FAQs
These Q&As have been inspired by questions we've had on social media recently.
Q. How good is the print quality and will the colours match the digital design?
A. We believe our finished products have excellent print quality, it is why we're doing what we're doing. Technology has come on so much and with the equipment we've invested in, we're pleased and excited by the results. However, there will always be differences with the colour you seen on a device and what you see on your product. That is because your screen uses RGB (red, green, blue) and our printer will use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black - we also have light cyan and light magenta to improve gradient and picture quality). We aim to reproduce your design as close as possible and our customers have been delighted with the results.
Q. How long do leotards take to make?
A. This is a really difficult question to give a definite and straight answer to. So here are some things that need to be taken into consideration....
- The design stage is often the most time consuming, to speed this up it is helpful if you could give us as much information as possible about what your vision for your leotard is, such as; colours, theme, style, sparkle etc. Creating a mood board, sending your performance music and any pics/videos of you etc. Essentially the more you know what you want, the quicker we can get a print ready design for you.
- Adding sparkle, especially hot fix crystals takes a time. We love sparkles, so let's not let that put you off having them, but please just understand that we can't put 5000 crystals on a leotard in 5 mins. So, we always factor sparkle into our timeframes.
- Getting sizes right for performance leotards. We are happy to send out sample leotards to be tried on ahead of you confirming your order. We have many sets of samples but we need to allow time to get them posted out to you and at a suitable time for them to be tried on.
Please remember: we are a mother daughter business, there are only two of us! We will always do our best to get orders out as quickly as possible. We are always honest with our timeframes from the outset to check the timings can work for you.
Q Are you interested in offering bespoke printing services? I have lots of ideas and would love to work on projects where you print my ideas on fabric and then I will make my own clothing and accessories for events.
A. This sounds really interesting and we'd love to hear from you! So, please reach out using the contact us or emailing becky@soyourown.com and we can get our heads together.
Q. Are your training leotards really machine washable, even after they are printed on?
A. YES 100%. We are not scientists, but dye sublimation is a really cool process. The fabric is heated and the ink turns into a gas and sublimates, or fuses, into the fabric. The dye then essentially becomes embedded in the actual fibres. It's like they open their little fibre hands when hot to welcome in the ink with open arms (that's how we like to think of it!). The end result is that the dye is permanent print. Which means that sublimated designs will last a lifetime without cracking or peeling.
Our performance leotards are recommended to be hand washed, see our caring for your leotards page
Q. Are all of your leotards handmade?
A. We make all leotards in our small studio. We create the design and send that to the printer. Once printed we cut it off the roll and cut the same size fabric ready to press the design onto. Once printed it is back to the cutting table to be cut out perfectly and either clipped together ready for sewing, or cyrstalled ahead of sewing. Everything is currently done within a studio in Somerset, England.
Q. Do you have any leotards in stock ready to buy?
A. We occasionally make up leotards that we love, just because we love to get creative and to see our ideas come to life too. These leotards often come up for sell. These leotards will feature on Instragram so keep your eyes peeled.