Working -- Cathy Whitford

SHE IS

Anything but generic

YOU’D NEVER KNOW

The most unusual things Cathy Whitford has been asked to embroider are

wedding dresses and pillows.

Last summer, she received three requests from people wanting a

personal touch on their wedding dress. The customers picked their pattern

from Corki’s Embroidery’s stock designs, and Whitford got to work on her

four-head machine.

“You could never tell,” said the 35-year-old embroidery technician for

Corki’s in Newport Beach. “It looked like something you’d go and buy.”

TAKING IT PERSONALLY

For the past 4 1/2 years, Whitford has taken plain products and made

them personal with a logo, a name, a pattern, “whatever the customer

wants.”

“We do anything,” the Costa Mesa resident said. “It’s not your typical

shirt, jacket, hat-type of business.”

Her clients include the Newport Beach Fire Department; Nikki’s Flags,

which is next door; and race car drivers who need their race suits

personalized for their Nascar competitions.

For the Fire Department, Whitford has sewn names and titles and even

replaced titles after the wearer received a promotion.

The most difficult fabric to work with is cotton T-shirt material.

“It just doesn’t look as nice sometimes, and it makes the machine kind

of struggle,” she said.

The easiest items are polo shirts because they have that tight knit,

and nylon bags.

TWO VIRTUES

Whitford said the most challenging part of her job is dealing with

customers who think her job is simpler than it is. They’ll wonder why she

can’t just scan something on or sew something in.

“It’s a lot more complex than they’re aware of,” she said.

Whitford also named the two most important qualities an embroiderer

should have.

“Patience, because you’re working with machines, and the machines are

not always perfect,” she said. “And humor.”

* Story by Young Chang; photo by Greg Fry