Cap embroidery

Designs that are used for hats are digitized to sew from the center out and bottom up. With a cap design, you also have to take into account for the center seam on a 6 panel cap. You can always try sewing a design that was made for a shirt on a cap and see what happens.

Andrew, although it is not always the case, you will most likely get poor results embroidering a detailed design on caps that was originally digitized for shirts. Simple designs are sometimes an exception, especially on 5-panel constructed caps.

It's always best to use a design that is made for a specific application.

In addition to jtrainor56's post; the size of the design, specifically the height, must also be considered. Generally, you want the height of the design at around 2 inches. Oftentimes, small lettering that looks great on shirts will look messy on caps. Adjusting the size of the lettering is necessary. A complex design intended for shirts will almost always need many adjustments in order to get the same quality results for caps.

When you go to sportswear stores, notice the embroidered caps with large designs that have 3d puff and small intricate details? Those are embroidered on panels prior to the cap being assembled--it's cheaper, and best results are achieved because the limitations of embroidering on finished/assembled hats are eliminated.