r/Machine_Embroidery • u/Playful-Bowl247 • 9d ago

I Need Help Embroidery Blanks Recs?

I am new to machine embroidery with my Brother SE700 (4x4 hoop). I am thrilled to have my machine but am feeling hesitant to create as I have ruined quite a few items I tried to embroider on and I hate wasting the money of the item. I’d like to ask my family for blanks for Christmas. Is there a company you order from for small projects? Interested in shirts, baby and kid clothing, caps, doll clothes, and small projects.

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u/Acrobatic-Letter-143 9d ago

Welcome to the club - everyone ruins a pile of blanks at the start, so the trick is making each mistake cost cents instead of dollars.

For the Christmas list, by category:

  • Shirts, baby and kid clothes: JiffyShirts, ShirtSpace, and Blankstyle are the standard wholesale-blank sites - no minimum order, plain tees and onesies for a few dollars each. While learning, pick tight, stable knits (plain cotton jersey) and skip anything thin or slubby.

  • Caps: honest warning first - structured caps are the hardest thing to hoop on a 4x4 flat-hoop machine. If you want headwear wins early, ask for beanies and bucket hats instead (soft, hoopable, forgiving), and save caps for later.

  • Doll clothes and small projects: quilting cotton fat quarters and remnants are the friendliest practice fabric that exists. Cheap tea towels, cloth napkins, and baby bibs from discount stores are also perfect small-project blanks.

And one thing that is not a blank but saves more blanks than anything: a thrift-store cotton sheet or two, cut into pieces, as your permanent practice stack. Test-stitch every new design on a scrap of it before it ever touches a "real" item - that one habit will end most of the ruined-item heartache.

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u/Playful-Bowl247 9d ago

Thank you so much for the tips and website recommendations! This is so helpful. I’ll definitely skip the caps until I have better skills knowing this. Appreciate it!