How to embroider towels?
Can you embroider a towel? Well, technically speaking, you can embroider pretty much everything – any piece of cloth. The technique is similar for all types of fabrics, too. For a thicker fabric material like that of a towel, though, using the machine is much more advisable and preferable by most people. Once you have inserted a certain design into the embroidery machine, it will be digitally transferred into stitches on the cloth.
How to design for towel embroidery?
First, figure out the purpose. Is it a towel that you are going to give or gift to a group of people? If so, how many will receive it? What is the occasion? If, say, you are designing a towel for the swimming class members, certainly you would want to stick to a theme that is more ‘ocean-like’ with blue-ish tones. Likewise, if you are gifting towels for guests consisting of people from different age ranges and genders, you should be less specific and go for the more general designs.
What colour to use?
Everyone knows to choose a darker towel for practicality. It effectively hides any marks that will appear in the long run. However, it is more likely than not that the receivers of your towels would already have their own towels for practicality. If you are indeed designing towels to be given out as gifts, you can play around with brighter colours as well. They are, after all, more aesthetically-pleasing to the eyes! Not to mention, a light background colour gives you more creative freedom to create a design! You can match the towels with the theme of the event.
A wedding or birthday celebration normally has a pastel theme so you could apply similar colour for the towels. The embroidery thread should be in contrast with the base colour as they can hardly stand out if resemblant colours are used.
What to put on a towel?
Would a name be appropriate? I’m sure you are used to seeing company names, titles of an event, and logos on towels, especially the ones you receive at weddings, business events, or conferences. For companies or agencies that are gifting towels, it is okay to print any of the aforementioned elements on them as it will not appear too personal or to revolve around an actual person – unless the logo is the face of the company’s founder. As a regular user of towels yourself, I’m sure you would understand the notion behind this. Having another person’s identity permanently printed on your towel does not really encourage you to want to use the towel any more.
If you do not wish to have your name (or your kid’s – whoever is being celebrated) on someone else’s towel which they use to rub their body after shower on, stick with initials, like H.P. for Henry Potter, placed at either corner of the towel. If the towels are going to be distributed to people from a community or in a class, you still do not want it to seem too personal, even if you know everyone on a personal level.
For a safer option, you can embroider an image. Ensure that the image matches the theme, for example a party hat embroidery for a birthday party, or two interlocking rings to symbolise marriage. If you run out of ideas or want to keep it real simple, stick to generic wishes like “Thank You” or “Have a Joyful Life”.
You still have the option to have both text and image on your towels, as long as they balance nicely with each other. They should match, too, to some extent. They cannot look like you have picked some text off one design and pair them with an image that looks like it comes from a totally unrelated place.
How do you embroider thick materials like towel?
Whatever design you are going with, make sure the stitching will be solid. Avoid extremely thin line as this could lead to the strands becoming loose or coming off easily. Create a design that will certainly be visible and stand out when placed on the towel. Opt for clear, bold fonts instead of italicised, cursive ones. As the towel material tends to fray in the long run, the graphic you place on it may not appear as clear in the future. Hence, be bolder when designing what goes on it.
What size should a towel be to embroider on?
Towels are available in various sizes, and depending on its uses, you would be needing different towels according to where you are and what you are doing. A bath towel alone ranges in sizes, mainly to distinguish the ones for kids and the others for adults. A hand and face towel is much smaller and lighter in comparison.
Which one should you go for? That depends on the events or occasions, the people you are going to distribute the towel to (if you indeed are), and its practicality for them. If you are giving out the towels at a public occasion such as a wedding or birthday party, hand or tea towels are undoubtedly the better options. Smaller towels make much better and more proper gifts and it will also cut your cost by a whole lot.
How big should a monogram be on a towel?
This depends entirely on the previous point. Whatever size you decide to go with, keep the embroidery covering a section that is way smaller than the whole towel. The embroidered part of a towel is typically not as effective in absorbing water, so it should not take up more than 40% of the whole surface area.
Placement:
There really is no wrong or right in regards to this. You simply need to pick a spot where your text or image will look better if placed there. If you are making this for personal uses of the family members, embroider your graphics anywhere you would prefer to; middle, corner, bottom or top.
If this is for an event, you could try to embroider your design higher towards the middle part and further away from the corner. Chances are, the towel will be folded or rolled into a certain shape to only reveal the embroidered part. Once you have chosen a section, hoop properly and stitch a bit far from the edge to prevent puckering.
How long will the embroidery take?
This depends on your design and its size. A design with lesser colours and trims will significantly take much shorter time compared to a complicated one. However, with the advancement in printing technology, embroidery machines can print much faster than we are able to before.
Where to get towel embroidery done?
You are already here! At Custom Prints & Apparels, we offer printing service of towel embroidery Singapore locals would want! We print on 100% cotton towels with different sizes and various vibrant colours to choose from. If you need further help, we also provide free professional printing consultation to answer all your enquiries. Already have a design in mind? Sketch it and we can give you a free design review to allow you to see how it looks before printing! Considering you might be ordering the towels in a large batch, you will also get free shipping. Talk to us now!
