<p>The traditional art of embroidering letters onto fabric is called <strong>monogram embroidery</strong> and it's several hundred years old. Back in the old days, people would have a laundress wash their clothing and return it to them once dry. To avoid mix-ups with other people's clothing, they embroidered the first letters of their names into each item. Depending on your skill and social status, this could be a simple sewn line or an elaborate piece of art.</p>
<p>The modern equivalent is called <strong>lettering embroidery</strong> and can be done by hand or by machine. Most modern embroidery machines (or the software that comes with them) contain at least one pattern for stitching letters and I suspect that your work uniforms were also embroidered by machine.</p>
<p>Here's a good introduction (not affiliated):</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wanderingthreadsembroidery.com/how-to-embroider-letters-by-hand/" rel="noreferrer">How to Embroider Letters by Hand</a> by Wandering Threads Embroidery:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/trpPn0my.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/trpPn0my.jpg" alt="Piece of cloth with the word &quot;wander&quot; embroidered in 4 different stitches" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T11:31:17.490Z
This was 1984 and the uniform company was run by a guy around 55-60 years old. I really doubt if it was PC driven. But it must have been machine sewn as the time to do it by hand would make it uneconomic for garage customers.
Trunk
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T11:38:34.900Z
If you still have the uniform, you can usually recognize machine-sewing by how the back of the fabric looks. Hand-sewn lines can contain gaps (like the second example in the image above), but often the back is either thicker or thinner than the front or just looks like a different stitch. Machine-sewn lines always look the same on the front and back (but may have different colors) and cannot contain any gabs in the line.
Elmy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T11:45:52.333Z
Unfortunately not. I was fired in week 2 for misunderstanding an order and gladly abandoned everything to physically associate me with Derry Springs of Jericho Turpike, Huntington Station, Long Island NY. Wouldn't there be gaps with machine sewn ones too ? Though smaller gaps of course.
Trunk
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T11:51:41.777Z
Of course there can be gaps, but with how a sewing machine works, there is always one thread on the front and one thread on the back connecting every single stitch. Most people don't care enough to cut away every small thread, so with some experience you can see the difference quite easily.
Elmy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T11:53:43.690Z
I see. Was thread positioning done with some kind of glue ?
Trunk
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T12:44:46.777Z
@Trunk Without seeing the actual embroidery there's no chance I can tell. There are specialized sewing machine feet that can guide a cord and sew it down in one go, but sewing a name like that is complicated because you have to turn the fabric a lot.
Elmy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T14:42:04.817Z
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_embroidery says that in the 80s there was already domestic programmable embroidery, and fancy multi-colour commercial embroidery dates back to the 70s (single colour in the 60s).  So the chances of a light commercial machine able to do lettering (and maybe simple logos etc.) in the 80s would have been pretty high
Chris H
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T14:49:41.820Z
... I wonder if the 1979 Brother Computer-sew 1000 could do simple text
Chris H
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T15:21:32.537Z
@Elmy the threads connecting disconnected parts of a machine embroidered piece are called "jump stitches," and modern machines are able to cut them while stitching (if the pattern has the cut programmed into it) and pull the top thread to the back. Many designs also have the colors ordered so later colors will stitch over the jump stitch from an earlier one to conceal it.
Allison C
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T06:07:55.430Z
2024-10-17T06:07:55.430Z
Elmy
<p>Back in the 1980s when I briefly worked in a Long Island springshop we had these uniforms made for us by a guy who came, measured us and later delivered the navy two-piece jacket and pants outfit.</p>
<p>Everyone had a name sewn on their jacket left breast. This was done by sewing a thick gold-colored cotton thread along a path that followed the longhand outline of his first name.</p>
<p>Does anyone here know the formal term for this method of adding names to a uniform ? While in essence it might be termed &quot;simple embroidery&quot;, it seems too simple to be called embroidery as it's just a single colored thick thread being sewn onto a cotton/synthetic garment.</p>
<p>I suppose that modern times bring in more modern methods of adding names to uniforms so I don't see much of it when looking at Google Images.</p>
<p>Anyone seen this before and know what it's called ?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-17T11:51:17.060Z
it is still embroidery no matter how simple it is. A friend stitched small symbols (eg an x, a star) onto each of her children's socks to simplify sorting. This was embroidery even though it was as few as two stitches. There isn't another word for incredibly simple embroidery.
Kate Gregory
<embroidery>
Thick thread sewn names for uniforms
Trunk
# Thick thread sewn names for uniforms

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-10-16)

Back in the 1980s when I briefly worked in a Long Island springshop we had these uniforms made for us by a guy who came, measured us and later delivered the navy two-piece jacket and pants outfit.

Everyone had a name sewn on their jacket left breast. This was done by sewing a thick gold-colored cotton thread along a path that followed the longhand outline of his first name.

Does anyone here know the formal term for this method of adding names to a uniform ? While in essence it might be termed "simple embroidery", it seems too simple to be called embroidery as it's just a single colored thick thread being sewn onto a cotton/synthetic garment.

I suppose that modern times bring in more modern methods of adding names to uniforms so I don't see much of it when looking at Google Images.

Anyone seen this before and know what it's called ?

**Tags:** embroidery

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: it is still embroidery no matter how simple it is. A friend stitched small symbols (eg an x, a star) onto each of her children's socks to simplify sorting. This was embroidery even though it was as few as two stitches. There isn't another word for incredibly simple embroidery.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-10-17. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

The traditional art of embroidering letters onto fabric is called **monogram embroidery** and it's several hundred years old. Back in the old days, people would have a laundress wash their clothing and return it to them once dry. To avoid mix-ups with other people's clothing, they embroidered the first letters of their names into each item. Depending on your skill and social status, this could be a simple sewn line or an elaborate piece of art.

The modern equivalent is called **lettering embroidery** and can be done by hand or by machine. Most modern embroidery machines (or the software that comes with them) contain at least one pattern for stitching letters and I suspect that your work uniforms were also embroidered by machine.

Here's a good introduction (not affiliated):

[How to Embroider Letters by Hand](https://www.wanderingthreadsembroidery.com/how-to-embroider-letters-by-hand/) by Wandering Threads Embroidery:

[![Piece of cloth with the word "wander" embroidered in 4 different stitches](https://i.sstatic.net/trpPn0my.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/trpPn0my.jpg)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: This was 1984 and the uniform company was run by a guy around 55-60 years old. I really doubt if it was PC driven. But it must have been machine sewn as the time to do it by hand would make it uneconomic for garage customers.  
> **username_2**: If you still have the uniform, you can usually recognize machine-sewing by how the back of the fabric looks. Hand-sewn lines can contain gaps (like the second example in the image above), but often the back is either thicker or thinner than the front or just looks like a different stitch. Machine-sewn lines always look the same on the front and back (but may have different colors) and cannot contain any gabs in the line.  
> **username_0**: Unfortunately not. I was fired in week 2 for misunderstanding an order and gladly abandoned everything to physically associate me with Derry Springs of Jericho Turpike, Huntington Station, Long Island NY. Wouldn't there be gaps with machine sewn ones too ? Though smaller gaps of course.  
> **username_2**: Of course there can be gaps, but with how a sewing machine works, there is always one thread on the front and one thread on the back connecting every single stitch. Most people don't care enough to cut away every small thread, so with some experience you can see the difference quite easily.  
> **username_0**: I see. Was thread positioning done with some kind of glue ?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 Without seeing the actual embroidery there's no chance I can tell. There are specialized sewing machine feet that can guide a cord and sew it down in one go, but sewing a name like that is complicated because you have to turn the fabric a lot.  
> **username_3**: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_embroidery says that in the 80s there was already domestic programmable embroidery, and fancy multi-colour commercial embroidery dates back to the 70s (single colour in the 60s).  So the chances of a light commercial machine able to do lettering (and maybe simple logos etc.) in the 80s would have been pretty high  
> **username_3**: ... I wonder if the 1979 Brother Computer-sew 1000 could do simple text  
> **username_4**: @username_2 the threads connecting disconnected parts of a machine embroidered piece are called "jump stitches," and modern machines are able to cut them while stitching (if the pattern has the cut programmed into it) and pull the top thread to the back. Many designs also have the colors ordered so later colors will stitch over the jump stitch from an earlier one to conceal it.  

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