A&P Master Images employees showed me how to hoop a garment using water-soluble topping and the proper backing, then load into an embroidery machine.

Embroidery involves a lot of double-checking, according to PJ Loomis, screen printing and embroidery manager at A&P Master Images. "There are a lot of different steps for something that's pretty simple," he says.

Hooping a garment for a simple left-chest placement is much harder than I expected. I had a cheat sheet and a hooping guide, but I still had to redo my work several times to ensure the hoop was on straight.

Choosing the proper embroidery backing for a garment is important. Employees at A&P Master Images watch videos created by Joyce Jagger, The Embroidery Coach, to help them get up to speed on the topic. 

Sean Hogan, general manager at A&P Master Images, showed me how to load a T-shirt onto a platen and do a two-color screen print with a manual press.

Making sure a T-shirt is centered on the platen can be a challenge for newbies.

Karl Ermisch, of Marrone Photography, was on hand to document my crash course in screen printing and embroidery at A&P Master Images.