Mary Gajeske holds one of the SPA flags that she embroidered with the prior SPA logo. (Photo by Raymond H. Goettsch)
Raymond H. Goettsch
SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association (SPA) has adopted a new logo. Now, this is where Mary Gajeske comes in. Mary has been embroidering items for 20 years, and she has embroidered flags and T-shirts with SPA logos for 17 years. She uses a sewing machine with a hoop attachment for embroidering. When Mary receives a new design or logo, she sends a JPEG to a company to create a digital format. The hoop attachment can then perform the embroidery one color at a time.
According to Mary, if she were to embroider an SPA flag by hand, the embroidery would take six weeks. But the hoop attachment can complete the embroidery in an hour and a half. Even though the hoop attachment is performing the embroidery, Mary has to keep an eye on the process to be sure that the fabric remains in place.
Mary also does embroidery for individuals who may want an embroidered T-shirt instead of a screen print T-shirt. Not surprisingly, the embroidered T-shirt is much more durable. Mary wore one of her first embroidered T-shirts with an early SPA logo, and the shirt looks like new. In addition, Mary does embroidery for the Oracle Fire Department, the SaddleBrooke Hiking Club, the SaddleBrooke Cornhole Club, and other organizations.
If anyone is interested in consulting Mary regarding an embroidery project, she can be contacted at her email address [email protected].