We’re often asked to clarify the differences between embroidery and screen printing. It may seem obvious but it’s important to understand the differences to help determine which is the best fit for your project. Screen printing, or ‘silk screening’, is a method of forcing ink through a fine screen mesh to apply it to a garment. Embroidery, on the other hand, is a process of sewing, using needle and thread, to reproduce your artwork. Screen printing yields a soft and sharp feel but it can’t be used on all garments. That’s where embroidery comes in. For example, it’s more complicated to print on materials that are not flat. For this reason, hats, clothing, bags, jackets, and polos are usually embroidered instead.

Embroidery offers some neat features like the ability to provide raised characters or patterns, sometimes referred to as “puffing”. Screen printing gives a very high level of detail where embroidery often falls short. Unique textures, gradients, and shading are where screen printing really shines.

Digitizing artwork can be thought of as a special blueprint that outlines where a needle and thread will be sewing. Our skilled custom embroidery team in Wichita can convert your artwork into specialized file formats that embroidery machines understand. This process takes time and there are costs associated. Pricing generally depends on the detail and size of the artwork supplied. Artwork provided should be in vector format for best results; however, we can also utilize some high-resolution raster images.

For an embroidery job, the first thing you’ll want to consider is how detail and size play a role. The more detail required, the higher the thread count will need to be. The higher the thread count, the longer the process required to embroider. In general, pricing is based on the total thread stitch count and the number of pieces. There are no minimum quantities for our embroidery services in Wichita.