For the past 21 years, Karin Smith has run an embroidery business out of Milledgeville — and she’s rarely had to step outside her front door.
Smith, who appeared in the Milledgeville Players production of “H.M.S. Pinafore” in 2007, spent her time during that performance surrounded by strange-looking costumes that made many an audience member look twice.
But though she had little to do with those costume designs, Smith, who has been sewing and embroidering for nearly 30 years, is no stranger to custom-created clothing or monogrammed manufacturing. Her business, Sew K Designs (The ‘K’ stands for Karin, Smith jokes), has been run out of her Milledgeville home for the past 21 years.
In that time, she has built an active customer base that has included (and continues to include) clients such as Georgia Military College and Baldwin High School.
“I do commercial embroidery, mainly private companies, and I also do stuff for the schools such as Georgia College & State University and GMC,” Smith explained. “My first customer was actually Putnam County EMS 21 years ago, and I still do them. I also do my own digitizing while others in the area have to send theirs off to others.”
Digitizing, Smith explained, is basically where a client provides her with a logo and she uses state-of-the-art digital technology to create the logo onto a piece of clothing such as a shirt or a hat.
“It’s taking a logo and making it an embroidery design in which I can put stitches into it,” Smith said. “I used to do some embroidery work for Sue Hutchens’ fabric store. I did it by hand and one thing led to another. That was done manually, and now I do everything by computers.”
Prices vary for each order, but monograms can start as low as $8, Smith explained.
“Business is a little slow this year but it’s beginning to pick up. The other day I was requested by a company in California to digitize their logo, and I will also do their shirts,” Smith said. “Companies use me for advertising on their clothing such as hats and jackets. I do a lot of hats.”
Sew K Designs offers such items as jackets, shirts, hand towels and custom monogramming for items such as hats, according to Smith.
Each digitizing can take as little as 30 minutes or as much as several hours, and a single order from a client can be completed within a matter of days to several weeks depending on the number of items requested, Smith stated.
Sew K Designs is located at 144 Old River Bridge Road just past the Hancock Street River Bridge.
The business is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and may be contacted by visiting www.sewkdesigns.com or by calling (478) 453-7852.
Smith may also be contacted by e-mail at karinsmith@windstream.net.
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