Embroidery 101: Get Creative Embroidery Project

But, I do have three important guidelines when I’m designing a garment.

1. The embroidery should enhance the overall design of the garment, not distract from it. For instance, if a jacket has an asymmetrical opening, the placement for the embroidery should emphasize that element.

2. The embroidery should compliment the figure of the model. The design area on the boy’s sweatshirt is great on a 12 year old boy (Figure 1), but most women would not want to emphasize that area.

	Figure 1: Perfect placement for a 12 year old boy, but not ideal for a woman's garment.

3. The embroidery should not hinder the movement of the model. This may seem like an idle statement, but it’s necessary to remember especially when placing embroidery over shoulder seams, cuffs and necklines.

And that’s about it when contemplating embroidery placement. The good news is, there are no boundaries and we can have a lot fun exploring the many possibilities of embroidery placement.

	Figures 2 and 3

One of my favorite garments is A Tankful of Fish (Figure 2). The design area creates a long lean line on my 5’3” figure. This design not only compliments shorter frames but also women with a wider girth. The narrow (7”) design area packs a lot of punch without adding to the model’s’ width.

Normally, I would shy away from placing embroidery on the widest part of my frame but Platinum Pizzazz (Figure 3) is a success because the embroidery is placed off-center and extends down one leg to create a vertical line. If you try this, don’t extend the embroidery out to the hip-bone but rather stop about mid thigh and extend the embroidery down the thigh.

	Figures 4 and 5

Earlier, I mentioned working with asymmetrical openings. The Birdscape jacket (Figure 4) is a great example. I filled only the right bodice with embroidery leaving the left bodice completely unadorned.

Embroidery placement can allow you to create an asymmetrical illusion. Branching Out (Figure 5) and Jessica McClintock’s evening dress (Figure 6) show repeated embroidery designs placed in an asymmetrical fashion. This method draws the eye across the garment in a pleasing fashion.

	Figure 6: Evening Dress, Figure 7: Embellish creatively

What else can you come up with? How about sleeves, collars and hemlines.

How do you know it’s going to look good on you? When creating the garment from scratch, make a sketch of the garment pattern in actual size. Then, print a template of the selected embroidery designs. Trace the embroidery designs on the garment sketch and place the sketch on your figure in front of a mirror. If you’re working with a blank finished garment, try the garment on. Audition templates on the garment, tape them in place and stand in front of a mirror. Make adjustments as needed. You’ll know before you take a stitch whether or not your embroidery is properly placed.