Home embroidery studio

Local sporting clubs, tradies, small businesses, schools, parents and people wanting personalised gifts.

Charge per item or per stitch count, plus a one-off digitising fee to turn a logo into a stitch file. Repeat orders from clubs and businesses build steady work.

• Patience and attention to detail
• Comfortable learning machine software
• Good customer communication

• Check with your local council whether a home-based business needs approval
• Public liability insurance and cover for your equipment
• Commercial multi-needle machines can cost well over $10,000 new, so compare second-hand options and get quotes before buying
• Do not stitch trademarked or copyrighted logos without permission from the owner
• Machine thread breaks and mistakes waste garments, so quote for test runs and spoilage
• Register for an ABN, and check when GST registration applies to you

Startup costs are typically around $6,000 to $25,000, depending mainly on whether you buy a machine new or second-hand. Multi-head machines cost much more and are a later upgrade. These are estimates, so compare options and get quotes.

Things to check: whether your local council needs to approve a home-based business; public liability insurance and cover for your equipment; permission from owners before stitching trademarked or copyrighted logos; and ABN and GST registration.

Monthly revenue is typically around $800 to $4,000, depending on order volume and your prices. Thread breaks and mistakes waste garments, so quote for test runs and spoilage. You could start with around 10 hours a week at minimum.