Combine different fabrics, textures, and styles together with embroidery to create dynamic designs for your projects! This tutorial will walk you through the steps for creating applique embroidery with a satin stitch border.
To craft your applique project, you will need:
- Applique fabric (good-quality and tightly-woven quilter's cotton, denim, felt, canvas, twill, etc.)
- Medium-weight cutaway stabilizer
Base fabric
Temporary spray adhesive - Scissors
When you download the design, you will find multiple files. Some are embroidery files, and others are dieline files marked with the letters "DL". Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the correct shape and size. Open and print each dieline file using an embroidery software. If you do not have an embroidery software, take a look at our helpful video on using dielines.
We also recommend Wilcom's Hatch software which comes in different levels depending on what you'd like to use the software for. Hatch Organizer works well to view your designs, print dielines and templates, change design colors, and create basic design layouts. (This is an affiliate link. We may earn commission on purchases made with this link.)
To prepare the applique piece, spray a piece of medium-weight cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive.
Smooth the applique fabric on top.
Carefully cut out the shape, following the printed dieline. Remove the paper after cutting.
When using faux fur fabric as applique, as in this Fluffy Critters Owl (Applique) design, you can use a water-soluble stabilizer such as Sulky Ultra Solvy as a topping. This will keep the stitching looking crisp on top of the fabric.
Simply lay the topping over the design after adding the faux fur fabric, then continue embroidering. After the design is complete, tear away as much of the topping as possible, then remove the rest according to the manufacturer's instructions. information.
Hoop fabric with medium weight cutaway stabilizer.
Load the full embroidery design (not the dieline) to the machine.
The color change sheet shows the stitching order. The first thing to embroider is a dieline that traces the shape for the applique piece.
Spray the back of the applique fabric and stabilizer piece with a bit of temporary adhesive.
Place it in the outline on the fabric.
Continue embroidering the design. A tackdown stitch, also called a zigzag stitch, is next. That binds the applique fabric to the base fabric.
The final thing to stitch will be the finishing border. For this design, the finishing border is satin stitch.
Some designs have an e-stitch, or blanket stitch, as the final step to complete the design instead of satin. Follow the same instructions for either type of design.
Trim the excess stabilizer away from the back of the towel. Leave about 1/2" around the design.
Applique designs are a wonderful way to use favorite fabric prints and patterns to bring a unique and custom look to your embroidery.
Get Inspired:
Special fabrics can bring a special dimension to your applique embroidery. This mirror design uses gold lamé to create a shiny effect!
If you're using faux fur fabric for your applique, you'll want to add a water-soluble topping on top of the fabric before embroidering (we used Sulky Solvy). This will help prevent the stitches from sinking into the fabric.
When you are finished stitching the designs, tear away the topping, and use water according to the package instructions to remove any remaining bits of water-soluble stabilizer.
Some applique designs, such as this Brilliant Textures Bird, contain multiple applique pieces. Depending on the design, these pieces may overlap.
In this bird design, the fabric edges also are covered by semi-filled areas of stitching instead of a more traditional satin stitch border.
As with any applique design, follow the color change sheet and lay down each fabric piece after its placement dieline sews, then continue stitching to complete the design.
