How It’s Done: Embroidery at Hat Head

Embroidery machines at Hat Head in Fish Creek.

Ever wonder how hats are embroidered? Patrons of Hat Head get a little peek behind the curtain.

The store features a single-head embroidery machine that’s stationed by the checkout so that curious shoppers can see the process in action. The machine can sew one item – such as a hat, shirt, blanket or towel – at a time. Hat Head offers custom designs, so customers may create their own hat or take in their own garment to customize. 

The store’s back room houses a commercial, four-head embroidery machine that can embroider four items of the same design at one time. That’s where Hat Head completes many of its larger wholesale jobs for businesses and organizations.

The sewing time depends on how fast a machine is run and the design’s stitch count. A typical hat, for example, may have 7,500 stitches and take about 15 minutes to sew. While the machine is sewing, employees are “hooping” the next run of items, as well as trimming and cleaning up the items that have just come off the machine.