The second method of decorating garments is embroidery, a process of sewing decorative stitches onto fabric using needle and thread or yarn. The process has been around since ancient times but is still used extensively today.
Modern embroidery machines are computer driven and digitally controlled. After the machine has been set up with the appropriate coloured thread, a prepared graphic image or text is sent to the machine from a computer or memory device to be stitched onto the garment.
By Manolis Angelakis (Manolis Angelakis) [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia CommonsScreen Printing (also known as silkscreening), a process that is complex, messy, and time-consuming. It involves photographically produced stencil screens, emulsions, colour separations, and ink forced onto the garment through screens with a roller or squeegee. Each spot colour used requires a separate run through the process, making sure each colour is in perfect registration. Then the entire process is repeated for each garment. Screen printing is labour-intensive, costly, and is most efficient for large print runs. It is not practical or cost-effective for printing single garments or small batches.
Digital Garment Printing is a breakthrough technology in apparel decoration industry.
These new print-to-fabric printers make it possible and practical for people working from home to compete with traditional T-shirt printing businesses.
Until recently, there were only two choices for how you might directly imprint graphic images and text onto shirts, hats, bags, and other fabric items. There are some other non-direct methods for decorating apparel.
Direct-to-garment printing
In direct-to-garment printing, a T-shirt or other garment is inserted into a specifically engineered ink-jet printer and the ink prints directly onto the garment. It attaches to an ordinary computer and works the same way as a common document ink-jet printer.
Any graphic image, photograph, or illustration can be quickly and easily printed. It can print a single shirt or many, and the per-shirt cost is the same, unlike screen printing which requires a costly pre-print setup. The “hand” (feel) of the printed garment is soft like the fabric, which may seem to be a small thing but is actually a great advancement.
It is important to understand the significance of this development. Direct-to-garment printing is a revolutionary technology that opens up business possibilities that simply didn’t exist before. Stay-at-home moms can start a part-time money-making T-shirt business from their family room. College kids can print and sell cool T-shirts from their apartment.
Creative people can build their own decorated clothing line to sell in retail stores. Families can create a profitable high-growth T-shirt business in which everyone can contribute. Companies who already do screen printing, sign-making, or embroidery can now add digital garment printing to their service offerings.
Rhinestones are used throughout the clothing and fashion industry on accessories to decorate everything from fingernails to cell phones. They are mostly applied or attached to fabric surfaces using glue, heat or metal settings. Since stones are available in a wide range of colours, shapes and sizes, there is plenty of opportunity for creativity.
Sequins may be stitched flat to the fabric, so that they do not move, and are less likely to fall off; or they may be stitched at only one point, so that they dangle and move easily, to catch more light. Some sequins are made with facets, to increase their reflective ability. The sequins are often hand sewn, glued, heat transferred or machined to the fabric in patterns or all over.
Bead-work of any sort looks a good deal more complicated than it actually is when a few simple techniques are generally sufficient to create even the most complex design. There is a natural affinity between beads and textile techniques; some translating directly. Embroidery and bead-work make a pair. Hand beading is very time consuming and makes garments very expensive.
