When you think of screen printed shirts you often think of a t-shirt that is worn by a sports team or a t-shirt that you received from an event you participated in and it has all the sponsors listed on the back. Often times you don’t think that shirts you but at some of the most popular stores in the mall are screen printed. If you looked in your closet you may be surprised by the number of shirts you have the are actually screen printed.

Some of the trendiest shirts available these days have the imprint all over the shirt including on the shoulders and collars. The print often times starts on the front of the shirt, goes over the shoulder and continues down the back of the t-shirt.

For a long time, this style of imprint has not been available to the promotional products industry. This has now changed which is very exciting!!!

Large format printing is now available for shirts! This means that a design 30” by 30” can be done to include print all over the collar, the sleeves and the side of the shirt including the very bottom of the t-shirt. There is a piece minimum of 144 for this style of shirt but whith this style of shirt, everyone will want one!!!

Labels: All over print, Promotional Products, Screen Print, Tshirt

Yesterday, I told you about a special milestone in the history of Kristie’s Kreations. We officially turned 9 years old on February 13th!

I also told you that I would give a little history about Kristie’s Kreations so here it is………..

When Kristie's Kreations was started, I was still a special education teacher.
Although I loved working with the kids, I also knew that I wanted to do something more. I also knew that I wanted to stay home when I started a family. In order to do this, I would have to find sometime else to do because I am not one to stay home all the time! It is also very important to me that my children spend time with other kids and not just me!

One day, a lady came into the school that I was teaching at and sold shirts to all of the teachers. These shirts were embroidered with their names on it. I was amazed at how many shirts the lady sold. It was NOT because she was a great at sales but simply because the teachers ate up the fact that they could get a ‘teachery’ shirt that had their name on it! I knew that this was something that I could do!!

It was then that I decided to start my own business. I began researching different embroidery machines and what it would require for me to start my own business
On February 13th, we purchased our first embroidery machine and digitizing program.

If you look at our first machine, you would probably say it was a sewing machine, not an embroidery machine. You would be partially correct. It is a sewing machine that also does embroidery. We attended training sessions for both the machine as well as the digitizing software.

I started out slow selling one shirt here and another shirt there. We started getting busy then by selling to my own school as well as others in the township. In fact, we got so busy, we had to purchase a second sewing/embroidery machine.

Quickly requests started coming in for hats and jacket back designs. These were things that we could not do on our two little machines. Not only that, but it was very time consuming to sew out a simple left chest design on a shirt. A little over a year from starting Kristie’s Kreations we purchased a large commercial embroidery machine!

Two and a half years after starting Kristie’s Kreations, I stopped teaching and focused solely on my business and my new family.

Over the years we started receiving requests for screen printing as well as promotional products. In order for our customers to only have to go to one person for all of their branding needs, we began offering these services as well.

It has been very fun to learn all of the aspects of owning a business and meeting so many wonderful people along the way! I have made many life long friends too!

Labels: digitizing, Embroidery, History, Kristie's Kreations, Promotional Products, Screen Print

Yesterday, February 13, Kristie's Kreations turned 9 years old! That is amazing! Boy has it has been a fun ride!

I am often asked how long I have been doing the embroidery, screen printing and promotional products. Most are amazed when I tell them how long ago I started my own business.

I had hoped to tell a little bit of the history of Kristie's Kreations on the official birth date but that didn't happen. I spent last week stuck in a blizzard in Washington DC. It was a fun trip but we stayed a little bit longer than planned due to mechanical problems on our plane as well as other snow storms happening throughout the country. Once we finally made it home yesterday, I didn't even open my laptop. Therefore no birthday wishes were made!

Stay tuned I will talk more about the history tomorrow!


In the mean time, Happy Valentine’s Day from Kristie’s Kreations which officially turned 9 years old yesterday!

Labels: Anniversary, Birthday, Embroidery, Kristie's Kreations, Promotional Products, Screen Print

Sometimes our customers are not sure if they should go with screen-print or embroidery.

Surprisingly, there are some things to think about:

• Where will you be wearing the shirts? Will you be wearing them doing yard work or at a convention?
• What is the image you are going for? Do you want to look a little bit more professional with embroidery or do you want to go for more of a “team” look with the screen-print?
• How many will you need? Less than two dozen or over 6 dozen?
• How many colors are in the design?
• What is your budget?
• Will you be making repeat orders?
• How many locations will there be? Do you want logo, web page, tag line, etc to also be included but in different locations on the shirt?
• Do you want something really big across the entire shirt?

Labels: Embrodery, Kristie's Kreations, Screen Print

In the last month or so, I have received many requests for information, as well as orders, for table coverings. Last year I posted several blogs about table coverings. I think it is appropriate to republish these. . . . Are you thinking about having a booth at a trade show?

Are you signed up for a booth at a trade show and you are wondering. . . Now What?

If you answered Yes to either of these questions then I can help!

There are two very important things to consider. What will my display look like and What will I pass out? For this post we begin to discuss what your table will look like. You will have more visitors to your booth if it looks nice and stands out especially from a distance.

Once noticed, customers will walk across the room to see what you have to offer if it looks good! The first way to assure this is by having a logoed table covering.

There are several options out there for table coverings but we have found one that we really like! These table coverings look good no matter what size table you are putting it on. The logo always embroiders very nicely on the material as well.

You might be thinking that the embroidery would be really expensive for a table covering. Well, the answer is that it is more expensive than a left chest design, but it is well worth it! The look and detail in the design is phenomenal! There are times when we can also help to reduce the number of stitches in the design. More information on this to come. Please check back.

Many locations will require that the table coverings be fire retardant. If this is your case then you are in luck! These table coverings are fire retardant and will fulfill this requirement.

Have you realized how important the table covering is for the trade show? If so, read the next post for more information!

Labels: Embroidery, Kristie's Kreations, Screen Print, Table Covering, Trade Show

Sometimes our customers are not sure if they should go with screen-print or embroidery.  Surprisingly enough, there are some things to think about:

• Where will you be wearing the shirts?  Will you be wearing them doing yard work or at a convention?


• What is the image you are going for? Do you want to look a little bit more professional with embroidery or do you want to go for more of a “team” look with the screen-print?


• How many will you need?  Less than two dozen or over 6 dozen?


• How many colors are in the design?


• What is your budget?


• Will you be making repeat orders?


• How many locations will there be?  Do you want logo, web page, tag line, etc to also be included but in different locations on the shirt?


• Do you want something really big across the entire shirt?
  

Pros and Cons for Screen-print and Embroidery

Screen-print: There is a screen charge each time you place a screen-print order, even with reorders.  It will not always be as expensive as the initial order, but there will be a charge.  With screen-printing, the cost for each shirt is based on the number of colors in the design, as well as the number of shirts ordered.  Your logo has four colors, so that puts it into the highest price category.  There is usually a minimum quantity of items purchased for screen print too.  One benefit is that screen print can go larger on the front of a t-shirt than the left chest of the embroidery.

Embroidery: The shirts just look more professional. You will have a one-time set-up fee, but after that has been completed then you can always order more shirts as they are needed without a minimum.  We do not recommend  putting a large embroidered design on the front of a t-shirt.  Embroidery will last much longer than screen print, sometimes even outliving the shirt.  The embroidery can be placed in several different locations such as a logo on the front left chest and then your website on the back or sleeve.

Rough Estimate: Here is a rough estimate I gave a potential client recently:  The logo had 4 different colors in it and they really only needed about 6 to be worn at conventions or other events.  Based on a rough estimate, they were looking at a difference in cost of about $15.00 for 12 screen printed t-shirts vs. 6 embroidered polo shirts.   Both with only a front location of the logo.

There are times when it is way more cost effective to go with screen print vs. embroidery.  But when the logo has so many different colors like this one and the quantity is so small, it really does not make that much difference in cost.  It is sometimes better to go with the embroidery because then it is ready for any future orders.

What do you think?

Which way would you go?

Labels: Embroidery, Logo colors, logos, Screen Print