As embroidery digitizing experts, we here at Idea Custom Solutions know there’s not much more professional than a smartly embroidered garment or accessory for team members or customers. But logos and monograms are far from the extent of what you can do with the art form. Try offering your clients promotional products with more innovative styles. Perhaps you can take inspiration from one of these stunning examples of alternative embroidery.

• Loose Threads. Artist Sheena Liam prefers not to keep all her threads tied up neatly. The Ludlow-based artist stitches black and white images of women, but lets their hair fly loose with embroidery floss threads. Some of her pieces show women casually braiding their hair, some just relaxing with the hair flowing down and some going about daily activities with mussed hair.
• Unique Materials. Embroidery doesn’t have to be relegated to cloth and fabric. Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene, an artist from Lithuania, shuns conventional materials. She embroiders things like buckets, cars, dishes and utensils. Think about what unique materials in your products might be good candidates for embroidery. How about an embroidered phone case, or even embroidered bag clips? It may take a bit of creativity from the manufacturer to get the right holes for the thread, but the possibilities are endless. You could even add embroidery to printed mailers for an extra special look.
• Go Out of Bounds. Sure, each embroidered piece generally has a set area where the stitches can go. But who says you need to stay in the lines? Take a cue from artist Ana Teresa Barboza. She creates beautiful embroidered pieces inside the confines of her hoop, but then those threads spill out, creating a tumbling effect that quickly draws the eye. How can you turn your clients’ logos into longer extensions of themselves?
• Mix Styles. One excellent way to create a special promotional product is to mix textile styles. Artist Linda Gass tries to display the changing environment through her work, but she does this by blending embroidery, quilting and other techniques to produce stunning multimedia representations of her subjects. Imagine the depth and interesting textures you could achieve on quilted hats or jackets with embroidery to pump them up.
• Flip It Over. You know how some shirts are designed to have the unfinished seams on the outside, like they’re almost unfinished? Turn your embroidered items inside out when you go against the flow like artist Cayce Zavaglia. She pairs each finished piece with a complementing painting of the reverse side of her embroidery. The result is a fascinating look into the personal expressions of each of her subjects — which are usually people. Give your clients the option of showing their embroidered goods in a different way: backwards.

We hope you enjoyed some of these eye-catching approaches to embroidery. If you need help with your embroidery digitizing to fulfill customer orders, reach out to Idea Custom Solutions. Our award-winning team will make sure you stand out with clients and deliver products that will delight! Check out our work.