Selecting Thread Colors Once your design has been digitized and approved, and your shirts have been selected, the next step is to select which thread colors you want on the different color shirts you have ordered. Within an individual order, different shirt colors can have different logo colors, but all shirts of the same color, must have the same color logos. For example, if your order has red, white and blue shirts, the red shirts must all have the same color embroidery, the white shirts must all have the same color embroidery, and the blue shirts must all have the same color embroidery. Our Design Specialists can help you with selecting thread colors once your logo has been digitized. And while it is impossible to have good embroidery results without top quality digitizing, there are many factors in how an embroidery machine is operated and maintained that determine the ultimate quality of the embroidered art. Though much of the process has been automated over the years, as it has been for centuries, embroidery is an art, not a science and the best practitioners are highly sensitive to the history and nuances of the craft, and are passionate and take great pride in their work. Preparing a Garment for Embroidery and the Embroidery process In preparing a garment for embroidery, it is first "hooped". This hoop is then inserted into a frame (called a pantograph) which moves vertically or horizontally as the embroidery needle moves up and down. When the garment is hooped, a paper-like material called pellon and other materials are often placed behind the garment. This material aids in stabilizing the fabric and improves the clarity of the embroidery. When the embroidery is finished, any excess backing material is trimmed from the edges on the back of the design, and the shirt is lightly pressed, and prepared for shipping. When you receive your garments, if you look behind the embroidery you will often see some embroidery backing remaining. Much of this will wash away over time as it ceases to serve any function. Embroidery is impossible, however, without it. A typical design only takes about 10 minutes to actually run, but machine set-up, hooping and then removing the hoop, trimming loose threads, packing and inspecting will generally double this time in production. The bigger the design, the longer it takes to run. And the more complex the design, the longer it takes to trim all the loose threads and prepare the shirt for shipping. Extraordinarily large or complex designs may require an additional run charge. Though this is rare, we will discuss it with you in detail prior to accepting your first order.