Appliqué with your embroidery machine is fun and easy once you know a few tricks! In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use PDF templates included with appliqué designs to precut pieces for accurate and professional machine embroidered appliqué.
Skill Level
Basic embroidery and computer skills.What You’ll Learn
- How to use simple yet creative techniques to expand your embroidery options
- How to use a template for hand-cutting appliqué pieces
- How easy and versatile appliqués are with embroidery
What You’ll Need
- Appliqué design with a template file (PDF)
- Fusible tearaway stabilizer or freezer wrap (I use the tearaway since it is sized to my paper)
- Computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader and an ink jet printer
- Temporary embroidery spray adhesive (“TESA”) and/or fusible web (I prefer a double-stick pressure sensitive web like Pellon EZ Steam II)
- Embroidery threads
- Tweezers
- Double curve appliqué scissors
- Appliqué tacking iron
Some collections may include an SVG file or an FCM file (Brother ScanNCut format). These are designed for use with a digital cutter. Follow the directions with your cutter to use these files. Prepare your fabrics as for hand cutting and apply a fusible web product. Pressure sensitive (double or single stick) fusible web products may not be suitable for cutters; the sticky web adheres to the mat too easily and comes off the fabric. Test various fusible web products to find one you like. Fuse it securely to your fabric but avoid overheating that can melt the adhesive. You can leave the paper backing on or peel it off for cutting. Test to make sure the web stays fused to the fabric and doesn’t remain on the mat. After cutting the pieces, placing and stitching are no different.
Why Appliqué?
Machine embroidered appliqué is one of my favorite techniques! I love the added texture, dimension, color, and pattern that fabric adds to the embroidery that simply cannot be achieved by thread alone. It’s easy, it offers design variety, and it works on a wider range of fabrics and textures than standard embroidery. How else could you embroider a white snowman on a fluffy red towel and not have it turn out pink? (White embroidery thread is not opaque and any high contrast fabric can show through.) Plus, appliqué with the embroidery machine comes out with perfect curves and corners every time!
You may have stitched machine embroidered appliqué by placing a patch of fabric over a stitched outline, stitching the fabric over the outline by running that stitch a second time, and then removing the hoop and trimming away the fabric. Once I learned the method described here from the professional embroidery world, I never went back to that method again when working with smooth, firm fabrics. This way of creating appliqué will give a clean, professional look with no “pokies” that scream “amateur!”
There are times when the stick/sew/snip method works (I’ll use it when working with dimensional effects like putting batting under a large, simply shaped appliqué). To accommodate this method with Lindee G Embroidery designs, simply back up one color after placing the fabric to sew the placement line again. Remove the hoop, trim away excess fabric (keep in mind the satin stitch only extends beyond this line 1mm so trim closely!), replace the hoop and continue sewing. Whenever using this method, you must take extreme care not to distort the hooped fabric when trimming the excess appliqué away. This becomes increasingly more difficult with intricate shapes and/or multiple appliqués
Some Preliminary Notes
If you’ve previously done appliqué with your sewing machine, you likely lraced a pattern onto fusible web, applied it to the back of your fabric, and then stitched it out. This meant you were actually tracing a reversed (mirrored) version of the design.
Templates for machine embroidered appliqué are not reversed and are designed to be applied to the front of your fabric. Some fusible web products can be run through an ink jet printer to save you the step of applying a product to each side of the fabric. If you choose to print on the web, then you must mirror image either the design or the templates.
Tracing templates onto fusible web is not recommended. You need accurately cut appliqués for a successful result with machine embroidered appliqué. Besides, tracing is far too tedious.
Fusible web products require heat to activate the adhesive. Some fabrics are not compatible with heat. The advantage of using a fusible web is that it reduces wrinkling and is added security to reduce raveling if the stitches don’t adequately cover the edge of the applied fabric. Fusible web also adds body, which can be great on some projects like wall hangings but less attractive when you want a softer result such as on quilts or baby clothes. Different fusible webs provide varying degrees of stiffness. There are very stiff versions that work great on a canvas banner and there are very soft ones that are barely apparent once stitched and fused.
You’ll want to experiment to see what products work best and are readily available. Start by experimenting with what you find in your local sewing and craft stores. Products can also be ordered online so if your local area is very limited, look to the internet.
For items that can’t take the heat, use TESA to temporarily hold the appliqué in place during stitching. If you don’t want to use a spray adhesive, then a glue stick may be an effective substitute. Some TESAs are deactivated with heat (KK2000 is one) so skip the tacking iron step or you will lose the adhesiion.
Ultimately the stitches secure the appliqué to the fabric. If you cut and place your fabric accurately and your fabric is not prone to excessive raveling, you should have a good result. Keep in mind that if you shrink the design, then the satin cover around the edges shrinks and so does your security. Heavy laundering and/or use may also increase the tendency to ravel if a fusible web is skipped.
If you want the security of a fusible around the edges with the loft and softness of no web in the center, then you can “window” the fusible. This involves leaving an outer edge of about 1/4” web applied to the fabric with the inner portion cut away.
To do this, apply the template to the front of the appliqué piece in the usual manner (full details to come). Cut a piece of fusible web and place it behind the piece. Using your mini iron, fuse the web by pressing from the front along the outer edges and in about 1/4”. Cut out appliqué and then trim away excess fusible from the inside of the design on the back.
You may want to try this technique on larger pieces for quilts. Fusible web doesn’t allow the appliqués to “puff up” like hand stitched needle-turned appliqué. While machine embroidered appliqué is unlikely to loft as much and needle-turned, you’ll have a more authentic appearance.
Step 1—Prepare Fabrics
Your appliqués will stay smooth and crisp if you preshrink both the appliqué fabrics and the background fabrics. Pre-shrinking all the fabrics will help avoid any uneven shrinkage after your project is assembled. Be sure to smoothly press fabrics before the next fabric steps. I also find that starching the fabrics (both background and appliqué) makes them easier to work with and reduces shifting during the sewing process.
Step 2—Print Appliqué Templates & Any Guides
Print out PDF appliqué templates, making sure to print them at actual size. Notice that each piece has the design file name (if large enough) and possibly a number. On multiple piece appliqués this number is the sequence number for placing the appliqué. If several pieces have the same sequence number, it means they are placed at the same stop.
Do not let Acrobat resize your template to fit the page. Page Scaling must be set to None for accuracy!
The template pages may vary per collection. A design with just one appliqué may have the element repeated multiple times whereas a more complex multi-piece appliqué design may show the pieces as they combine in the design plus another set that is separated for easy cutting. Some collections may have multiple arrangements per design.
I prefer to print my templates on a lightweight fusible tearaway or you can use freezer wrap. (I don’t use freezer wrap for embroidery stabilizer, only for templates.) I cut an 11” piece of stabilizer from an 8” roll (about the size of a sheet of paper) and lightly fuse the top and bottom edges to a sheet of printer paper to help it move through my ink jet printer smoothly (and to make sure I print on the non-fusible side!)
I find that using heat fusible pattern pieces provides more sticking power over a longer period of time than templates printed on plain paper and held in place with TESA. If your pattern shifts during cutting, you will not be able to cut out an accurate piece and this technique definitely requires precision. I also find that I get more accuracy with this method than when tracing onto the fusible web. Some fusible webs have a waxy coating on the protective sheet and often shift around easily, especially when working with larger or more intricate shapes. With this technique, accuracy is definitely the name of the game.
These templates are created from the placement stitch in the embroidery design and are therefore intended to be applied to the front of the fabric. Some fusible webs can also be run through an inkjet printer. However, these products are applied to the back of your fabric and won’t work as a shortcut unless you mirror the embroidery design.
Step 3—Loosely Cut Out Template Pieces
Separate your paper template pieces by cutting loosely around the outlines.
Step 4—Apply Templates to Fabric.
Press the cut out pieces, right side up to the right side of the corresponding appliqué fabric.
Step 5—Apply Fusible Web
I prefer double-stick pressure-sensitive fusible web (Pellon EZ Steam II). Remove the looser paper sheet and arrange your appliqué fabrics on the web. Cut out around the web. I like to very lightly press them with a dry iron to help the fusible stick to the fabric.
One disadvantage of the regular weight EZ Steam II is that it leaves the appliqué feeling somewhat stiff. You might try Pellon EZ Steam II Lite, which is a thinner, lighter weight version. Other fusible web products are available but most of these are only sticky on one side. If you aren’t using a double-stick pressure sensitive fusible web, you will need to press a bit more. Avoid over pressing. If you completely melt the adhesive there will be nothing left to fuse the piece to the hooped fabric.
Don’t use steam when pressing fusible web and don’t over heat! Use a Teflon™ pressing sheet or parchment paper to protect your iron and ironing surface from the adhesive.
Step 6—Cut Out Appliqué Pieces
Carefully and precisely cut along the outside edge of each appliqué piece. If I’m preparing for a design I will sew immediately, I like to lightly stick the pieces to a plastic sheet protector in which I’ve place a printout of my design information. (If you haven’t used a double stick pressure sensitive, this won’t work.) Otherwise, I keep them in snack size zipper-type plastic bags. This is especially useful if you are cutting a number of pieces for a large project or multiple projects.
Don’t firmly press the piece to the plastic; the fusible web sticks to it very easily and will hold faster to it than the fabric.
Step 7—Embroider Design
If you’re embroidering on quilt-weight cottons, a medium tearaway should be sufficient for embroidery designs that are composed of predominantly appliqué that may also have additional light detail stitching. These types of designs are generally “low impact” and do not require extensive or heavy stabilizing. Make sure your fabric is secure in the hoop and that it will not slip during sewing. If your fabric slips, raw edges of appliqué fabrics may be exposed.
As your design sews, the machine will stitch a running stitch guideline for you to place your fabric and then stop to allow you to position the fabric.
Many machines may move the hoop forward to make it easier for you to do this while others will simply stop. If your machine just stops, you may wish to remove the hoop to place your fabrics. Be careful not to disturb the hoop tension and make sure your hoop is correctly attached each time to avoid registration problems (where stitches don’t line up with previous ones).
Carefully place the fabric within the stitched line and lightly fuse the center of the appliqué with an appliqué iron. If you fuse the edges too tightly, you will not be able to trim them off later if they extend beyond your stitching. (If you’ve cut your pieces with a digital cutter, then your pieces will fit exactly within the stitched guides.)
Continue sewing and the machine will zigzag around the edge of the fabric. Many other digitizers will use a straight stitch for this step; I find a zigzag more forgiving of slight miscuts and misplacements and less likely to push the fabric out of place.
I often slow the machine down for the tackdown to make it easy to stop if the fabric should shift.
Stop after the tackdown and inspect your work. If you see that fabric is sticking out beyond these stitches, stop the machine and carefully trim the fabric away or it will be exposed after the final satin stitching is complete. Also check for any “pokies”—raveled fabric threads that may have been freed by the action of the needle.
Continue placing each piece as called for in the color sequence until the design is complete.
Press embroidery from the back to complete the fusing.
Note 1: Printable templates only work with designs sewn at actual size. If you resize your embroidery designs, you will have to make your own templates. One way is to use a customizing program like Embrilliance Essentials to extract the placement line and print it just like the PDF is printed. A second option is by sewing the positioning outlines on template stock and cutting them out for tracing pieces. To embroider on template stock (mylar quilter’s template or card stock), tape a piece of the template material to the bottom of your hoop and sew without thread in the needle. The perforations are the “outlines” you see on the actual size printed PDF templates. Cut out the template and trace (template face down) on the fusible web paper on the back of your prepared fabric. Mylar quilter’s template will retain crisp edges and corners—and therefore accuracy—with more uses than card stock. Be sure to label your template with a design name, sequence order, and a guide arrow to denote the top.
Note 2:These instructions are for medium-weight woven fabrics that can tolerate heat. Loftier fabrics such as polar fleece may need to be cut slightly further away from the template line to accommodate their thickness and will also melt when pressed with an iron. Instead of using fusible web, use a temporary embroidery spray adhesive to hold in place during the sewing process. While a fusible web will permanently fuse an appliqué in place and reduce raveling puckering over washing and wearing, polar fleece, which is a knit, doesn’t ravel and due to the stretchy properties, will not pucker if sewn smoothly in the first place.