1.) Choose a theme.

Commemorating seasonal celebrations, bringing communities together, promoting charitable causes or encouraging brand awareness – there are plenty of themes to pick from for your one-of-a-kind clothes. Choosing a concept will let you base your design on something specific that appeals to everyone.

Each element of your printed or embroidered style should loop back to this central theme. Leaf clip art will be right at home with environmental tees, for example, and they’re wonderful for gardening clubs too. Cohesive designs will convey your theme with a glance.

 2.) Keep your design straightforward.

Stunning customization doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, too many visual elements will make it hard for people to know where to look instead of communicating your message with a simple look. There are successful designs that have purposefully included a lot of artwork or graphics. But for the goal of creating amazing apparel with easy designs, you’ll want to go minimalistic for a big impact.

Consider this shirt above. The message on the tee has two font types, which gives it a laidback style. More than that would look disjointed instead of creating a unified impression.

3.) Use distinctive images.

Your organization’s logo or unique artwork will make your design turn heads, and it will give you a key visual aspect to center your style on. Own a restaurant or bar? A casual uniform shirt for a bakery or ice cream shop can have cake slices or popsicles near your logo to connect your brand with food service.

Choosing these kinds of graphics is fantastic for promoting your business, whether you’re a startup or a staple in your community.

4.) Creative design placement.

Printing details on the sleeve of a shirt is always going to capture attention, whether you go with images or wording. Printing on the rear of pants is more common than on sleeves, but it can be fun to do for clever phrases or playful designs. Your priority with either kind of custom clothing is to make sure that your graphics and font sizes are clear and readable.

When printing along the length of long sleeves in particular, you’ll want a word that’s not so short that there are big gaps between letters or too long to the point where the font size is affected.

5.) Do research for your ideal vendor.

Even the most striking design will only be as good as the company you choose, so you’ll want to check reviews and look for perks like guaranteed delivery. Advanced features like text-to-image tools show a commitment to innovation. Look into any business you’re considering going through to ensure they’re up to your quality standards.

The post Five Simple Design Tips for Stunning Custom Apparel appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

Discover expert tips in our graphic tee design placement guide today, and get started making your own custom t-shirts at BlueCotton.

Pictured: Coldwell Painting design on Gildan heavy cotton T-shirt

Crewneck T-Shirts

These are the most versatile tees to customize since they have a spacious printing area. Several of our design ideas make the most of that, focusing on covering the front of the shirt for visibility and bold style. This is the classic look that people will generally expect with custom graphic tees. A badge-inspired design is popular too, featuring your logo or artwork printed on the left chest area like this Delta Zeta tee.

With commemorative shirts, it’s important to remember that printing on the back can be the norm. Student names on band T-shirts or sponsors for festival tees are a couple of examples. Sleeve printing is more distinctive, making it perfect for creative events or organizations. Keep these simple with a logo or artwork and perhaps some large text for readability.

V-Neck Tees

Often on feminine shirts, this kind of neckline can also be seen with men’s styles like this Augusta Stripe Jersey. The goal with V-neck shirts is to place the custom design higher than you would with a scoop neck or crewneck cut. Our Design Studio has a dotted line that shows the print area, and with V necklines, you should move your artwork or logo toward the upper edge of that boundary. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be right on the line, just closer to the collar. Left chest graphics should also be placed higher than usual.

Positioning on the shirt’s back and sleeves will be unchanged from crewneck tees, although cap sleeves like those on the Gildan Softstyle V-neck need smaller designs to suit the space.

Pictured: Camp Murphey design on Bella + Canvas Unisex Jersey Tank

Tank Tops

These sleeveless tops are all about the front and back as far as printing areas go. They can also have crewneck or V-neck styles, and the usual rules apply there. What you want to be aware of with tank tops is that the back often has different cuts. A racerback tank can have gathered fabric at the back, creating a feminine drape that could interfere with readability for any text printed there, or it could have a narrow cut with limited printing space.

These are usually more fitted than standard T-shirts because tank tops are often used for fitness activities that need a semi-fitted garment. Find a relaxed fit for more space or choose simpler designs.

Pictured: Little Brother fraternity design on Comfort Colors pocket tee

Pocket Shirts

There’s a reason you’ve seen plenty of shirts in this style with a graphic printed on the chest pocket. It’s an eye-catching design that helps build brand awareness, promote your cause or draw attention to your artwork. Pocketed T-shirts come in short-sleeve or long-sleeve varieties and tend to have scoop necks.

When screen printing your design on the pocket, you want to make sure you give plenty of space around the edges and don’t fill up the area. This gives your artwork or logo a clean appearance and won’t affect visibility when something is in the pocket. That said, many clients will place the design on the opposite side of the chest pocket to work around that.

Pictured: Coast Guard badge design on Fruit of the Loom hooded T-shirt

T-Shirt Hoodies

Lighter than your typical hooded sweatshirts, zip-up tee hoodies are usually customized to give groups breathable layering options. The neckline is less of a concern for design placement than the full-zip front and hood on the back. Printing on the left chest area is the standard with garments like these to draw the eye and make sure nothing covers the design. On the back, the hood will go over whatever you have printed there. The alternative is to print on the sleeve as well as the front if you want more design elements.

You can print your artwork or logo on one of the pouch pockets for a one-of-a-kind look, being aware that this can be less identifiable than printing on the chest.

Pictured: Born to Run design on Bella + Canvas cropped tee

Women’s Crop Tops

You have to be efficient with your design when printing on a cropped T-shirt shorter than your average tee. This flirty and breathable style of shirt is very fashionable with young ladies, so it’s well worth the effort to choose artwork or logos that will suit this smaller space. Simpler looks will make sure the custom crop top design is attention-grabbing and doesn’t crowd out the flowy shirt.

Another option is to print your logo on the left chest area with your larger design on the back, which is good for events and organizations where you want to acknowledge all the participants or employees involved in a group effort. Sleeve printing is possible, but less common because it’s less noticeable compared to conventional T-shirts.

Designing Custom T-Shirts at BlueCotton

We set ourselves apart by taking care of every stage of production in-house with our U.S. team, unlike major competitors – including design, printing, shipping and packaging. Get started today to see why our clients swear by our quality customization, guaranteed delivery and exceptional service from real people.

The post T-Shirt Design Placement for Different Shirt Styles: Crewneck, V-Neck, Tank Tops, and More appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

You’ll have a much easier time choosing from font styles once you have your message decided. Keep in mind that you only want to choose one to three font types at most to keep your custom shirt design from being overwhelming.

The 10+ categories of our Design Studio help you select exactly the right font you’re looking for, regardless of your chosen message. Check out these design examples to see our design advice in action.

How To Choose a Font for Your Custom Shirt Message

U.S. Veteran T-Shirt

The bold stencil font goes well with the painted stripes of the American flag, embodying the patriotic spirit and courage to fight that inspires so many. Visually representing these qualities with the right font gives them more meaning than words alone.

Business Marketing Shirt

The Gothic font draws attention and has a strong character to promote brand awareness, and the informative Paint & Body section is in a more reader-friendly script font that complements that style. This is how you combine two font types for a shirt message that makes an impact.

Team Spirit Shirt

This cool font for the sport team’s name plays into the tough reputation of their mascot, and the larger text size means readability is less of a concern. Curving the text around the ball gives it a put-together appearance.

Mental Wellness Shirt

The subtle bubble font chosen for this custom design goes well with the curved header and clip art of the human mind. Narrow down your font choices by picking a graphic first, then selecting the text that looks best with your logo or artwork.

Haunted Mansion Holiday Tee

Purely decorative, this Halloween font demonstrates how a stylized look can capture exactly what your brand or community is trying to express. You could see this shirt design out of the corner of your eye or even look at the text alone and know what it was for.

The 21st Birthday Shirt

Combining straight and curved font draws your eye towards the cake graphic in the center of this festive shirt design, all while giving it a playful appearance. The sloped text adds to that for an extra-fun birthday tee.

Customize Your Apparel Now at BlueCotton

Our free font selection is packed with options from pretty font to retro text, so there’s something for every company, group or special occasion. Take a look at our custom T-shirts today to get started with customization that has all printing and production handled in-house by our U.S. team.

The post Designing for Impact: How to Choose the Best Font for Your T-Shirt Message appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

1. Understand How AI Works

First, any AI design generator must be trained. This is the casual term to describe the complex data processing that all artificial intelligence tools undergo. Three things go into this: high-quality data in large amounts, advanced algorithms and process refinement through repetition. These combine to help AI establish patterns within the relevant information.

Naturally, this leads to the question that lots of people ask about AI design tools. Can you legally have AI generated images for commercial use? The answer could be murky. If an AI tool was trained with copywritten material, anything it generates falls into a gray area that could be illegal to use for profit. That’s why it’s important to use an AI design application that you know can create custom designs that build your brand, generate interest at fundraisers, increase sales and more.

The BlueCotton Design Studio has that ability. Because it was carefully trained to ensure quality and legal commercial use, any custom clothing you make with it can be sold, raffled off, awarded, etc. without concerns around the design.

2. Be Specific to Get the Pictures You’re Imagining

The more information you give to a generative AI tool, the better your results will generally be. Don’t worry about limiting the outcome too much, either. For example, the right side of the above image shows a request for a cartoon parrot at a tiki bar with two stools. Yet there are four stools placed at two of the bars pictured in the results. AI is an adaptive technology and will adjust the image to be more aesthetically appealing in small ways like that. The results still align with what it was asked to do overall.

3. Put the Finishing Touches on Your AI Shirt Design

Pictured: Modified Keep Calm, It’s Spring Break design on the 5000 Gildan Heavy Cotton T-Shirt

Choosing one of the tiki bars in the example above, you can see the blank signs now have Greek letters on them. The spring break words above the parrot image have a playful palm tree in another color, and the city is listed below as well. Fraternity and sorority trips are classic reasons to customize t-shirts, and AI generated shirt designs make it easier than ever for your chapter to give out impressive custom tees. Look at our other design ideas to see how different events and organizations can create distinctive apparel.

The human element makes a world of difference with custom graphic tee designs. In our online studio, AI design is just one tool at your disposal. Start designing at BlueCotton today, where all stages of production are handled in-house with our U.S. team.

The post NEW AI Text To Image Design – Tips for Using AI Images to Design Clothing & More appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

1. Choose the right font

In the Design Studio at BlueCotton, there’s a whole menu of retro-style fonts. Find fonts that fit the ’70s and other eras, as well as stylized fonts with a weathered appearance. If you were thinking of using our Names & Numbers feature to create personalized shirts, there are also retro font options available for that.

Subtle changes to the text can also have a big impact on giving your custom tee a vintage look. For example, you could curve the text above your art or logo to go for a retro, badge-like appearance. You could even give your shirt design a movie feel with text shaped like the nostalgic intro credits famously found in the Star Wars movies.

2. Add vintage-style clip art

You might be surprised at how many choices you have when you design your custom tees at BlueCotton. The built-in search function within our studio tool means you can easily find the clip art you need to create the retro look you want. Milkshakes were iconic in the 1930s to ’50s, and roller skates were at their most popular in the ’70s and ’80s. Go for a band shirt look with musical symbols, or even skulls for metal or rock ‘n’ roll!

3. Import your own weathered or vintage-style artwork

Open-source programs like Krita will give you a whole suite of tools to create more detailed retro T-shirt designs. Once you have the specific vintage style that your group wants, you can easily upload that artwork into our online studio tool. There are also royalty-free picture websites, such as Pixabay, where you can find pre-made vintage graphics for your custom shirt. Most will have filters to help narrow down your search.

4. Choose the right shirt

Just as important as the design itself is the garment it’s printed on. Look for custom T-shirts that work best for your artwork or logo. For rustic, retro-style tee designs, consider the Jerzees T-shirt that comes in youth sizes and adult options up to plus sizes. For 1960s and ’70s designs, the Colortone Tie Dye Tee could be exactly what you need. You also can’t go wrong with the classic, bestselling Gildan Heavy Cotton T-Shirt.

5. Look for design ideas to get inspired

We have a large gallery of Design Ideas that include vintage looks and retro styles for T-shirts. No matter what aesthetic you’re after, you’re sure to find it there. Discover outdoorsy options in the camp gallery, seasonal vintage designs in the holidays gallery and more. The wide range of ideas is meant to give every business, charity, organization, school or other group a chance to find exactly what they need for their event or team.

The post How to Make a T-shirt Design Look Vintage appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

What better way to commemorate that friendship than with a pair of awesome, custom-made sweaters or shirts? Best friend hoodies and T-shirts make great gifts.

We’ve compiled a few of the best friendship-styled sweater designs we’ve seen online here to get you started. Have a look and see if any of the examples below inspire you. Matching best friend hoodies are popular, and basically anything that goes on a hoodie can go on a tee. If you see something that gets the creative juices flowing, why not step into our Design Studio and create something of your own? Take a look at our selection of custom t-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts and create your own designs.

BBF

via Etsy

Blondes and brunettes will love these clever best friend sweatshirts.

Watch Me

via Etsy

Best Friends

via Wanelo

Warmer than the BFF heart necklaces that inspired the look, these sweatshirts for friends will give them the best of both.

Cats Are My Best Friends

via Teespring

A slightly different take on the best friend theme.

The Mean One

via SwaGirls

Part one of the trifecta.

The Annoying One

via SwaGirls

Part two.

The Cute One

via SwaGirls

Who’s the lucky one who gets to wear this one?

She’s My BFF

via Etsy

Rock and Rule

via Wanelo

The jpeg is strong with this one, but the friendship is stronger.

Fried Bacon

via WeHeartIt

Every Tall Needs A Small

via WeHeartIt

My BFF Is A Dinosaur

via SilkFred

Another alternative take on the theme.

Cake and Ice Cream

via WeHeartIt

Mustard And Hot Dog

via CafePress

Couldn’t Handle Us As Sisters

via Amazon

BBFs…Again

via Etsy

Another take on the blonde and brunette best friends shtick.

BFF, with Flowers

via CafePress

“I swear I’m only wearing it ironically.”

Wok and Roll

via Etsy

Me and You

via SwaGirls

Matching Knitted Sweaters

via The Wooden Soldier

Cookie and Coffee

via RedBubble

Eggs and Bacon

via Wanelo

I’ve seen these two together somewhere before…

I Like My Best Friend

via Society 6

The must-get BFF hoodies for dog owners.

Most Awesome Best Friend

via CafePress

If you buy an extra one of these matching hoodies for friends yourself, it still counts.

Up To No Good

via CustomizedGirl

Naughty and Nice

via AliExpress

Sisters

via CustomizedGirl

You’ve Met Thing 1 and Thing 2, I assume?

via Etsy

Troublemakers

via Etsy

Best Friend Stick Figures

via CafePress

The youthful art style is great as a besties hoodie for childhood friends.

Unbiological Sisters

via eBay

Just remember to stand on the right side when you take pictures with your bestie hoodie set.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

via CafePress

swa

Nutella and Bread

via SwaGirls

Cheese to my Macaroni

via Amazon

Cat Dog

via SwaGirls

Who Needs A Boyfriend?

via SwaGirls

Ask for a hooded style, and you’ve got cute matching hoodies for three best friends who are single (and definitely do not want to mingle). Or four, or five…

Naughty and Nice Take Two

via Etsy

Too Lazy To Find New Friends

via RedBubble

When you want three best friends’ hoodies that are super-honest, this is the design for you. Luckily, there’s no need to order more.

Sis.ter

via WhereToGet

If you can’t read it, it says:

“sis.ter: (sis.ter) n. 1. A best friend for life. 2. Player of dress up. 3. Teller of stories in the dark. 4. Keeper of secrets.”

“Patrick and Spongebob”

via SwaGirls

Friends Forever, Boys Whatever

via eBay

I Am BFF

via Rad

Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake

via Skreened

Disney BFFs

via Etsy

At midnight showings or theme park trips, these bestie sweatshirts will fit right in.

Keep Calm And Love BBF

via Wanelo

Going meta.

Milk and Cookies

via CafePress

Chillaxin With My Peeps

via CafePress

The Awkward Stir Crazy One

via Skreened

Oddly specific? Wait ’til you see its counterpart.

The Pessimistic Not Always Sober One

via Skreened

Things

via Etsy

She Is My Best Friend

via Etsy

Red and Green

via Yo Yo Melody

BFF Owls

via CafePress

Queen and Princess

via AliExpress

Because Everyone Else Sucks!

via Etsy

Friendship isn’t just for friendly people.

Coke and Cherry Coke

via AliExpress

Every Brunette Needs A Blonde (?)

via Etsy

The tone of these shirts changes a bit depending on whether you assume the brunette or the blonde bought them…

Crazy Friends

via Etsy

The Family You Choose

via CafePress

I Adopted My Best Friend

via CafePress

Friends 04 Ever

via Etsy

No Way She Woke Up Like That

via Etsy

Serena/Blair

via Fresh-Tops

FRIEND

via Society 6

Like Cookies and Milk

via SwaGirls

Friendship Levels

via CafePress

Warning: going from this sweater to the next one might give you whiplash.

God Gave Me You

via CafePress

Told ya.

Mild and Wild

via Etsy

Friend To All Cats

via CafePress

Better not get on his bad side.

Friend To All Dogs

via CafePress

That includes wolves too, doesn’t it?

I Love My Best Friend

via CafePress

Got Your Back!

Via RedBubble

Brunettes and Blondes, at it Again

via Etsy

Tweedles

via Etsy

Oldies but Goodies

via SwaGirls

Best Friends

via Etsy

Never Let You Sink

via Etsy

Cheesy Besties

via Customized Girl

Burger and Fries

via Amazon

BFF Sisters

via Amazon

Olaf and Sven

via Wanelo

Partners In Crime (Cuffs)

via Etsy

Three Best Friends

via Wanelo

The perfect three matching best friend hoodies for Disney fans or just for fun.

Why Aren’t We Comedians?

via Redbubble

Freak and Weirdo

via Etsy

A Girl’s Real Best Friend

via Redbubble

Partners in Crime

via Etsy

Minions

via Wanelo

Mustache Friends

via Polyvore

Big Spoon/Little Spoon

via Etsy

Forever Alone Together

via Etsy

Player 1 & 2

via Etsy

Sista From Anotha Mista

via Wanelo

Short One & Tall One

via WhereToGet

Batman & Robin

via eBay

No fighting over who gets to be Batman.

Hakuna Matata

via Customized Girl

Zombie Apocalypse Partners

via Spreadshirt

You’ve got your crew together for the end of the world, and now you’ve got great hoodies for three best friends or more.

Yin and Yang

via Etsy

To Infinity and Beyond

via Pinterest

Inspired? Why not design your own?

The post 99 Best Friend Shirts, Hoodies, and Sweaters appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

It isn’t difficult to see why, either. Donning custom fashion can provide us with a powerful confidence boost, allowing us to show the world what makes us unique. It can also provide us with a means of showing our support for a worthy cause such as a nonprofit. 

Beyond that, as Forbes Magazine notes, we’ve grown used to extensive personalization in every other arena of our lives. Everything is curated, from our search results to our Netflix queue. Why not personalize our clothes, too?

It wouldn’t do to settle for low-quality, budget-brand apparel as a foundation for that personal touch, though. That’s exactly why BlueCotton works with a wide selection of trusted brands for clothing and accessories. We’ll walk you through how to find one that’s a perfect fit for you. 

Step One: Selecting  Your Apparel

We want to make sure that our customers have plenty of choices, which is why we offer an incredibly diverse selection of brands, including: 

• Hanes
• Gildan
• Fruit of the Loom
• American Apparel
• Canvas
• Sport-Tek
• Port & Company
• Under Armor
• Carhartt
• Eddie Bauer 
• The North Face
• Champion
• Bella+Canvas
• Independent Trading Company

Our clothing, which ranges from t-shirts to sweats to outerwear, is available in a wide variety of different colors, sizes, and styles. We offer more than clothing, too. Within our shop, you’ll find custom backpacks, duffel bags, tote bags, face masks, hats, and more.  

Choose whichever fit you feel will be the most comfortable, select your color and size, and then make sure you’ve selected the right material. In most cases, this will primarily be a matter of comfort. However, if you’re planning to do custom embroidery, you’ll want to take a few extra things into consideration. 

Step Two: Brainstorming Your Design

Once you’ve figured out what sort of clothing or accessory you want to customize, it’s time to figure out how to make it speak uniquely to you. 

 If you’re unfamiliar with graphic design, don’t worry. It’s not terribly difficult to gain a passing understanding of the basics, which you can read about briefly here.  We’ve also published a more comprehensive guide to graphic design as it applies to apparel. 

You may not be able to sell any commissions with that knowledge, but you’ll at least know how to put together a decent-looking graphic.

Of course, even knowing the basics of graphic design, you still need to find inspiration for a design. Maybe you planned ahead, and you’ve already got an idea buzzing around in your head. If not, here are a few things you can do to seek out your creative spark: 

• Think about your favorite media and the types of visuals commonly associated with that. 
• Ask friends and family for their opinion. 
• Have a look through a site like Etsy, and see what custom designs are listed there.
• Spend some time on Deviantart or Tumblr to see if you can find anything you like. One warning, though: don’t use someone’s art without their permission.  

Step Three: The BlueCotton Design Studio

Now for the fun part. You’ve planned out your design and found a base. It’s time to open our award-winning Design Studio and get to work. Here are a few brief guidelines, and you can click here for an overview of what that process might look like for a T-shirt: 

• If you haven’t already selected your shirt, you can customize everything from type to size to style and color before getting started. 
• When you’ve finalized your shirt, you can apply custom text via the sidebar on the left. 
• The sidebar also allows you to customize the font, color, size, and effects.
• You can also add clipart, upload custom art, or create custom shapes. 
• There are also a ton of decorative elements you can apply, such as a distressed effect. 
• If you want to create multiple shirts, you can add custom names and numbers to each. 

Step Four: Finalizing Your Order

Once you’ve finished creating your design, there’s only one thing left to do. Finalize your order, make your purchase, and then we’ll get to work printing it for you.  We’ll make it our priority to get you your purchase as fast as possible — and you can start showing off your unique personality that much sooner. 

The post Personalizing Branded Apparel with BlueCotton: A Step-By-Step Guide appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

Granted, you probably haven’t had much use for a backpack over the past few years. Most schooling has been virtual, and it’s not as though anyone has been making extensive travel plans during the pandemic. But things are going to calm down eventually.

In some regions, they already have. So whether you’re heading to campus for the first time in years, going on a hike, backpacking across Europe, or simply going to hang out at a cafe, why not do so in style with a custom backpack? There are plenty of things you can do to add a personal touch to your bag, even if it’s not custom-made. 

Start With a Few Trinkets

Let’s start simple. Spend a bit of time on Etsy, or visit the nearest craft or hobby shop. There’s a good chance you’ll find at least a few pins and keychains that catch your eye. 

Grab as many as you feel comfortable using, and attach them to your bag.

Of course, you can take things even further if you want to invest in a bit of fabric glue. This will allow you to make those pins functionally permanent — removing the ever-present risk of them falling off. Alternatively, you could use it to attach a bunch of other craft materials to your bag, such as studs or gemstones. 

Explore Embroidery 

If embroidery is your thing, why not put that to work customizing your backpack? 

You have a few options here. First, you can purchase or create embroidery patches to apply directly to your bag by hand. This is probably the easiest route, and it’s what we’d recommend for people new to embroidery.

Alternatively, you can machine embroider your bag, allowing you to apply embroidery patches or create your own custom monograms/art. As you might expect, this is a bit more involved and complicated than hand-stitching. You’ll want to be sure you’re comfortable with embroidery machines before you attempt it. 

Draw Some Pictures

Did you know there are plenty of markers, paints, and dyes designed for fabric? Visit your nearest craft shop, and you probably won’t have much difficulty finding some that are specifically designed for your backpack’s material. At that point, go nuts.

The bag is your canvas, and you are an artist. 

Do bear in mind that many of the inks you might use for this process aren’t machine-washable. That means that if you ever need to clean your backpack, you may want to take it to the dry cleaner. Otherwise, all the work you’ve put in might well bleed off in the wash. 

Try Tape

If you want to get really creative, why not try something that’s not typically used for crafting? Grab yourself some reflective tape, and use it to try out some neat custom patterns on your bag. Obviously, the trade-off here is that tape doesn’t last forever, so even if your bag looks downright incredible, you’ll eventually need to re-apply once the tape starts peeling off. 

Get Something Custom-made

While it’s undoubtedly true that all the above techniques can be applied to any backpack, we think it adds a certain something if your bag is customized right from the start. That’s where BlueCotton comes in. Choose from multiple different custom backpack styles and colors, then take your choice into our award-winning design studio for further customization. 

From there, you can apply virtually any custom embroidery you choose, ranging from simple monograms to full-on embroidered artwork. Once your backpack is personalized to your liking, we’ll ship it out to you as soon as possible. From there, you can customize until your heart’s content, until you have a bag that’s truly, uniquely yours. 

From pins and keychains to custom embroidery, there exists a multitude of ways to customize your backpack. Which techniques you use and how you apply them is entirely up to you. 

The post 5 Ways to Customize a Backpack appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

Here are ten of our most valuable tips for creating better custom embroidery designs. 

Know Your Fabrics

Just as with apparel, fabric type is the first and most important consideration when designing personalized embroidery. Not all fabrics are suitable as a basis for embroidered designs, and using the wrong fabric can potentially ruin a shirt. As for how to select a fabric to embroider, Graphics Pro notes that there are three factors you should consider: 

• Texture. The best fabrics have a smooth texture, a high thread count, and an even surface. Coarser and denser material may cause the design to look rough or uneven.

• Stability. The best fabric for embroidery has a bit of give, but doesn’t stretch. Overly-stretchy materials such as light polyester can not only cause fraying but also ruin a design’s proportions. 

• Durability. As you might expect, overly-fragile materials cannot easily be embroidered, as they tend to tear when subjected to the needle. 

Sew Guide recommends using any of the following materials as an embroidery base: 

• Canvas
• Aida-weave cotton/java cloth
• Cotton-polyester blends
• Fiddler’s cloth
• Jobelan
• Hardanger fabric
• Klostern
• Cotton muslin
• Linen
• Silk
• Satin

As for embroidery thread — also known as floss — Create For Less recommends the following: 

• Cotton
• Variegated
• Reflective polyester
• Silk
• Pearl cotton
• Rayon

Keep Things Simple

Though it’s certainly possible to create some downright stunning designs through embroidery, it’s not generally well-suited for intricacy. In most cases, the lines created by embroidery floss tend to be comparatively large and thick compared with other printing/design methods. As such, it’s usually better to stick to less complicated artwork in your embroidery, especially if you’re just starting out. 

Pay Attention to Size

One of the biggest mistakes we see first-timers make with embroidery involves sizing. Generally, it’s better to keep your embroidered designs understated and unassuming. Too much embroidery tends to make a shirt rigid and uncomfortable to wear while also looking incredibly tacky. 

Mind the Gaps

We’ve mentioned the importance of visual composition before, but it bears mentioning again. You need to think about how your embroidered design is going to be oriented on a shirt. To that end, we strongly recommend doing a bit of reading on spacing. 

Ensure You Have the Proper Equipment

If you’re a hobbyist, you probably want to do the embroidery yourself rather than bringing in a third party. And that’s perfectly okay. Just make sure you have the right equipment before you get started.

Aside from a shirt and embroidery thread, this includes:

• A sewing machine that can support free-motion stitching. Most do, but it never hurts to double-check. Note that you can also embroider by hand. 
• An embroidery hoop and stabilizer. The former ensures that the shirt you’re embroidering remains taut. The latter helps prevent your sewing machine from jamming.
• Embroidery scissors.  For cutting the embroidery thread once you’re done. Also crucial for making embroidery patches. 
• A quilting foot. Helps you more evenly control the direction of your stitch while also keeping your fingers away from the needle. 
• An embroidery needle. These are not the same as typical sewing needles. 

Plan Your Design First

Last but certainly not least, you’ll want to plan your design before you begin, as this is what you’ll use to create your stitch guide.

When it comes to brainstorming this design, consider the following:

• Use easily differentiated, complementary colors and shades. Embroidery is not well-suited for color blending.
• Consider if you want to embroider directly on the fabric or use a patch — the former may be better for more complex designs. 
• If you’re including text, use a simple font with relatively thick lettering.
• Decide if you want to commission an artist, purchase a premade design, or create something of your own. 

Ensure Your Embroidery is Done Right with BlueCotton

If you’re using your embroidery design for custom branding (or you simply don’t trust yourself around a sewing machine), BlueCotton can help. Our award-winning Design Studio makes it easy to create stunning embroidery. And once you’ve finalized that design, shipping is quick, easy, and painless.

Because you deserve nothing less.

The post 6 Hacks and Tips for Better Custom Embroidery appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.

Lines and Shapes

Lines and shapes are present in almost every graphic, even if it’s only as a solid border. Most of the time, they’re used to cordon off different sections of an arrangement or direct the viewer’s attention in a specific way. By creating optical paths in this fashion, one can create a wide range of unusual impacts and effects.

Bold, thick lines will tend to draw more attention, while thinner lines will often fade into the background. Color, which we’ll discuss in a moment, is essential as well. Darker colors will inevitably draw the eye more than a lighter shade.  The style also matters here, as people will experience a dashed or dotted line differently from a solid one. 

Shape, or form, is what you get when you combine several lines into a single shape. There are many different types, ranging from the concrete (circles, squares, triangles, etc.) to the abstract. Most graphics include at least one or more shapes. 

Forms, like lines, have certain common associations in the mind. Circles are often tied to nature and movement, while squares are viewed as structured. Color, background, and style can also change the viewer’s perception. 

Color

Color is arguably the most crucial aspect of an eye-catching graphic, providing a powerful visual impact and a ton of associated emotions with a single glance. It’s also unique in that you don’t really need graphical training to recognize color, though you do need the training to understand how best to apply it. Different colors are typically used to evoke different emotions.

Red is often seen as passionate, blue as calming, green as lively, and so on. Color theory, explained in this piece by graphic design blog 99 Designs, is essential to understanding the effective use of color. Factors like saturation, shade, hue, tint, tone, and complementary colors all combine to change how one experiences a work. 

Space and Texture

Effective use of spacing is crucial in creating memorable imagery. White space, also known as negative space,  provides the viewer with a calm, open feeling. White space is especially crucial in graphics that accommodate written text, as it makes them far easier to read.

Having too little negative space may cause a graphic to appear cluttered, messy, or disorganized. 

In addition to graphic design, negative space is also a popular concept in photography, as detailed in the Photography Mad Blog. When designing a graphic, think about how you want it to be framed. Where do you want the user’s attention to be drawn? What’s the most important element of your design? 

Texture also plays a particularly important role, especially where clothing is concerned. A texture is, as explained by the graphic design tool Canva, the surface quality of a particular design.  It’s the feel of an object or image, a background element that somehow still ties everything else together.

Starting With The Basics

As with any discipline, a concrete understanding of the fundamentals is critical to effective graphic design. Color, space, texture, shapes, and lines are the building blocks. It’s up to you to determine how to best fit them together, and how to discover your unique style as a designer.  

The post 3 Things Everyone Needs to Understand About Graphic Design appeared first on The BlueCotton Blog.