EMBROIDERY

How to Do Applique

September 28, 2009
By Steven Batts, Contributing Wrtier

Appliqués are an interesting form of embroidery. A lot of people have never done them simply because they don’t know how. It looks like it would be a long complicated process, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are very simple. In some cases, using an appliqué can save time. Instead of filling in a huge area on the back of a jacket, use an appliqué and the time saved will be huge.

It is all in the design

The trick to doing appliqué is the design. They work like this: A running stitch outline of the shape to be appliquéd is sewn and the machine stops with a programmed stop function. You stick the piece of appliqué material down, typically with spray adhesive. Then restart the machine. The design first does a tack down stitch to hold the material down and then the top stitching and any other decorative stitches around and on top of the appliqué material.

Pretty easy, huh? The hardest part of appliqués is getting the piece of material that is cut to the proper size and shape. There are several ways to have this done. How you will want to do this will depend on how many and how often you do appliqués.

Just a few

If you have just a few pieces to do, the simplest way to get your cutout is from the design itself. If I am doing just one or two of them, I will frame the appliqué material by itself in a frame and sew the outline stitch. When the machine stops, I take the hoop off and reset the design back to the beginning. I then simply cut around edge of the running stitch. You want to cut just outside the running stitch to make sure the material fits properly when it is applied.

If there is more than one or two, you can make a template out of card stock or a manila folder. Simply frame a piece of tearaway backing and tape the card stock down to it. Then sew the outline stitch as before. The needle penetrations in the card stock make it easy to cut the shape out. Then take the template and draw the shape onto the appliqué fabric and then cut the fabric out.

Woven twill fabric tends to work best for appliqué, but there are a variety of fabrics you can use. I would tend to shy away from knit materials because of the stretch when trying to apply it and felts because it disintegrates when it is washed. Other than that, you can be fairly creative in you material.

More than a few

If you have several pieces, say at least a dozen or more, to appliqué, you might consider using a company that will cut the material for you. Companies such as Stahls and Dalco will create the appliqué design for you, cut the material for you from a selection of colors and fabrics and send you the cut pieces and the sew disk designed just for that appliqué. This saves you the headache of getting it digitized, cutting the material and making sure it is correct.

They also have lots of stock designs and letters to choose from that make doing names, schools and other teams a snap. This is what most places use to do the sewn on names, numbers, school mascots and fraternity logos. They have lots of choices for those type of designs.

 

Heavy users

 

If you do appliqués frequently, then you might consider a fabric cutter. There are several types of these from modified vinyl cutters to laser cutters. Rather than paying a service to cut your appliqués, you can cut your own. In many digitizing programs they have appliqué creation settings and the ability to export files (plot files) that can be used to send straight to the cutter to create the shape. The cost of these machines has been trending downward and more and more embroiderers are beginning to create there on appliqués.

The thing to keep in mind is your return on you investment. People who do appliqués tend to do a lot of them. Other embroiderers rarely do them. I went probably 5 years before I had my first appliqué request. Now, I do them fairly frequently. Although I mainly use the process to make my own patches. But that is another subject for next time.

 

Steven Batts, a consultant with 17 years experience in the embroidery industry, owns Righteous Threads, Greensboro, N.C., which offers digitizing, embroidery and machine maintenance services. Steven regularly leads seminars at ISS shows and is an industry speaker and consultant.

• For more information or to comment on Steven’s article: e-mail righteousthreads@gmail.com.

 



RECENT   HEADLINES

Intangibles of Choosing a Singlehead Embroidery Machine: Part 2
When selecting a commercial singlehead embroidery machine, it helps to know which options are important and what affects its price the most.
July 19, 2010

Intangibles of Choosing a Singlehead Embroidery Machine
The emphasis from multihead machines to singleheads happened years ago. The trend for smaller, more user friendly machines continues as manufacturers narrow the gap between commercial machines and those intended for home use.
July 06, 2010

Adding Digital Printing to Your Embroidery Shop
If you’re an embroiderer, adding direct-to-garment decorating technology to your shop is probably one of the simplest things you can do from an operational standpoint. In fact, it’s akin to adding a singlehead embroidery machine — to put it rather simply, you’re just adding another machine that hooks up to a computer and produces fantastic-looking decorations.
June 18, 2010

5 Things All Embroidery Shops Should Have
Most embroidery supply houses offer some sort of starter kit, a collection of supplies that supposedly includes everything you need to get started in embroidery. Most of these kits come with a variety of common colors of thread, bobbins, several varieties of backing, snips and more.
June 07, 2010

Tips for Easier Multi-Placement Embroidery
It doesn’t happen often, but you may occasionally get a request to embroider a design that is larger than your largest hoop. Many people simply turn down these types of requests, but learning how to deal with designs that require multiple hoopings can open doors to various types of other jobs.
May 21, 2010

Your must have source for new product updates featuring apparel and equipment.

See Sample & Privacy Policy

Produced by: Nielsen Business Media, a part of the Nielsen Company
Nielsen Business Media Contract Design | Hospitality Design | KB+B | DDI | Impressions
Impressions is the one-stop source for authoritative information and education on the decorated apparel business, including embellishing on wholesale apparel and promotional products. This
resource is crucial to apparel decorating professionals seeking to establish and grow a profitable decorated apparel business. Every issue of our decorated apparel magazine, both print and
online, is geared toward providing how-to instructions needed to perform the four major processes that comprise the decorating apparel industry marketplace — screen printing, embroidery,
heat-applied graphics and digital printing. Impressions also provides business and trend information unique to the decorated apparel and promotional products industry.


Impressions Home | Embroidery Business News | Screen Printing Apparel News | Embroidery Apparel News 
| Digital Apparel News | Decorated Apparel News | Apparel Performance Analysis 
| Apparel Business Publications | Imprinted Corporate Gifts | Promotional Product Advertising | Apparel Buyers Newsletter 
| About Impressions | Contact Impressions | Sitemap | RSS
t th