Images_Digital_Edition_August_2019

www.images-magazine.com AUGUST 2019 images 57 KB TIPS & TECHNIQUES N othing upsets embroiderers quite as much as hats. In fact, they can cause so much trouble that some shops refuse to work with them, even if they risk losing clients to the competition. It’s certainly true that hats can be hard work. Even easily decorated examples require special digitising, consideration for limited decoration area and careful hooping. The worst headwear offenders that I’ve faced have caused any number of issues, from hooping problems and registration errors to maddening stoppages caused by thread breaks and broken needles. Here, I’ll examine two of the most challenging hat designs to work with and give you tips on how to tackle them, concluding with alternative decoration options to help you conquer even the most uncooperative headwear. Structured hats Structured hats often have overly coarse plastic support materials in the crown. This material can make needles deflect and track poorly. Even sharp needles that survive these barriers may generate a plastic ‘dust’ that fouls the machines and decoration as the design is punched through the stiff shell. However, what makes these caps notorious isn’t the mess, it’s their tendency to break needles. As a design crosses the folded and taped centre seam of a six-panel cap, needles breach two layers of the folded outer shell material, two layers of folded support material and the folded edges of the seam tape — a dense stack of six strata with a gap in the middle. Given that, needle deflection, and even breakage, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Stiff crown solutions Make it malleable There are two recommended approaches for softening these ‘hard’ hats: heat and what I’ll generously call ‘mechanical intervention’. Heat is straightforward — some embroiderers apply a garment steamer, others a cap heat press and some use a heat gun. The ‘mechanical’ approach is more hands-on: either ‘rolling’ the crown in one’s hands or ‘tenderising’ the central seam with a plastic or rubber mallet. I favour steam, but any softening method reduces breakages and deflection over the seam. Know your needle Some decorators turn to titanium-coated needles, even choosing to go up in size to prevent deflection. While it may help, I’ve had the worst caps break even these needles. I’ve Erich Campbell shares his failsafe tips to help you get ahead with embroidered hats also found that small details are harder to execute cleanly with the larger needles and I’ve faced quality issues and thread breaks. It’s far from a miracle cure. Buy better There are many similar styles of standard structured hats from any number of distributors. Part of your job as a decorator is to recommend the best garments to achieve your customers’ aims. Unless there is a deal-breaking difference between a difficult hat and a smoother-stitching alternative, or you are unavoidably stuck with customer- supplied goods, you should direct your customer to your tested hat styles – those that decorate easily and cleanly. Knit caps Knit caps stretch and have extreme textures, and stitches sink into them like quicksand. They envelop small text, shift elements out of registration, warp around designs and poke their knitted ribs through fills. Unlike stiff-crowned hats, however, these are readily tamed. Knit hats are no problem provided you avoid simple hooping errors and digitise with the correct compensation. Measure the stretch Warping and registration errors persuade embroiderers to increase the stability of the decoration area. Unfortunately, many attempt this Hard hats Erich created this cap for the TV show ‘Better Call Saul’