Anyone have any samples of embroidered work?

[longboy]

Hello-
The company I work for is looking at getting some backpacks embroidered with an illustration for an upcoming 'launch'. I have only had the occasional logo embroidered on a hat or shirt, but not much to show for full embroidered illustrations. The only one I have is this one from a few years ago, it was made into iron-on patches:

http://www.long-boy.com/images/art/patch02.gif

I've convinced them away from getting a dye-sublimation emblem made (because I've seen them, and they didn't look good), but I'd like to show them more samples of how cool a good illustration can look as an embroidered piece.

Post up any samples you may have. Don't worry, I'm not looking to steal designs or anything, just wanting to show them what is possible. I already have the design 90% done, it just needs some cleanup in Illustrator.

Thanks!

[DesignVHL]

I would try and contact some companies your intersted in getting embroidery quotes from, and ask them to send you samples of their best embroidery work to show your employer. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to send those to you, especially if it means you might become a potential customer. :) Then you have more than a picture to show, you have a something they can see and touch.

[budafist]

How big is that design going to be? Embroidery isn't ideal for designs with tiny details in them. I have a good friend that is the designer/computer person for an embroidery company. If you have any specific questions, I can pass them on to her.

[DesignVHL]

Agreed Buda, was gonna mention that - unless these are going to be fairly large, it is best to keep it simple and not so detailed...like thin lines won't transfer very well....

[longboy]

Thanks all, I'm pretty sure we're going to have to clean up the illustration quite a bit and I'm quite comfortable with that. In fact, it's a good excuse for me to 'vectorize' the illustration. It was done by a contractor for another purpose, so it definitely will be tidied up.

Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to post the current illustration for super secret reasons.

[budafist]

No real need to vectorize the illustration if that's not what you have already. According to my friend, she has to redraw every designs she gets. So whether you supply a jpg or an eps, you will still need to be charged redrawing by the embroidery company's designer. Unfortunately they don't work with vector files, they need embroidery files.

[DesignVHL]

Thats interesting buda....whenever i've asked our embroidery people what format to supply them, its always been an EPS file. I don't understand how they should be allowed to "redraw" it...I always just thought they converted the artwork to their needed format, not completely redo it as it sounds like your suggesting....weird...but interesting.

[longboy]

Well I guess I need to do more research to see what my options are. Last time I did one, we were supplied specs (minimum line weight, font size, # of thread colors, etc.) to conform to. They accepted my Illustrator artwork, and exported it to their embroidery software just fine.

Honestly, I'd prefer to control at least the initial setup on my end as I've seen some less-than-stellar work from some of these promotional companies that my company uses. Anyway, the illustration is very photo-realistic (think 3D rendering of a satellite, complete with planet, stars, etc) and I'd prefer to make it more vector-based, like the one I posted up top.

[budafist]

This might be helpful. (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=446068&postcount=4)