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Posted on: 2 November 2018

Applique embroidery is different than doing your stitches by hand, as a machine does the embroidery for you. If you are interested in doing this type of embroidery you should know that different methods and techniques that are used. You will find information about this below so you can decide on what you want to choose.

Applique Embroidery Methods

Two types of applique embroidery methods include:

Tack Down and Trim

With the tack down and trim method, the stitching machine will first stitch a placement line. Once this is completed, the machine will stick a larger piece of fabric over the placement line. The machine will then do a second row of embroidery stitches to secure the fabric. If there is excess fabric the embroidery machine will trim it to complete the process.

There are some embroidery machines that spray adhesive instead of stitching to secure the fabric over the placement line. If this is used there will be no excess so trimming is not required.

Precut Shapes

Another technique uses precut shapes. A laser cutter or an electronic craft cutter can cut the shapes. If you hire a company to do this for you, they will use a die cutting machine to cut the shapes. This type is beneficial as the precut shapes fit perfectly over the placement stitches. This means there is no excess that has to be trimmed away.

The stitches are placed on the precut shape to secure it. The machine then stitches the shape on the outside edges to further secure it.

Applique Embroidery Techniques

There are also different embroidery techniques used including:

Single Layer

With the single layer technique, the machine places the stitches quickly onto the fabric. This is often used to add embellishments to the embroidery designs, such as on t-shirts, quilts, blankets, and much more.

Multi-Hoop

If you plan to create larger designs you will need to use the multi-hoop technique. With this, several placement lines are sewn into the fabric. The larger background fabric is then positioned in each hoop for the different sections of the design. This allows the machine to place the designs all at the same time. This makes putting the designs on a large piece of fabric much quicker. This is a complex technique that you will likely want to learn once you gain experience.

Once you decide on the method and technique you want to use, contact a company that sells embroidery equipment to purchase what you need to get started.