So, which embroidery product is right for you? We’ve put together this comparison to help guide you to the right solution.
You Know You’re an Embroiderer When… 38 Real Answers from Our Facebook Embroidery Community
Machine embroidery may begin as a hobby, a creative outlet, or a business, but sooner or later, it becomes a way of life.
We recently asked our Facebook embroidery community to finish this sentence:
“You know you’re an embroiderer when…”
The answers were funny, painfully accurate, and far too relatable. We decided they were too good not to share. Here are 38 real answers from machine embroiderers who understand the thread, creativity, mishaps, and obsession that come with embroidery.
How many sound familiar to you?
You Would Rather Be Embroidering
“You stay inside working on projects when you could be outside enjoying a beautiful day by the pool or on the golf course.”
Sunshine is nice, but so is finishing the design you have been thinking about all day.
“You can’t wait to get home to embroider!”
It just might be the best part of the day!
Your Thread and Design Collection Has Taken on a Life of Its Own
“You own way more thread and designs that you will never use.”
But you might use them someday, and that is all the justification you need!
“Your entire camera roll is screenshots of design ideas and you will probably never get to all of them. Ask me how I know”
The camera roll says it all. There may never be enough hours to stitch every saved idea, but that will not stop an embroiderer from saving the next one.
“Your Etsy cart is always telling you that you ‘already have 99 items.’ Yet not one is a physical item.”
Ninety-nine embroidery designs in the cart, thousands more saved on the computer, and somehow nothing that feels exactly right for today’s project.
“Your inbox is full of ‘digitizers.'”
The quotation marks around “digitizers” say everything. Members of the Facebook embroidery community know how relentless the spam accounts can be after you post about embroidery.
“Your entire feed on Facebook is nothing but ads from embroidery sites!”
Facebook knows you a little too well!
Every Store Becomes an Embroidery Supply Store
“When everything you buy, you wonder how to personalize it!”
Nothing is safe from a creative embroiderer.
“When you look at clothes in store as blanks .. What could I put on this?”
“Stand in towel aisle debating which color for hooded towel design 🤔”
“Desperate you buy a blank shirts to cut up for fabric.”
At that point, the whole store becomes an embroidery supply aisle!
“You look at every Sewing store you go to to see what kind of embroidery they carry and what kind of sale will be and the embroidery thread books.”
You have to check every aisle, just in case.
“Every birthday gift is thinking what you can embroider their name on.”
Personalized gifts are the best!
“You come across ‘sayings’ and can’t decide what type of garment to put it on.”
Every good saying needs the perfect garment.
You Cannot Stop Inspecting Other People’s Embroidery
“You look at every embroidered product you see out in the world and think…I think I could do that better.”
Yes! You inspect every stitch.
“You go in stores and turn clothes inside out just to see how they stabilized “
The back tells the real story.
“When you critique everyone’s embroidery.”
You notice every little detail.
“You identify the embroidery font in logos all over.”
There should be a game show for embroiderers called Name That Font!
“You can eyeball how many stitches a design has in it”
We need a Guess That Stitch Count game show, too.
“You walk around the store and look at prices on subpar embroidery sweatshirts lol.”
Those prices hit differently when you embroider and know you would do it better!
You Have Learned a Few Lessons the Hard Way
“You embroider a shirt closed for the first time! & have to cut it just to get your Mighty Hoop out “
That is the one mistake we all dread.
Other members of our Facebook embroidery community quickly confirmed that it happens more than once. One even explained that the shirt became her husband’s new work shirt because she had already paid for the garment and invested her time in embroidering it. Nothing goes to waste in an embroiderer’s house!
“You monogrammed 4 towels perfectly and then fold the 5th one and realize you monogrammed the wrong side!!!”
It is always the last one!
“Your house is full of mis-stitched items that are perfectly useful but were wrong for the order.”
At least nothing goes to waste.
“Have multiple attempted items in a basket just waiting to use them for test outs, or as appliqués.”
Mis-stitches, abandoned projects, and scraps are never truly discarded. They are just waiting for their next opportunity.
“You put a needle through your finger, say a few cuss words, pull it out and keep going…”
Yep, sounds about right. Please be careful around those needles, though!
You Regularly Play Embroidery Games of Chance
“You play the thread lotto. Can you finish the design without running out.”
Yep! You cross your fingers and toes and hope for the best.
“You buy extra bobbins to never run out but never check to make sure it’s not low before starting a new stitch out.”
And it always runs out at the worst time!
“You dream about thread breaks and wake up thinking you hear your machine alarm going off “
We call those nightmares!
Your Embroidery Machine Is Part of the Family
“you fight with your machine, call it names, turn it off and walk out and 10 minutes later you are back working and calling it names yet again!”
There are days when it is definitely a love-hate relationship.
You may walk away, but everyone in the Facebook embroidery community knows you will be back. That project is not going to finish itself.
Embroidery Follows You Everywhere
“You can’t leave the house without thread stuck to your clothes.”
No outfit is complete without it!
“You pick pieces of threads off your clothing.”
It is a never-ending battle for sure.
Another member of our Facebook embroidery community added that bits of water-soluble stabilizer can follow you around on your feet, too. Thread is apparently not the only embroidery supply determined to leave the sewing room.
“When i find thread cuttings on my dog.”
Thread gets everywhere!
“You walk around all day with a positional sticker ‘snowman’ on your person until someone asks you what that is!”
It is part of the outfit.
“You wake up the next morning after pulling an all nighter with a center sticker on the sleeve of your PJs. “
If you know, you know.
“I’m my mother’s caretaker, every time I walk out of my room, she says ‘whatcha making back there’ “
Sounds like she knows you well!
You See Embroidery Possibilities Everywhere
“You see ppl in the wild wearing absolutely anything plain and have to fight the desire to express how much nicer it’d be with an embroidered design!”
To an embroiderer, a plain sweatshirt is not finished. It is simply waiting for the right design.
The Facebook embroidery community does not just see shirts, towels, bags, and fabric. Embroiderers see blank canvases filled with possibilities.
You Own Plenty of Mighty Hoops and Have Zero Regrets
Of all the answers we received, this may have been our favorite:
“You own enough MH inventory that it could’ve been another machine, and have ZERO regrets!”
Another embroidery machine would certainly be nice. But having the right Mighty Hoop® magnetic embroidery hoop ready for different garments, placements, and design sizes is pretty nice, too.
Different Mighty Hoop sizes give machine embroiderers more options for everything from small designs and shirt fronts to jackets, bags, towels, and larger embroidery projects. When the right hoop is already on hand, it is easier to select a hoop that fits the design and garment.
After 20 Years of Hooping, You Still Keep Going
One response reminded us just how dedicated embroiderers are:
“Your hands hurt after 20 years of hooping! But still do it.”
That is 20 years of dedication!
Another embroiderer immediately replied:
“Not with Mighty Hoops!”
Repetitive garment hooping should not have to be the hardest part of machine embroidery. That is one reason we created the Mighty Hoop magnetic embroidery hoop and the HoopMaster® Hooping System.
Mighty Hoop uses magnetic force to hold the garment taut and secure, making it easier to hoop many difficult, bulky, or thick items without the force required by a traditional embroidery machine hoop. It also automatically adjusts to different material thicknesses without requiring you to tighten or loosen an adjustment screw. Reduced hoop burn and fast hooping are the cherry on top!
HoopMaster helps you position garments accurately and consistently. This is especially helpful when completing customer orders, hooping the same placement repeatedly, or trying to keep designs straight and properly positioned.
Used together, Mighty Hoop and HoopMaster can help make the machine embroidery hooping process faster, easier, and more consistent, giving you more time for the part you truly enjoy: bringing your ideas to life.
They cannot stop you from buying more thread, saving hundreds of design ideas, or occasionally embroidering the wrong side of a towel. Some parts of being an embroiderer are simply unavoidable.
Finish the Sentence
Now it is your turn:
You know you’re an embroiderer when…
Join our Facebook embroidery community and share your answer in the comments. And if you are ready to make hooping the easiest part of your machine embroidery process, explore Mighty Hoop magnetic embroidery hoops and the HoopMaster Hooping System.
Happy Hooping!
