Mistakes Masterclass

Although computer-generated digital previews don‘t adequately show the physical results of a design or the exact colour of thread, a digital preview can allow a customer to spot gross errors like misspellings, poor sizing or incorrect colour choices.

With any considerable order volume, it makes sense to use some electronic system for managing information. Industry-specific options now abound, from cloud-based solutions to on-site server installs. Systems that empower employees to store, access and manage customer, order and production data can improve the consistency of your execution. Should electronic means be undesirable or out of reach, even a paper system can function provided it’s consistently used, centrally accessible and updated with any alterations to the order. No matter the mechanism you use to store it, always review order information carefully before sending it to production. Make it concise, clear and complete. If art and production staffers can‘t easily envision your intentions, neither you nor your customer will get the expected result. Any system is only as good as the quality of the information entered, and an inconsistent system will not be used and trusted by employees.

Obtain pre-production approvals

The final bulwark against errors brought on by miscommunication is a staged approval process. Start by sending simulated embroidery previews to the customer. This initial stage outs gross errors like misspellings, improper colours and incorrect sizing. With this approved, you can elect to send ‘in-the-thread‘ approvals, either in person or through sending snapshots of a sample, though colours should be previously agreed upon in the case of the latter. Following internal quality checks, present stitched samples to the customer; should they sign off on all details, that sample should arrive with the order on the production floor as the standard against which to measure actual production quality. At least any errors that pass through such a complete approval process are shared between your company and the customer, sometimes leading to more willingness to work reasonably toward a resolution on flawed orders.

Repairing the wrongs

Operator error, malfunctioning machines or oversight will occasionally trump even the most careful communicators. Whether colours are wrong, the location is lacking or you’ve run the wrong logo entirely, you have embroidery where you don‘t want it. What can we do? Diagnosis: Can we replace, cover, or remove and re-stitch?

Replacement

If a design features lots of small lettering or large fill-stitched areas, or is made of material likely to tear or have permanent, visible leftover damage (leathers, plastics and anything without a weave or knit, apart from felt), replacement may be your only reasonable option. Removing stitches is time-intensive and risky; labour costs often outweigh replacement for inexpensive, commodity garments and many customers won’t accept the option of covering existing embroidery with an appliqué or patch. Unless your garment is rare, customer-supplied or deadlines are too tight to allow, you should always consider replacement. Product quality greatly influences customer estimation of value, making it inadvisable to ‘save’ a garment in a way that doesn’t maintain the quality you want to represent your work. When replacement simply isn’t an option, make sure you have quality in mind when deciding between covering and removing your errant work.

Covering

When replacement designs are ‘open’ – for example, if it features letters with a great deal of space between them or small, unconnected elements– and your garment material tends to show ‘scars‘ from stitch removal, or when deadlines simply don’t afford the time to remove and re-stitch, you can create custom patches or appliqués to cover incorrect embroidery. To avoid the excessive density and stiffness seen when fill stitches and designs are stitched directly over existing embroidery, stitch the correct design on an appliqué and attach it with satin- stitched borders for a more attractive, less distorted finish. With this method, the remaining stabiliser even covers the reverse of the incorrect decoration.

Removal or re-stitching

When garments are few and their material is forgiving, and/or your design is made of easily removed elements like large satin stitches, or if you only need to replace an element that is accessible and separated from the design (an incorrect letter toward the end of a word, perhaps, or a solitary, single-layered mark beside correctly stitched elements) you may choose to remove the offending embroidery and re-stitch. Removal requires slicing through stitches. Electric trimmers with custom blades are sometimes employed, but I favour a manual approach. Depending on the stitch type, any number of seam rippers, scalpels and blades can do the job. Whether using a hooked safety- blade that allows the dull side of the hook to rest and slide safely over the garment while cutting the threads or a standard single-edged razor, the technique is as simple as it is critical. Cut carefully from the back side, keeping the blade parallel to the stabiliser’s surface wherever you can, and start shallow. Slice bobbin stitching, occasionally scratching at top-stitching or tugging it carefully with tweezers as it loosens. If you try not to damage the backing, you‘re unlikely to cut the garment. Don’t pull too hard or put too much tension on the garment as this can result in small holes or tears. Steaming after you’ve removed the stitching and freed the original stabiliser helps to relax the fabric. After steaming, check once more for overly visible holes and flaws. If the quality of the remaining garment is reasonably smooth or your replacement design will cover smallflaws, you are ready to re-stitch.

The re-stitching process

Re-stitching combines careful hooping and design preparation. Replacing a design in the same area as the incorrect embroidery requires extremely straight hooping and precise starting positions, especially if you are adding or replacing elements alongside remaining stitching. When replacing with the same logo you removed, as in a colour- change error, consider upscaling the replacement logo a small amount to shift elements and cover a slightly larger area – this may help hide some of the ‘scarring‘ from the previous logo. When replacing or ‘dropping in‘ elements, the best method is to register to an easily identifiable point in the remaining design, like a sharp corner, point or intersection. This will be your starting position, with any replacement elements set in relation to that point. With straight hooping and careful measurement, your new element will stay aligned and properly spaced. This method is best for unconnected, single layer elements; avoid adding anything that needs tight registration like small outlines added to an existing embroidered letter or graphic. Even when this ‘works’, the results are just not consistent enough to merit the difficulty of the labour.

When a logo has a large background area in a single colour, an appliqué can often replace any fill. In the case of covering damaged embroidery, the logo design can be run on appliqué material and later adhered and stitched down with a full-satin edge, as seen here. Any embroidery or small amounts of damage beneath the appliqué have no effect on the final look. [Photograph courtesy of Celeste Schwartz]

Recovery

No embroidery disaster can be said to have been truly averted until the customer is happy with the outcome. Communication is as key in following up on an error as it should have been in avoiding it. Be transparent, be honest, apologise when your shop shares fault and make the customer feel that they have received the service or product they paid for and are happy with the transaction whenever possible. You‘ll find an honest answer, a sincere effort to provide the agreed-upon product and unflinching integrity does more to rescue an interaction than the in-fighting and blame-shifting we might be tempted to employ when faced with an angry customer. Ultimately, we know that our brand lies wholly in the perceptions of our customers and that their word often does more to shape our image than our own. We needn‘t kowtow to unreasonable requests, but every effort we make toward retaining a good customer should be considered less a production loss than an ultra-focused marketing spend. Follow your process and you’ll avoid most errors outright, but when the eventual problem crops up, pick the recovery method that you’d hope your service providers would extend for you, within reason. There’s never a bad time to be the hero, even if your work is what needs saving.