How to Design Your Own Tractor Embroidery Hat

Catch attention by wearing a tractor-themed hat. You can embroider the design at home using an embroidery machine and several colors of thread. Stable, woven fabrics, such as those found in most baseball or trucker hats, work well with a design requiring a high stitch count--for example, a tractor. Knit hats may not be the best choice for a stitch dense tractor design. Solid-colored hats make the best backdrop for an embroidered design and allow the artwork to leap toward the viewer.

Things You'll Need

• Temporary marking pen/pencil
• 2 hats
• Embroidery machine
• Scissors
• Computer, printer and graphics software
• Embroidery stabilizer
• Measuring tape

Instructions

1. Choose a hat to embroider.

2. Decide where the tractor will be placed on the hat and mark the center point of the placement on to the hat using a temporary marking tool (pen or pencil). Note the width and length available for the artwork to cover and decide upon the size the artwork needs to be.

3. Design the tractor artwork by drawing it to size freehand or locating tractor clip art or a photograph and creating the artwork. Scan photographs or clip art into a computer and reduce them to the size the hat requires using graphics software. Save the artwork in the format required by the embroidery machine being used and place a copy on to the media the machine uses (CD, diskette) to read the design.

4. Print a copy of the tractor artwork and use it to finalize the thread colors to be used. Mark up the print using colored pencils to identify areas of color and places where thread changes need to occur.

5. Cut a piece of fabric stabilizer that is larger than the embroidery hoop.

6. Place the stabilizer behind the area of the hat being embroidered. Center and attach the machine's embroidery hoop over the stabilizer and the area of the hat that will be embroidered. The center point of the design should be dead-center in the hoop with the hat surface facing upward.

7. Place the hoop on the machine and follow the manufacturer's instructions to use the machine to embroider the tractor on to the hat.

Tips & Warnings

• Some embroidery machines allow for embroidery without the use of a hoop. Use this option if the hat is not large enough for the hoop.

• Always purchase two hats---one to practice on and the other for the final project.

References

• "Embroidery Machine Essentials;" Jeanine Twigg; 2001
• "Machine Embroidery With Confidence;" Nancy Zieman; 2005