A brilliant idea that continues to sparkle.
With a lifetime of sewing experience, Patricia Gates doesn’t shy away from trying new things. One day, when her embroidery machine had a happy accident stitching a sparkling crystal organza applique, Patricia had a brilliant idea that continues to sparkle today.
Her applique had a wonderful sparkle shining through the design where the area of the applique didn’t stitch out properly. Sparkle without using specialty threads!
Using this concept as inspiration, Patricia developed her formula for digitizing designs to recreate this effect and to eventually perfect the process. Thousands and thousands of designs later, Purely Gates Embroidery  is the world leader in creating Mylar Embroidery® designs.
Patricia explains:
What is Mylar?Â
Mylar is a polyester film.
We only use the Opalescent color of the iridescent tissue. We do not use the colored mylar sheets so we cannot recommend it. We have our own exclusive brand of quality Mylar which has been thoroughly tested over 12 years.
When used together with Purely Gates Embroidery designs this Mylar offers a guarantee that it can be washed, dried and even ironed without flaking away or losing its sparkle. This allows our designs to be used on a number of projects including garments, towels, baby blankets, quilts or anything that requires laundering.
Purely Gates Mylar tears away easily, does not shred thread, and does not dull your needle. It will pick up the color of thread that is stitched over it.
Our designs have been specially digitized for use with our Mylar to get the look of specialty threads that shine while using regular embroidery thread. This process creates machine embroidery designs that sparkle and shine for a stunning effect.
Purely Gates Embroidery is the world leader in Mylar Embroidery® having pioneered the process and holds the trademark on the name Mylar Embroidery®. As the number one provider of Mylar Embroidery® designs Purely Gates has to date over 160 collections featuring this process, more than any other company.
What goes into creating a design collection?
We used to release up to 20 new collections a year, which when we look back at that it was kind of crazy but we weren’t doing any traveling at the time. It’s tough to create on the road, now we’re releasing around 6 new collections a year.
The entire process takes almost 6 weeks from concepts, to drawing, to digitizing, testing, planning and creating samples, shooting and editing videos, social media, websites, CD creation, printing, packaging and fulfillment. And then, we begin all over again.
When we start a collection it begins with an idea and we will draw a few to start, digitize them and then if it feels right we move forward. If not, it’s set aside and we find something else that works. It has to work for us as well, we don’t release a collection just to have something new, it needs to be great.
Our designs are expertly digitized to provide little to no jump stitches for a clean fill and perfect results every time. Each design is carefully tested for quality stitching to meet Purely Gates high level of customer satisfaction.
Purely Gates Embroidery designs are stunningly beautiful and also amazingly easy to use. This, along with their extremely high quality standards, is the reason Purely Gates Embroidery is the creator of some of the world’s most premier machine embroidery designs available today.
Is the process easy to understand?
Since a lot of people are not familiar with Mylar there is always a bit of education that goes along with our designs. We have an extensive library of videos which include how-to’s, step-by-step and many helpful tips to make sure the customer gets a great result. These videos are on our website at purelygatesdigital.com/videos as well as our own YouTube channel at youtube.com/purelygates .
Once someone has tried one of our designs and they understand the process they see how simple it really is and they love it!
 Take a look… VIDEO Where can someone see all the inspirational samples?
Everything is on our website, but you have to see these samples in person, no matter how hard we try through photos and videos, the real beauty of the sparkle and color can only come through when seeing them up close. That’s why we travel with so many samples. The customer can see exactly what they’re getting and can see the results they will get at home.
One of our latest collections is called Mylar Campers and features 71 designs of campers, tents, vehicles and camping accessories. I created two large sample quilts just to display most of the designs. When you see it in the booth you understand exactly how much you’re getting in one collection and how beautiful they are.
We’re from the Houston area so one of the largest show in the world is in our backyard and it used to be the only show we did each year. Now, we try to attend all of the QuiltWeek shows each year, we love how organized they are and how hard they work to bring in great customers to each show. We exhibit at up to 18 shows a year which is a lot of traveling, planning and logistics, but that’s what we need to do to get the word out and it’s great to meet the customers and fans to get their feedback about our products.
Seeing customers’ reactions to a new collection or sample and knowing they love it as much as we do makes all the traveling worth it! It’s so great to hear a customer say how cute and beautiful the designs are and then they find out that the designs also sparkle without using metallic thread and they love them even more!
Purely Gates Embroidery travels extensively and exhibits at quilt shows around the U.S. throughout the year in addition to holding special in-store events when possible. These shows and events feature the 100’s of inspiring samples using Purely Gates Mylar Embroidery® designs. Each original, one-of-a-kind sample showcases the beauty of these sparkling and creative designs.
Visit Purely Gates Embroidery online .
