How to Do Embroidery Applique Letters

Select bright, patterned fabric for your appliqued letters.

Personalize your next embroidery project with an appliqued letter. Applique lettering uses small pieces of fabric, making it a way to use up odd fabric scraps. Sewing an appliqued letter to a piece of fabric with an embroidery machine is quicker and more precise than traditional applique, which requires you to cut a shape out of fabric and guide the stitches on the machine by hand to create the finished edge. An embroidery machine takes predesigned shapes and lettering and runs the stitches around the fabric for you. A letter can be sewn in less than 10 minutes.

Things You'll Need

• Applique letter design file
• Cut-away stabilizer
• Scissors
• Fabric or garment
• Embroidery hoop
• Embroidery machine
• Embroidery thread
• Applique scissors

Instructions

1. Load the applique letter design file onto your embroidery machine per your machine’s instructions. Machines may require a memory card or a USB cord to transfer the design.

2. Cut a piece of cut-away stabilizer 1/2 inch larger than your embroidery hoop. Open the hoop. Place the stabilizer down on top of the bottom piece of the hoop. Lay your fabric on top of the stabilizer. Smooth with your hands. Clip the top piece of the hoop to the bottom piece. Tighten the screw on the hoop. Make sure the fabric and stabilizer are taught inside the hoop.

3. Clip your hoop into the embroidery machine. Pull the applique design up on your machine. Press start. The machine will stitch out an outline of the letter with a single line of stitches. This shows you where to put the fabric for the applique.

4. Place your fabric over the top of the outline stitching. Smooth the fabric out and press start again. Lightly hold the fabric down with your hand as it starts to stitch again. This will prevent bunching. The machine will stitch another outline, known as the tacking stitch, on top of the applique fabric.

5. Remove the hoop from the machine after the outline has finished. Do not unhoop the fabric; just unclip the hoop from the machine. Use the applique scissors to trim close to the edge of the tacking stitch. You will need to snip as close to the stitch as possible without cutting into the stitches. Any fabric more than 1/8 inch left outside the stitches will show outside the finishing stitch.

6. Clip the hoop into the machine again. Press start. The machine will run a stitch again on the border of the fabric to make sure the edges are tacked down securely. After the machine is done with that stitch, it will finish the edge with a satin stitch.

7. Remove the hoop from the machine and unhoop the fabric. Trim the excess stabilizer from the back of the fabric.

Resources

• Planet Applique: Applique Designs