In October’s Printwear Magazine, I wrote a piece about how one can manage machine embroidery on difficult bags. With bags, the more useful and feature rich the piece, the more difficult it can be to decorate. By their very nature, bags have a plethora of problems they can offer embroiderers, but by defining the most common snags one encounters and preparing some alternate decoration methods, you can turn bags into a profit center for your business- a utilitarian non-sized item with wide applicability across sectors is a perfect fit for just about any corporate store or incentive program and bags fit that bill perfectly. (If you’d rather head straight to the print article rather than read my summary, click here)

In the article, I address the following problems:

Interference– bags are full of supports, zippers, pouches and seams that can get in the way of hooping and stitching.

Just a couple of straps in the way, right? No problem! (?!?)

Solutions:

1. Use alternate hooping methods like clamping and adhesive backing to keep from running into these structural roadblocks.
2. Decorate indirectly with adhered patches.
3. Heat print the area with foam or pillows to allow the structural elements to get out of the way of the pressed surface.

Texture – Bags are often made of high-texture, tough materials that can cause needle deflection and roughness in a design.

On this intentionally rustic piece, the rough edges aren’t so bad, but imagine a tiny corporate logo on the same bag!

Solutions:

1. Use a sharp needle to push through fibers rather than around them.
2. Use structural underlay (edge run or contour underlay, for one) to help the edges of elements hold to the intended contour.
3. Decorate indirectly through the use of pre-embroidered appliques or patches made of a less coarsely grained material that more easily holds detail.

Durability – bags are dragged around and abused in such a way that decorations are often submitted to abrasion and snagging.

Fill stitched lettering with a short satin border is a lot tougher than an equivalent satin-stitched version.

Solutions:

1. Digitize for durability avoiding long, floating stitches that can catch and snap on obstacles.
2. Use polyester thread to increase resistance to abrasion.
3. Avoid decorating on areas of the bag that are the most susceptible to be in contact with the ground or the wearer to avoid excess abrasion.

To read more about my approaches to difficult bags and to see more images detailing the process, head over to Printwear for the full text of the article!