Customers often ask me whether our backing is recyclable, but before I answer, I suggest they consider ways of producing less waste material in the first place.

Final part. With the fast paced nature of embroidery production, many people come into contact with an embroidery logo from its inception right through to the post production finished article. This can cover designers, digitisers, buyers, embroiderers and sales people. Duncan Yarnall from embroidery thread manufacturer Robison Anton gives a defnitive list of embroidery terms to act as a point of reference for new embroiderers.

The great thing about sport on the TV is that you get those fantastic slow motion replays and stills and all those lovely close-ups that give the ladies a chance to gloat at a "real pair of legs". There is, however, a very good business reason why you should be interested.

Part two. With the fast paced nature of embroidery production, many people come into contact with an embroidery logo from its inception right through to the post production finished article. This can cover designers, digitisers, buyers, embroiderers and sales people. Duncan Yarnall from embroidery thread manufacturer Robison Anton gives a definitive list of embroidery terms to act as a point of reference for new embroiderers. Part three follows next month

It doesn't seem that long ago that the multi head machine ruled. Not that many years ago, nearly all sales of embroidery machines consisted of large bulk production machines with lots of heads and costing lots of pennies. Now there was a key reason for this, which, once you know it, makes sense of the whole thing. The fact is that, all those years ago, only multi head machines existed. Shock, horror I hear you cry. How on earth did the industry survive? Well, the fact is that the embroidery industry was a multimillion pound trade where paying for a machine wasn't the problem, it was getting one that gave most people a headache.

"It's awesome," says AJS Embroidery of its new embroidery software, "a jaw-dropping technology that no one has offered before."

Modular machines are fast becoming the standard in the embroidery industry, says Amaya UK, which believes their efficiency far outweighs that of the standard fixed machines.

ETC Embroidery Supplies has launched a several new products, including anti wet patches, a soft interlining, a heat soluble backing, and a ring mark remover.

As one of the UK's largest embroiderers, Slick Stitch currently decorates 55,000 logos per week. Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from its 28,000 sq ft facility, it claims to embroider more school, work and sportswear than any other.

As part of its ongoing investment in technology and the latest embroidery techniques, Gymphlex has extended its embroidery department to 24 heads.

Recently launched at the Cisma Exhibition in China in Oct 2007, the latest in Muliti-Head Embroidery Machine Technology has arrived.

Wilcom International, a leading developer of embroidery and decorations technology, and Corel Corporation, a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, have introduced DecoStudio, a new graphics and embroidery technology ideal for users in the apparel and promotional items industries.

Part one. With the fast paced nature of embroidery production, many people come into contact with an embroidery logo from its inception right through to the post production finished article. This can cover designers, digitisers, buyers, embroiderers and sales people. Duncan Yarnall from embroidery thread manufacturer Robison Anton gives a defnitive list of embroidery terms to act as a point of reference for new embroiderers. Part two follows next month

This series of articles is produced with embroiderers and embroidery information as its focus. The aim is to give a good working knowledge of straightforward, through to more complicated topics, for everyone operating embroidery machines.

DESCRIPTION:  Consist of a single line of stitching primarily used for outlining and detail work. They are also used as the foundation of most "underlays" and "Fill" stitches. Areas that are under 1mm in width are usually done with a running stitch.

DESCRIPTION: Consists of forming three stitchesbetween two points primarily used for outlining work. "Bean" stitches are more pronounced than Running Stitches.

DESCRIPTION: Consists of zigzag stitches laid down very close together at any angle and with varying stitch lengths. Commonly used for lettering and outlining. Satin stitches can range in width from 1.5 mm to 8 mm. However, the wider the satin stitch, the more susceptible they are to snagging and abrasion. Wider "Satin" stitches are more susceptible to snagging and abrasion and are not generally recommended for childrenswear. (Also know as "column" stitches.) For lettering, stitch width and stitch density are very important for quality. Corners should be sharp and crisp and not bulging. "Short" stitches can be digitized to minimize bulging corners.

DESCRIPTION: Used as a foundation of most embroidery patterns. Stitches in a design that are put down before the design stitches, used to stabilize the fabric or raise the design so that the fine detailing is not lost.

DESCRIPTION: Used to cover large areas. There are many different "Fill" stitch patterns and they can differ in direction, angle, and pattern. "Fill" stitches are used to cover large areas. (Also known as Tatami stitches.) With today's modern digitizing programs, there are many "Fill" stitch patterns that can be selected to give varying design appearance.

Stitch estimating guide:

• 1 square inch of "Fill" stitches at a normal density with a stitch of 6mm = 1000 stitches. This is for a basic fill to cover an area with no stitching on top.

Printwear & Promotion has teamed up with embroidery thread manufacturer Robison Anton to bring you a new series of technical articles aimed at guiding and educating both existing and new embroiderers in this fast-paced industry. Here we introduce the company and the author, Duncan Yarnall, embroidery product manager for Robison Anton.

You have thousands of design, artwork, and machine files ‘floating’ around your company. Your employees spend hours searching for them. Does this sound familiar? For many embroiderers it will, says embroidery solutions and software provider Wilcom. But design files are valuable – they should be easy to find, easy to distribute and they need to be protected like other company assets.

As a fresh-faced rookie back in 1987 when I joined the family manufacturing business, signs had just started to emerge of the changes that lay ahead.

There are many styles of baseball cap and you will probably have to try out a few styles to see which ones fit in the cap framing system that you have for your machine. You will find that some styles fit better and are easier to frame than others. Many of today’s popular cap styles are constructed with a low profile which decreases the height space for embroidery on the front side of the cap.

Edition X2 (pronounced x-square) has a new way to create a more efficient production process using its Machine Clustering capabilities. Now, users can define a group of machines, single or multihead as a cluster and send designs automatically to machines associated with that cluster.

Software piracy is an international problem that causes damages beyond additional profits, export benefits and additional tax revenue, says Wilcom International. It affects the jobs and livelihood of hundreds of thousands of individuals and the survival of pioneering companies and technology.

Leading UK sewing thread manufacturer Somac Threads says it continues to increase its market share in the competitive embroidery thread market. The brand leading products of Kingstar (polyester) and Royal (rayon), which Somac exclusively distributes in UK and Ireland, have played an important role in the company’s significant increases in sales over the past 12 months.

Embroidery, as we have said before, has been around for a very long time and, as I am a little longer in the tooth than many of you reading this, I have seen more of it than most. The past, though, can look after itself. It’s the future we need to take care of and make no mistake – we do need to take care of it.

Established embroidery thread firm Robison Anton has undergone some major changes in the past 18 months, making its range available to a global market. The company, which has been manufacturing Embroidery Thread products in New Jersey U.S.A. for over a century, was bought in August 2005 by American & Efird Inc.

Towards the end of last year Aisin Europe UK, the distributor of the Toyota Embroidery machines, introduced the latest version of the ESP range of machines – the ESP9100Net and ESP9106Net, 15 and 6-colour machines respectively.

Sara McDonnell looks at what’s new on the market.

Ask any kid what they want to be when they grow up and they'll obviously reply a garment printer or embroiderer. Sure, there are one or two eccentric little Herbert’s out there who have their mind set on fire fighting and space travel, and I must confess that for a time I wanted to be a Wizard; limitless power, a large wand and you get to wear a dress and no questions asked. But in the main, the lure of ink and thread is just too great, isn't it?

Madeira says that following high demands for its Burmilana wool blend embroidery thread it has enlarged the range of colours. The company says that the high percentage of wool gives Burmilana volume and texture which does not ‘pill’ like other similar threads. Madeira is now supplying the Burmilana shade card 67 2006, with 82 new colours - 41 single colours, seven mélange, 20 mouliné and 14 multicolours.

Consumables often fall into the “Oh OK” category. They are the products that all embroiderers need but generally acknowledge that they need them with a casual “Oh OK.” P&P spoke with Tony Whitmore of Your Embroidery Services to find out more.

With a firm eye on making sure that every order received leaves with nothing less than a perfect decoration finish, Essential Embroidery Design told Dan Raywood about its setup and how it has established its reputation.

Brand Design first began trading in 1995 as an embroiderer and the company continues to offer that service with 25 heads in its workshop in Gosport. Alongside the embroidery service, Brand Design offer a digitising option that allows the company to not only decorate garments, but also ensure that the decoration is of the best quality and standard.

Golden Finishes are able to offer a range of products and service to decorators including finishing, overlocking and now bespoke manufacturing.

Titled ‘The Classic tool to create quality embroidery with viscose/rayon’, the sample card presents all four Madeira Classic weight threads - 60, 40, 30 and 12 - in one design, to show the difference in structure, texture and appearance between the different threads, and to highlight the advantages of viscose thread, which remains the bestseller in the embroidery business worldwide.