Clark,
You can create the effect using Layer Styles. Have your polo shirt material on the background layer. Type your text, it will be on the layer above. Now I’ve made a pretty good pattern with two subtle variations which you can use with the text to make the thread effect I’ll send them to you as a pattern file (.pat). When you get it, place the file in Applications > Adobe Photoshop > Presets > Patterns.
Now double click on the text layer in the layers palette and the Layer Style dialog comes up. Click on the words "Bevel and Emboss" which will bring up the dialog for B&E and activate the check box. In the upper area, Structure, set the Style to Pillow Emboss. Set the Technique to Chisel Soft adjust the size with the slider, probably 3 px or so will look good but adjust it to suit.
Next, click on the words "Pattern Overlay." Pattern Overlay dialog appears. Click on the square image of whatever pattern is showing. This will bring up a palette of patterns. You will now have to load the pattern I’m going to send you. That is done by clicking on the circled triangle in the upper right corner of the patterns palette. Find the new pattern in the menu which appears when you click on it. Select the name of the pattern you just placed in the Presets folder. This will bring up a little dialog which allows you to add it to the rest of the patterns which are loaded by clicking "Append." It will be loaded as the last pattern so find it and highlight it. You can return to the Layer Style dialog by hitting Return or clicking on the Layer Style dialog box.
Once the pattern is loaded, set the Scale to 50%. You will have to experiment with the the blend mode and opacity. In all probability the Overlay mode will work but Multiply, Screen, or maybe even one of the others may give a better blend depending on your text color. Click OK.
So send me an e-mail (click on my name at the top of this post and you will find it) and I’ll return to you three patterns in one .pat file. They are subtly different and will all load at once. Probably Embroidery1 will be best as it has the greatest contrast. If you let your cursor hover over a pattern in the pattern palette the name will appear (like a tool tip)
Here’s a quick sample result of the steps I’ve described…
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