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Expert Answers: How Long Does Embroidery Take? Get the Details
How long does embroidery take? That’s a big question with no single, easy answer. It depends on many things. Hand embroidery takes a long time, often many hours or even days for one design. Machine embroidery is much faster. A machine can finish a design in minutes or hours. The exact time for machine work depends mainly on the number of stitches in the design and how fast the machine sews.
Things That Change How Long Embroidery Takes
Many things make embroidery faster or slower. Think of them as parts of a puzzle. Each part affects the final time. Knowing these parts helps you guess how long a project might take. These are the main embroidery time factors.
Is It Hand or Machine Work?
This is the biggest difference in time.
* Hand Embroidery: You use a needle and thread by hand. This is slow work. It is often a hobby. People enjoy the process. A small design might take hours. A complex design could take days or even weeks. The hand embroidery duration depends on the person’s skill and the design size.
* Machine Embroidery: A special machine does the sewing. You set it up, and it sews very fast. This is used for making many items. A machine can sew thousands of stitches in a minute. The machine embroidery production rate is much higher than hand work.
How Fast Does the Machine Stitch?
Embroidery machines have different speeds. Speed is measured in stitches per minute, or SPM.
* A home machine might sew around 400 to 800 SPM.
* A big commercial machine can sew 1000 SPM or more.
* Faster machines finish the stitches quicker.
* But you don’t always use the top speed. Delicate fabrics or complex designs might need a slower speed. This keeps the stitches neat and prevents problems. The embroidery machine speed is a key part of the sewing time calculation.
How Intricate Is the Picture?
Think about the picture you want to sew.
* A simple shape with one color is quick.
* A picture with many colors, fine lines, or small details takes longer. Why?
* More stitches are needed for details.
* The machine might have to stop for color changes.
* Small details might need slower speeds.
* The machine might have to cut threads more often.
* This is about design complexity embroidery. A complex picture means more work for the machine. More work takes more time.
How Many Stitches Are There?
This is often the most important factor for machine embroidery time. Every single stitch takes a tiny bit of time. Add up all the tiny bits of time, and you get the total sewing time.
* A small logo might have 5,000 stitches.
* A medium design might have 20,000 stitches.
* A large, detailed design could have 50,000 stitches or much more.
* If a machine sews at 1000 SPM, it sews 1000 stitches in one minute.
* 5,000 stitches: 5,000 / 1000 = 5 minutes of sewing time.
* 20,000 stitches: 20,000 / 1000 = 20 minutes of sewing time.
* 50,000 stitches: 50,000 / 1000 = 50 minutes of sewing time.
* This is just the sewing part. It does not count setup or stops. But you can see how the embroidery stitch count drives the time. A higher stitch count always means a longer sewing time, assuming the speed stays the same.
What Kind of Fabric or Item?
The thing you are embroidering matters too.
* A flat piece of fabric is easy to put on the machine.
* A shirt needs to be held flat in a hoop.
* A hat needs a special hoop and can be tricky to load.
* Thick materials like jackets or tough denim might need slower speeds or special needles.
* Thin or stretchy fabrics need careful handling and special support (stabilizer). This adds setup time and might need slower sewing.
* Items like bags, shoes, or patches all have different challenges. Putting the item on the machine and taking it off takes time for each one.
How Good Is the Design File?
Before a machine can sew a design, it needs a special file. This file tells the machine exactly where to put each stitch, what color thread to use, and when to cut the thread. Making this file is called digitizing (more on this later).
* A good design file is made correctly. It has the right stitch types for the fabric. It has stops programmed for color changes. It tells the machine to trim threads when needed. A good file runs smoothly on the machine.
* A bad design file can cause problems. It might have stitches that are too close together or too far apart. It might not tell the machine to trim threads. This means the machine might stop often. Someone has to fix problems, re-thread, or trim threads by hand. This adds a lot of extra time.
How Many Items Are You Making?
Are you making one item or a hundred?
* For one item, the setup time is a big part of the total time. Getting the machine ready, loading the design, hooping the item – this all takes time before sewing even starts.
* For many items, you do the setup once. Then the machine sews item after item. The time per item goes down a lot. For example, setting up for 100 shirts takes about the same time as setting up for 1 shirt. But sewing 100 shirts takes 100 times the sewing time of one shirt. However, the total time per shirt is lower on a big run because the setup time is spread out.
Looking at Specific Embroidery Times
Let’s look at some common examples to get a better idea of time. Remember, these are just estimates. The actual time will depend on all the things we talked about (machine speed, design, fabric, etc.).
Time for a Little Picture
A small logo embroidery time is one of the most common questions.
* This is often a logo on a shirt pocket, a hat, or a jacket front.
* Logos are usually 2 to 4 inches wide or tall.
* They often have a few colors.
* A typical stitch count for a small logo is 5,000 to 10,000 stitches.
* Let’s say the logo has 7,500 stitches.
* If the machine runs at 800 SPM:
* Sewing time = 7500 stitches / 800 SPM = 9.375 minutes. This is the sewing time.
* But you must add other things:
* Hooping the shirt: maybe 1-2 minutes.
* Loading the design: less than 1 minute.
* Color changes: If it has 3 colors, the machine stops twice. You change thread. Each stop takes maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute. Total 1-2 minutes.
* Trimming threads: The machine might do some, but you might need hand trimming. Maybe 1 minute.
* Taking the item off the machine: Less than 1 minute.
* Adding it up: 9.4 (sewing) + 1.5 (hoop) + 0.5 (load) + 1.5 (colors) + 1 (trim) + 0.5 (unload) = about 14.4 minutes.
* So, a small logo on a shirt often takes about 10 to 20 minutes per item on a machine, including all the handling. This can be faster on multi-head machines making many at once.
Time for a Big Picture
What about a large design? Think of a big picture on the back of a jacket. This is large design embroidery time.
* These designs can be 8 to 12 inches or even bigger.
* They often have many stitches. Stitch counts can be 40,000, 50,000, 100,000 stitches or more.
* Let’s use a design with 60,000 stitches.
* If the machine runs at 800 SPM:
* Sewing time = 60,000 stitches / 800 SPM = 75 minutes. This is the sewing time. That’s 1 hour and 15 minutes of just sewing!
* Again, add other things:
* Hooping the jacket back: maybe 2-3 minutes (can be trickier for large designs).
* Loading the design: less than 1 minute.
* Color changes: A big design might have many colors. Let’s say 10 color changes. Each stop takes 30-60 seconds. Total 5-10 minutes.
* Trimming threads: More stitches, more trims. Maybe 3-5 minutes.
* Taking the item off: Less than 1 minute.
* Adding it up: 75 (sewing) + 2.5 (hoop) + 0.5 (load) + 7.5 (colors) + 4 (trim) + 0.5 (unload) = about 90 minutes.
* So, a large design can easily take 1.5 to 2.5 hours or more per item on a machine, including handling. Very complex or huge designs can take even longer.
The First Step: Making the Design Ready
Before any sewing can happen on a machine, you need a special file. This file translates your picture or logo into stitches the machine can understand. This process is called embroidery digitizing.
* Think of it like writing instructions for the machine. The digitizer decides:
* What kind of stitches to use (fill stitches for areas, satin stitches for lines, run stitches for outlines).
* The direction of the stitches.
* The order the machine should sew different parts.
* Where the machine should start and stop.
* When to change colors.
* When to trim threads.
* Embroidery digitizing time varies a lot.
* A very simple logo or text might take a skilled digitizer 30 minutes to an hour.
* A medium design with a few colors and some detail could take 1 to 3 hours.
* A complex, detailed design with many colors and fine parts can take 3 to 6 hours, or even longer for very large or artistic pieces.
* The digitizer’s skill is key. A good digitizer makes a file that sews smoothly and looks great. A bad file causes problems and wastes machine time.
* Digitizing time is part of the total project time, but it happens before the sewing starts. You usually only digitize a design once. Then you can use that file many times.
Putting All the Parts Together
When someone orders custom embroidery, the time isn’t just how long the machine sews. There’s a whole process. This is the embroidery project timeline.
From Idea to Finished Item
Let’s trace the steps:
- Talk about the Idea: You tell the embroiderer what you want (picture, logo, text) and what item it goes on (shirt, hat, bag). You talk about size and colors.
- Get a Price: The embroiderer looks at the design idea and the item. They estimate stitches. They give you a cost and a time estimate.
- Digitize the Design: If the design is new, it needs to be digitized. This takes time, from maybe 1 hour to several hours or a day. (Embroidery digitizing time).
- Make a Sample (Optional but Recommended): The embroiderer might sew the design on a piece of scrap fabric or a sample of the item. This lets you see how it looks and approve it. This step adds time (sewing time for the sample + time to show it to you and get your OK).
- Get Items Ready: The embroiderer gets the shirts, hats, etc., ready to be put on the machine.
- Sew the Design: The machine sews the design on each item. This is the sewing time (depends on stitch count and machine speed). For many items, this is where most of the time goes. (Embroidery machine production rate, Small logo embroidery time, Large design embroidery time).
- Finishing: Items come off the machine. Extra threads might be trimmed by hand. Backing material (stabilizer) is removed. Items are checked for quality.
- Packing and Shipping: The finished items are packed up and sent to you.
What Affects the Whole Time?
The total embroidery project timeline includes all these steps.
* Design Approval Time: How long does it take you to approve the design or sample? Fast approval means the project moves faster.
* Digitizing Time: As discussed, this adds time at the start.
* Machine Availability: Is the embroiderer’s machine busy with other jobs? This can add waiting time.
* Number of Items: Sewing 10 items is much faster than sewing 1000 items. The machine embroidery production rate is high per hour, but more items mean more hours.
* Item Availability: Does the embroiderer have the blank shirts or hats? Ordering items takes time.
* Project Queue: How many other jobs does the embroiderer have waiting? Your job might wait in line.
* Shipping Time: If items need to be shipped, add transit time.
So, while a small logo might sew in 15 minutes, getting 100 shirts with that logo could take several days or even a week or two from start to finish, depending on the shop’s workload and how fast approvals happen. A large, complex project with many items could take several weeks.
Tips to Make Embroidery Faster (or Plan Better)
Here are some ideas if you need embroidery done quickly or want to estimate time better:
- Keep the Design Simple: Simple designs mean fewer stitches and less design complexity embroidery. This saves both digitizing time and sewing time.
- Know Your Stitch Count: If you have a design file, find out the stitch count. This is the best way to estimate the actual machine sewing time.
- Ask About Machine Speed: While not always needed, knowing their typical embroidery machine speed (SPM) helps in rough calculations.
- Provide a Good Quality Picture for Digitizing: A clear, easy-to-read image helps the digitizer work faster and better.
- Be Quick with Approvals: Respond quickly when the embroiderer sends you a design proof or sample picture.
- Factor in Non-Sewing Time: Remember that the embroidery project timeline includes more than just sewing. Plan for digitizing, approvals, getting items ready, and finishing.
- Order in Advance: Give the embroiderer plenty of notice, especially for large orders or during busy times of the year.
- Understand the Embroidery Time Factors: Knowing what slows things down helps you make choices about your design and expectations.
Frequently Asked Questions
H5 What is the main thing that affects machine embroidery time?
The most important thing is the embroidery stitch count. More stitches mean more sewing time.
H5 How much faster is machine embroidery than hand embroidery?
Machine embroidery is vastly faster. Hand embroidery takes hours or days for a small design. Machine embroidery takes minutes or an hour or two for most designs.
H5 Does changing thread colors take a lot of time?
Yes, each time the machine stops for a color change, it adds time. If a design has many colors, the total time is longer than a single-color design with the same stitch count.
H5 Can I estimate the time if I know the stitch count and machine speed?
Yes, you can get a rough idea of the sewing time. Divide the stitch count by the machine’s SPM. Then multiply by 60 to get seconds, or keep it in minutes if the speed is per minute. Remember to add time for hooping, color changes, trimming, and handling.
H5 How long does embroidery digitizing time add to the project?
Digitizing usually takes from 1 hour to several hours (3-6+) depending on the complexity. This happens before sewing.
H5 Why does a large design embroidery time take so much longer than a small logo?
Large designs have many more stitches. A small logo might have 5,000 stitches. A large design can easily have 50,000 or more. More stitches mean much longer sewing time.
H5 Does the embroidery machine speed always stay the same during a project?
No, the speed can be adjusted. Slower speeds might be needed for very small details, certain stitch types, or delicate fabrics.
H5 What does machine embroidery production rate mean?
It means how many items or how much embroidery area a machine can complete in a certain time, like an hour or a day. It’s higher for machines with faster speed and efficient design files.
H5 Is design complexity embroidery only about stitch count?
No, complexity also involves the number of colors, the amount of detail, the need for special stitches, and how often the machine needs to stop for trims or color changes. These things add time even if the stitch count is similar to a simpler design.
H5 What are the main parts of the embroidery project timeline?
The main parts are design work (like digitizing), getting the item ready, the actual machine sewing time, finishing the item, and any waiting time due to scheduling or approvals. The sewing time is just one part of the whole project.