Your answer
at the quote
at the machine
on the floor 
Precision answers before you touch a hoop. No ruined garments. No margin-eating reruns. No guessing.
Your file calls for a brand you do not stock. Thread Compass finds the closest match in a brand you actually have, scored in CIE LAB across 150 brands and 39,317 threads.
One input returns the whole prescription: needle spec, stabilizer sandwich, hooping approach and pull compensation.
Caps are not tees. Tear-away in the crown, full stop. The hard production rules are enforced by the tool rather than left to memory.
Search any SanMar or S&S style and get an A to D embroidability grade before the job is committed.
Every grade names the single biggest failure point in plain language, and tells you what to run instead when embroidery is the wrong call.
● The Method
Every backing decision is one question
Is the stabilizer staying, or is it leaving? Cut-away is a marriage. Tear-away is a date. Get that one question wrong and nothing downstream saves you.
The Embroidability Index
A to D grades on 5,965 garment styles from S&S and SanMar, scored on fabric content.

Joe Kramar
Meet Joe
Book the Bench
AppliqueJoe turns thirty-three years of commercial embroidery into instruments that answer before the machine runs, not after it fails.
01
— Hard Rules
Never cut-away inside a cap crown. The tool will not let you do otherwise.
02
— Every Substrate
Caps, jerseys, polos, performance, denim, fleece and canvas — all covered.
03
— Proven On The Floor
Built by someone who has already made, and fixed, every mistake in the book.
● Testimonials
Saved A Full Rerun
“ The Thread Compass saved me a full rerun on a 144-piece order. I matched a custom colour in about thirty seconds that would have taken me an hour of trial and error. I cannot believe this exists.

Sarah K.
Midwest Decorator · Pro Member
Caught It Before Quoting
“ I ran a Grade D on a performance pullover and caught it before quoting. Joe's tool told me exactly what would fail and why. I renegotiated the job, added a handling fee, and still booked it. That's money.

Marcus R.
Full-Service Shop · Pro Member
Needle And Stabilizer, One Input
“ The Production Formula is the only tool that gives me needle AND stabilizer from one input. Spent fifteen years figuring this out the hard way. Joe built it so nobody else has to. Worth every dollar.

Theresa L.
Contract Embroiderer · Studio Member
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Built on the idea that guessing costs money
That is why every answer is a decision you can act on — the needle, the backing, the thread — not a chart to interpret.
Thread Compass ranks every candidate by Delta-E 2000 and returns Excellent, Acceptable or Not Recommended — a decision, not a decimal.
Production Formula takes one input and returns the whole prescription: needle spec, stabilizer sandwich, hooping approach and pull compensation.
The Embroidability Index grades 5,965 styles from S&S and SanMar so you know the risk before you quote, not after you have committed.
Joe Kramar
Founder · AppliqueJoe

● Membership
Pick your level
Pro
Full production intelligence for a working shop. Every instrument, every answer, no ceiling.
$67 / month
·Thread Compass — full library·Production Formula — full spec·Embroidability Index — full brief·OCR needle identification·Saved brand palettes
Cancel any time before day 31.
Studio
Most Popular
Everything in Pro, plus shared brand palettes, saved job profiles and watchlists for up to five seats.
$147 / month
·Everything in Pro·Shared brand palettes·Saved job profiles·Garment watchlists·Up to 5 seats
Cancel any time.
Founding Member
Lifetime Pro access for a single payment. No monthly charge, ever. First access to Oracle and Blueprint at launch.
$297 one time · lifetime Pro
·Everything in Pro — forever·No monthly charge, ever·First access: Oracle + Blueprint·Direct line to Joe·Founding pricing locked for life
One-time payment. Nothing renews.


