Top 10 Must-Know Printable Embroidery Techniques

When to Choose Printable Embroidery
and How to Use It

Embroidery delivers texture, durability, and a high-end finish — but it can be costly, especially for designs with multiple placements or large areas of stitching. That’s where printable embroidery comes in.

By combining traditional embroidery with printable elements, you can reduce production costs while maintaining a premium look.

Here are the top 10 scenarios where this hybrid approach shines:

1. Large Designs with High Stitch Counts

Combine printable embroidery with vector design

Oversized designs can quickly drive up stitch counts, production time, and cost. Instead of embroidering the whole area, digitize the entire design, and embroider the key focal points and use printable embroidery for the rest. This maintains the tactile, dimensional look where it matters most, while making the design faster and more affordable to produce.

Printable embroidery gives you the freedom to mix real stitches with printed detail. Use vectors, photos, or other graphics with any popular printing method — including screen printing, DTF, DTG, or heat transfer. This opens creative possibilities that embroidery alone can’t achieve.

2. Designs with Fine Detail

Printable embroidery - no thread used here!

Some logos are too small or have fine detail to reproduce cleanly with stitches alone. Printable embroidery lets you combine applique, embroidery, printing, and heat transfer to deliver crystal-clear detail. The result is designs that look sharp and professional without losing their embroidered character.

3. Reduce Production Time

Printable embroidery and vector design

Printable embroidery is a smart way to speed up production. By blending embroidery with print, you can deliver complex effects that would normally require thousands of stitches — saving both time and thread. This is especially useful for tight time frames or events where speed matters.

4. Keep Embroidery as The Focus

Embroidery + vector graphics + printable embroidery

Even when parts of a design are printed, you can still make embroidery the hero. For example, embroider the main logo or key details, and print the background or secondary elements. This ensures customers continue to value embroidery — your core business — while still enjoying the benefits of reduced cost and faster turnaround.

5. Reduce Cost, Reduce Threads with High-Volume Orders 

All white embroidery

Vector print on top of embroidery

Not only can you mix real embroidery with print. But in this hybrid version, you can provide a high level of design detail. Here is how it’s done. Embroider the entire design with white thread and print the graphic with all the fine detail on top of the embroidery. The result is the feel of embroidery with the detail of print.

6. The Garment Isn’t Suitable for Embroidery

Printable embroidery for babywear

Not every garment or fabric should be embroidered — some products are simply unsuitable, such as waterproof jackets and vests. In these cases, printable embroidery provides a practical solution. You can still deliver the customer’s design by integrating print where embroidery isn’t feasible.

7. Multiple Logo Placements

All-over printable embroidery from peak to crown, with real embroidery at the centre front.

Polo shirts, jackets, and caps sometimes require multiple logos. Embroider the main placement — for example, the chest logo — and use printable embroidery for smaller logos on the sleeves, back, or sides. This approach saves time and cost, while keeping a premium look.

8. Patches and Badges

Badges

Print fine detail

Combine embroidery with printable elements for unique, cost-effective patches or badges. Use embroidery for borders and key highlights, while printing the detailed interior areas. This provides customers with a professional finish, complete with crisp details, at a fraction of the stitch count.

9. Events and Corporate Wear

For large events, golf days, or corporate promotions, speed and consistency are key. Embroider the main brand logo, then add sponsor logos or additional graphics using printable embroidery. This ensures a professional, cohesive look across all items without slowing down production, while also reducing customer costs.

10. Consistent Branding Across All Media

Printable embroidery on posters

Printable embroidery on mugs

With Wilcom EmbroideryStudio, blending embroidery and print is simple. Digitize your design once, then choose your output:

• 🧵 Export as a stitch file for embroidery
• 🖨️ Or create a high-resolution print file with Capture Virtual Decoration Bitmap

Printable embroidery gives you the ability to mix creativity with efficiency, combining the texture of embroidery with the flexibility and speed of print. Whether it’s reducing costs, saving time, or achieving effects that embroidery alone can’t, these hybrid techniques ensure you can deliver more for your customers... and keep embroidery at the heart of your business!

Top 10 Scenario's

It might be time to reduce costs and expand your product offering!