Applique Making the Cut Embroidery Project

Appliqué is a very useful embroidery technique. It is a simple way to reduce stitch counts while adding texture to a design. The sewing process for appliqué portion of a design consists of three phases:

The most challenging part of the process, other than digitizing, is to create the appliqué cut, which is the shaped piece of fabric to be used for the appliqué portion of the design.

Typically, this is done by creating a template for tracing the shape of the appliqué onto the fabric to be cut. The simplest method is to hoop an open manila folder, and then run the outline stitch portion (only) of the design with an unthreaded needle. Because it is a lightweight cardboard material, you don’t actually hoop it like a garment, rather you lay the hoop on top of the folder and use masking tape to attach it to the hoop.

Once you run the outline stitch portion of the design, you will be left with a series of needle holes outlining the exact shape of the applique. Carefully cut this out, and you now have an applique template for the design.

This works great if you have a large, multiple piece order, but in the case of a small job, it adds a lot of extra labor. For these situations, you can use an alternate method.

Hoop the garment to be sewn. Sew the outline stitch portion of the design then stop. Lay down a piece of the appliqué fabric, cut larger than the outline portion of the design, over the outline stitches. Running the machine at a very slow speed, sew the tack-down stitches then stop. Carefully trim the excess fabric away, then sew the border stitches.

If you plan to do a large volume run, then consider contracting out the cutting task to a company such as Stahls. If you have the Designer level of Tajima DGML by Pulse, then you can easily create a “cut-file” in .dxf format which you can email to Stahls for setting up the cutting process.

Whichever method you use, be sure to take your time and do it right. It is imperative that the applique be cut accurately to ensure that it lines up with the stitches in the design. If not, your masterpiece will quickly become a monster-beast, and no one will profit, especially not you!