Brea, California · 23 years in business
Embroidery machine for hats — and the hat sewing system ships in the box
If you're shopping for an embroidery machine for hats — for hats and shirts, for a multi-needle machine for hats, or for the best hat embroidery machine you can get trained on and serviced locally — the question that decides it is the one we get asked on the phone: what comes in the box, and can it do a great job on hats?
Below is the answer for every machine we sell, in our own store's words. Every single one of our machines will do an excellent job on any garment. However, as the distributor for the XT Pro line, we have been driving the development of these machines to be the best hat sewing machine on the market. Working with the factory, we have specified and driven the modifications to the cylinder arm, the hat sewing attachment, the hat sewing frames, the distance between the hat and the needle plate and the clearance in the front of the cylinder arm. All of these modifications increase the size limit and quality of your hat sewing. With hats being so popular now, especially with the 3D raised embroidery, it is important to stay ahead of the curve and create new technologies to ensure the quality output of our machines.
We're a 23-year-old embroidery shop in Brea, California. We sell the Xtreme Tech XT Pro line, we train you on your machine before you take it home — free at our shop in Brea — and the people who service your machine are the people who sold it to you.
What makes a good hat sewing machine?
- Thin and curved cylinder arm.
Reducing the profile of the cylinder arm is a critical step in reducing the gap between the needle plate and the underside of a hat. The larger the gap, the more skipped stitches and needle breaks. Smaller cylinder arm also allows you to get into small pockets on bags and shirts. Many of the machines on the market today have 60mm wide flat needle plate with a gap of over 3mm. Some manufacturers will compensate for that extra gap with a raised spot on the needle plate. However that creates too much space between the top of the fabric and the rotary hook causing the stitches to pull and makes your stitches look skinny.
Cylinder arm — 42 mm 
Hat driver to the needle plate — 1.5 mm gap - Reduced clearance in front of needle plate.
If you reduce the clearance in the front of the needle plate, you can sew higher on the crown area of the hat without distortion or needle breaks.
Clearance in front of the needle plate — 8 mm
Measured in our shop
In the examples below, we have cut a hat in half so you can see what happens under the hat. The top 2 images are from a popular Japanese embroidery machine and the bottom two images are from the XT Pro. As you can see with the Japanese machine, there is a huge gap between the hat and the needle plate and the white plastic cover in the front is pushing up the cap at 2.25″.
In the following images of the XT Pro machine you can see that the needle plate is still in contact with the hat at 2.75″. This increases the available sewing area while dramatically reducing skipped stitches and needle breaks.
Every machine we sell is the XT Pro line — All five machines, with full specs and prices.
What every XT Pro machine includes for hats
Every XT Pro machine comes with a complete optimized hat sewing system with a cap driver and 2 hat hoops for each sewing head. Each machine will also include a hat hooping system.
Hat add-ons, at our published prices
Back-of-hat clamp
$340
Magnetic hooping system
$541
From our store's own option list. Everything else — stands, extra hoops, and delivery beyond 300 miles — is quoted with the machine.
The hat facts, machine by machine
The hat sewing area is the same on every machine in the line; where our store publishes more hat lines for a machine, they are below — nothing ranked. As for what the best hat embroidery machine is: it's the one whose hat hoops and hat sewing area suit the caps you actually sell, and that you can be trained on and get serviced locally. Watching caps run on the machine is the fastest way to that answer.
Xtreme Tech XT Pro 1401Ci
Your first machine or a one-machine shop
- Large hat sewing area of 3.2″ × 14″
Included with the machine
Included hoops: 2 each 14 × 8″, 6″, 7.5″, 8.5″, complete hat sewing system with 2 hat hoops
XT Pro 1401 XLS
Your first machine or a one-machine shop
“The Xtreme Tech XT Pro 1401XLS is made for the best possible hat sewing.”
- Large hat sewing area of 3.2″ × 14″
- Extremely small cylinder arm for much better sewing on hats and small pockets
- No thread picker allows for a larger sewing area on hats
Included with the machine
Included hoops: 2 each 14 × 19″, 6″, 7.5″, 8.5″, complete hat sewing system with 2 hat hoops
Xtreme Tech XT Pro 1501 IPX
Small shop taking regular order work
- Large hat sewing area of 3.2″ × 14″
- Excellent registration on hats
- Less distortion when sewing into the crown of the hat
Included with the machine
Included hoops: 2 each 4″, 5.5″, 7.5″, 12″ × 12″, 15″ × 19.5″, complete hat sewing system with 2 wide-angle hat hoops
Xtreme Tech XT Pro 1502 IPX
Production floor running contract and bulk work
- Large hat sewing area of 3.2″ × 14″
Included with the machine
Included hoops: 4 each 4″, 5.5″, 7.5″, 12″ × 12″, 15″ × 15.5″, complete hat sewing system with 4 wide-angle hat hoops
Xtreme Tech XT Pro 1504 IPX
Production floor running contract and bulk work
- Large hat sewing area of 3.2″ × 14″
Hoops, needles and heads — how to read a hat spec
The same two questions we tell every buyer to ask any seller, answered exactly the same way on our price page.
Which hoops ship with the machine?
Ask for the list, in writing, with sizes. A machine with no hat hoops is not a hat machine. Hoops you have to buy later change the real price by hundreds of dollars.
How many needles — and how many heads?
Needle count sets how many colours you can run without re-threading mid-design. Head count sets how many items you sew at once, which is what changes your hourly output and your price per piece. Both matter on hats — and the hat hoops still decide whether you can sew a cap at all.
You're trained on it before you take it home
The demonstration, the training day and the first hat at home — one of our customers, in her own words.
“By far this is the best embroidery company I have ever been to and I have been to many! It started with a demonstration of the machine I was interested in. John is so patient and explain everything as he walk you through the embroidery machine functions. Before you purchase you are trained on how to use it and I have to say I learned so much in one day from John and his staff! … I took my embroidery machine home that day I embroidered my first hat at home … and I highly recommend this company for purchase.”
Book a demo — watch caps sew
Machines at this price close in a conversation, not a cart. Come to the shop in Brea and we'll run hats on the machine you're considering, so you can see a cap hooped and sewn before you spend anything. Then we quote the machine, the hat hoops and any add-ons together — and you're trained on it before you take it home.
Financing is available on every machine we sell.
Ask for terms on the machine you're considering.
588 Explorer St., Brea, CA 92821 · info@drdtg.com
- Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. PST
- After-hours customer support: Monday – Friday, 5:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. PST (by support ticket)
- Saturday & Sunday, by appointment