Hints, Tips and Tricks for Embroidering on Sweatshirts and Fleece

Learning to use an embroidery machine takes practice and patience. Different materials - like sweatshirt fleece, knits, or woven fabrics - require using different techniques to achieve the best possible result. Here are some hints, tips, and tricks for machine embroidering on sweatshirts or fleece that I have learned through trial and error.

Hints, Tips and Tricks for Embroidering on Sweatshirts and Fleece: Choose the Right Machine

Keep in mind when shopping for an embroidery machine that you should buy the best machine you can afford. A few hundred dollars can mean the difference between a machine that stitches designs adequately compared to a machine that produces a beautiful result time after time.

In addition, consider what projects you intend to make with your new embroidery machine. Projects like baby items or ball caps require only embroidery machines with a 4 inch by 4 inch embroidery field. However, if you plan to stitch out designs for large pillows, canvas bags, or adult sweatshirts, then you will want an embroidery field that is at least 5 inches by 7 inches. You may even want the capability for a much larger embroidery field. My machine, a Brother PE-780D, can embroider up to a 5 inch by 7 inch embroidery design.

Hints, Tips and Tricks for Embroidering on Sweatshirts and Fleece: Choose the Right Design

Next, when embroidering on sweatshirts or fleece, choose the right design. Because a heavy weight sweatshirt fleece is heavier than at-shirt or lightweight knit, you can choose a more substantial design with more stitches. However, if you choose a very dense, large design, then your sweatshirt could become overly stiff and uncomfortable. Also, bear in mind that the lighter the sweatshirt, the less dense your design should be. If you want your sweatshirt to retain its drape and shape, then choose a smaller design with fewer stitches.

Hints, Tips and Tricks for Embroidering on Sweatshirts and Fleece: Prepare Your Fabric

If you embroider on a piece of fabric that you intend to launder, you must pre-wash and dry the garment. Wash the sweatshirt or fleece just as you intend to care for it on a daily basis so that it shrinks before you embroider on it. If you wash the sweatshirt after you embroider on it and the sweatshirt shrinks, your beautiful embroidery will pucker and be ruined.

Hints, Tips and Tricks for Embroidering Sweatshirts and Fleece: Choose the Right Stabilizer

Think of your stabilizer as the foundation for your embroidery. Just as you need the right foundation for your house, you must have the proper foundation for your embroidery design. When embroidering on a fleece sweatshirt, use a cut-away stabilizer. The knit sweatshirt fabric will stretch if you use a tear-away stabilizer, and your beautiful design will be ruined. Depending upon the weight of your sweatshirt, you will need a medium or a heavyweight stabilizer.

Hints, Tips and Tricks for Embroidering on Sweatshirts and Fleece: Use a Water Soluble Topping

A fleece sweatshirt requires not only a stabilizer, but you may also want to use a water soluble topping stabilizer. The water-soluble topping keeps the stitches from sinking into the fabric and really shows off the beauty of the embroidery design. It also comes off easily in the wash.

Hints, Tips and Tricks for Embroidering on Sweatshirts and Fleece: Place Your Design Carefully

Be sure to place your design in an appropriate place on your sweatshirt. Some embroidery websites and embroidery software allow you to print out your design first so that you can cut out a template and place it on your sweatshirt. If your design is too high or too low, it will look unprofessional. Use a ready-made sweatshirt from your closet as a guide if you need help finding the proper placement. In addition, before hooping your sweatshirt, mark the horizontal and vertical center of your design directly on the sweatshirt. When you hoop your sweatshirt, the horizontal and vertical marks should line up with the markings on your hoop.

Some embroiderers cringe at the thought of hooping sweatshirts out of fear that the tight hoop will leave "hoop burns" on the fabric. However, putting the stabilizer, sweatshirt, and topping in the hoop is the best way to prevent puckering and shifting of your embroidery design. Any hoop marks disappear when the sweatshirt is laundered.

Learning to use your own embroidery machine can be challenging, but the results are rewarding. Using these tips will help your machine embroidered sweatshirts turn out beautifully every time.