I had a call from a client who had set up a temporary embroidery shop for the Olympics. They were in a panic, unable to keep ahead of the demand for hockey jerseys and needed more man power. They do not know me personally since they deal with my office back east. They were right outside the International Pavilion and were doing the names and numbers on hockey jerseys and also names on the bus driver’s jackets. They were looking for a Barudan operator and were not aware they were in a strong Tajima territory and it would be near impossible to find one. My curiosity was piqued so I went to see what his two single heads and an I-line cutter were up to. It was very clear he needed another machine and I made the offer to bring my single head Tajima and I would also man it, and that is how I became a machine operator for a week. 

It was a great time. The guys were fun to work with and I saw the importance of good digitizing and the need to avoid bad habits. They had learned and adopted certain techniques that were amazingly inefficient. Apparently it isn’t ‘cool’ on hockey jerseys for the sewing of the letters on the name bar that goes across the shoulders to show through the garment. So the name bars on the shoulders are done first on a rectangle of fabric and then appliquéd on the garment. That way there is only the rectangle shape and no letters that show on the inside. They were taking the hooped backing and by measuring and marking lines on the backing figured out the placement of the fabric bar in order to get the lettering centred on the piece. Although they are very familiar with doing appliqué it never occurred to them to do a running stitch at the beginning of the lettering program that would mark the placement of the rectangular fabric on the backing. A stop in the program after the rectangular placement line and before the appliquéd letters start would enable them to place the fabric and then go straight into doing the letters with everything lined and centred. No need to spend time doing all that measuring and marking, use the program to make life easier and more efficient.

The Embroidery Dinosaur

Beverley Field