How to Add Embroidery to Clothes
Hand-stitched embroidery is an ideal way to breathe new life into old garments. Add a monogram to your clothes and accessories or a fun print using basic stitching techniques. Start your embroidery lessons with design outlines until you've learned and move your way up to heavily-worked embroidery. Embroidery is time-consuming, and in the beginning your stitches won't always be straight; practice on garments that won't be destroyed by a mistake.
Things You'll Need
- Iron
- Scissors
- Butcher paper or interfacing
- Embroidery hoop
- Crewel needle
- Embroidery floss
Instructions
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Press the garment to be embroidered. Cut a piece of butcher's paper the size of your embroidery design. Place the butcher paper inside the garment with the shiny, waxy surface facing the project area. Iron the fabric which will melt the max and fuse the paper and fabric together. This is a type of interfacing to stabilize the work area. If the fabric will be heavily worked by embroidery, add a fusible-fabric interfacing instead of butcher paper.
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2
Loosen the screw on the outer loop of the embroidery hoop. Place the inner hoop under the fabric and the outer hoop over it. Align the two hoops and press them together, then sandwich the fabric between the rings. Tighten the screw by twisting the head.
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3
Thread crewel needles with embroidery floss. Crewel needles have a larger eye than sharp needles so that multiple threads can be passed through, instead of single threads. Make a knot in the end of the embroidery floss.
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Sketch a design onto the fabric or iron on an embroidery sample. Pass the needle through the back of the fabric near a corner to begin your stitches. Use a back-stitch to stitch to embroidery around the deign. To create one, pass the needle back through the fabric and point the needle to where you want to exit. Pass the needle back out of the fabric and drag the thread to the first stitch. Make a stitch here, leaving the long, trailed stitch on top of your fabric.
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Work your way around the design until you reach the first stitch you made. Pass the needle through your work and make a knot to secure all the stitches. Catch the threads underneath the garment to secure the knot.
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Tips & Warnings
The needle should pass your entrance point on the bottom side of your fabric each time you make a stitch.
Use metallic threads to add shimmer to the design.
Fold your work with the design facing the inside of the fold to prevent damage.
Remove the embroidery hoop when you pause a design as a safeguard to fabric breakdown.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
