How to Appliqué with an Embroidery Machine, Step by Step

What you need

• An embroidery machine and a hoop big enough for the design.
• An appliqué embroidery file (DST, PES or EXP) with three stages: placement, tack-down and satin cover. You can make one for any text.
• The garment or base fabric, and a stabilizer that suits it.
• Appliqué fabric: cotton, twill and felt are the easiest to start with.
• Temporary spray adhesive or fusible web to keep the fabric from shifting.
• Small, sharp, curved appliqué scissors, or a cutting machine if you pre-cut the shapes.
• Thread for the three stages. The placement and tack-down thread is often a neutral color; the satin thread is the one people see.

The three stages the machine sews

Every appliqué file follows the same order, and each stage is its own color block so the machine stops between them.

1. Placement line. A plain running stitch that draws the outline of the shape on the garment. It does not hold anything; it only shows you where the fabric goes.
2. Tack-down. After you lay the fabric over the line, the machine stitches around the outline to fasten the fabric to the garment. It can be a running stitch or a narrow zigzag (see zigzag vs running tack-down).
3. Satin cover. A dense satin stitch over the raw edge, which finishes the shape and hides the tack-down.

Step by step

1. Hoop the garment with stabilizer. Hoop flat and snug, but do not stretch the fabric. Knits usually want a cut-away stabilizer; stable woven fabrics can often use tear-away.
2. Sew the placement line. The machine stops when it finishes the outline. Leave the garment in the hoop.
3. Lay the appliqué fabric. Cover the whole outline with fabric, with a little extra all around. A light mist of temporary spray adhesive, or fusible web on the back of the fabric, stops it from shifting while it is stitched.
4. Sew the tack-down. Restart the machine. It stitches around the outline and fastens the fabric down.
5. Trim. Take the hoop off the machine without taking the garment out of the hoop. Trim the extra fabric close to the tack-down stitching with curved appliqué scissors. Cut carefully so you do not nick the garment underneath.
6. Check the edge. Put the hoop back on and look all the way around: no loose fabric edge should stick out past the tack-down line, because the satin has to cover it.
7. Sew the satin cover. The machine stitches the finishing border over the edge.
8. Finish. Remove the garment from the hoop, tear or cut away the stabilizer as your fabric needs, and trim any jump threads.

Trim in the hoop or pre-cut the shapes

There are two common ways to get the fabric shape. You can lay a larger piece of fabric and trim it in the hoop after the tack-down, as above. Or you can cut the shape first, by hand or with a Cricut, Silhouette or ScanNCut, and place it on the placement line. Pre-cutting is quicker for many copies and for small letters. The cut file matches the placement line exactly, so adding a small offset of about 1 to 2 mm in your cutting software gives the tack-down and satin more fabric to grab. Keep the fabric flat so it does not move during tacking. See using the appliqué cut file.

Fabric and stabilizer tips

• Tightly woven cotton and twill are the easiest. Felt does not fray, so it needs no special treatment.
• Fabrics that fray, such as loose weaves, do better with fusible web or interfacing on the back.
• Thin or light fabric can show the garment colour underneath. Back it with interfacing or choose a heavier fabric.
• Stretchy garments need a firm stabilizer and an appliqué file made for stretch. In the appliqué tool, choose the Stretch fabric type so the stitches are built with more allowance.
• Press the appliqué fabric before you start so wrinkles do not move the shape.

Common problems and what causes them