F


Jamie Hood from David Sharp tells all on faux embroidery, its benefits and how you can achieve it. One file, multiple size placements


aux embroidery, as it has become known, is the process of digital printing that mimics and appears like real embroidery when printed or pressed onto a garment.


DTF pressed to garment


With embroidery, if you plan to stitch a logo in different sizes and different garment placements, you will need more than one digitised file. With faux embroidery you may only need one file. Just scale it up and down in size as needed and print away.


The final result once the image has been printed and heat pressed to a T shirt


The idea being that when your clients are out and about in the world, to passers-by, it will appear like their garments are branded with embroidery instead of a humble print. Looking for a new and unique product to offer? Don’t do embroidery? Then faux embroidery printing could be for you.


Why? What exactly are the benefits of faux embroidery?


Here are a few reasons why you should get into faux embroidery:


Cost!


The rise of direct to film transfer printing in recent years has made great quality prints very affordable, even for small runs. With small breast size transfers starting from a few pennies each it’s hard to ignore the attractive cost element compared to traditional embroidery. Now if you consider that what you could be printing could visually replicate embroidery, you have a very attractive concept indeed.


Apply to garment in seconds


DTF transfers can be heat pressed to garments in a mere 10 to 20 seconds. Making light work of a large order and getting jobs out the door faster.


The time an embroidery job spends on the machine is determined by the stitch count and number of stops and trims. Not something you need to worry about if you’re dealing in faux embroidery printing.


Comfort for the wearer


Pick up any printed garment, printed with a DTF transfer, and give it a really good stretch. It’s incredibly forgiving and stretchy. Zero irritation on the inside of the garment too, making it ideal for sportswear and childrenswear alike.


| 42 | September 2024 www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk


You are not bound by the normal rules of embroidery When we design an embroidery file, we respect a number of golden rules to ensure it looks good when stitched, and also runs efficiently on the embroidery machine. One example rule is letters must be 4mm high minimum. But with faux embroidery you don’t need to worry about anything as the design will never see a needle or thread – you are printing it only! Tiny text/ mega long stitches/ huge number of colours? It does not matter. Fill your boots.


Caps are now a breeze!


Ask anyone that embroiders caps if they like it, most will say they do not. A special cap frame and embroidery machine attachment. Size limitations and quality issues if the design file is not designed correctly for caps. Remove all those headaches with a DTF transfer that looks like embroidery and applies in seconds? Tempting!


Interested? How can you get going… With faux embroidery printing the artwork file is key.The printing process is exactly the same as normal, it’s the image file that transforms it into a fake embroidery. Here’s how to create said file. Well, you can ask your digitiser. Any good embroidery digitiser should now be able to provide you with a faux embroidery artwork file that is print ready. Want to create your own? Read on.


1) Start with an already completed embroidery designed file. See below image. This needs to be done first. If you already have


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