Making Embroidery Patches

(The following information is for the home sewer using a home machine.)

There are online tutorials that show how to use the water-soluble stuff called Badgemaster. I love the stuff for patches that can be washed.  Patches for Irish dance dress very often are made with fabrics that cannot be washed, so this is another approach.  The result is the same.

I use a LOT of this stuff -

If you look online for tutorials involving this sticky stabilizer, you are told to cut your length of the stabilizer and then put it, paper back and all, into the outside hoop as below.

Then you are told to score an area…

…and pull off the paper.

I dislike this because ultimately the hoop loses tension on the stabilizer (that paper is slippery!), and the fabric being embroidered can, and usually does, start to pucker and shift, especially when doing the complicated overs and unders of a celtic knot. I hate puckering and will do all I can to avoid it. I have yet to have a perfect embroidery sample, but I am working on it.

I pull the paper backing off the entire piece of sticky back stabilizer…

…and attach it to my inner hoop.

This next pic shows the sticky back attached tightly…when I thwack it with my finger it sounds like a drum. (Please excuse my “dirty” hoop…that is fabric dust, thread, sequins, etc, embedded in spray adhesive from my attempts to use the stuff years ago. It never goes away, but it is not bothering me or my fabrics!)

Then I cut a piece of tear away stabilizer…

…and then hoop the whole shebang.

Now, I deal with the getting the stiffness I need in a patch a few different ways: I super-stabilize the appliqué fabric by using 2 or 3 layers of Decorbond; I fuse the embroidered fabric to Firmflex (like Timtex); or I embroider onto Peltex which is thinner than the Firmflex and Timtex. For this project, I decided to use Peltex.

I normally cut the correct shape from the Peltex using a template, but it is also thin enough to do the following:

Press the Peltex onto the sticky back.

Stitch out the patch outline.

Trim closely using appliqué scissors.

Here both shapes are trimmed.

I will do the circular shape first as it is appliqué. Here is the first fabric, a foil lycra. (I knew there would be a purpose for all of these scraps someday!)

This has been stabilized with a woven fusible and Decorbond. I stabilize EVERYTHING! I do this because I want these fancy fabrics to stand up to the dense embroidery stitching and to last.

Second fabric is a textured lame…

…this time stabilized with a tricot fusible and Decorbond.

The sticky back makes it easy for me to make sure the appliqué fabric lays down smoothly as it holds it securely for the tack down stitching.

I use the red as the base fabric. I then stitch out the placement lines for the second fabric. I do this in case I decide to use a template so I can cut exact shapes or if I am conserving fabric by using smaller pieces cut previously…this allows me to either then (obviously) place the cut piece correctly or to make sure the smaller piece will cover the area.

Then I place and tack down the second fabric.

Now trim.

I have gotten into the habit of running a line of Fray-check along the tack down stitches. No matter the fabric, this helps keep holes from being made or fabric from fraying when the stitching is dense.

I use a piece of white satin stabilized with Decorbond on the second patch. Here’s the tack down. I used black so it would show in the pics…normally I would use a color to match the fabric or the satin stitching to come.

This next pic shows the second patch trimmed and the first 2 colors stitched out. (Like my logo? Designed it myself.)

Patch stitching done.

Now I punch them out.

As you can see, there is a fine fuzz surrounding the patches. This is from both the sticky and tear away stabilizers. This needs to be trimmed away. I either use my appliqué scissors or my fine, curved embroidery scissors.

Here they are trimmed. I can get closer with the smaller scissors…obviously the trick here is to trim closely without cutting threads. Since the edge embroidery thread is white, this is where I stop. When it is colored, I use either a permanent Sharpie or a fabric dye pen in the right color, and I color in the outside edge so all the white is gone. This also further softens the stabilizer that is left which makes it lay flatter…you really cannot see it after that.

Here are the backsides of the patches. The Taoknitter symbol is covered with bobbin thread, so other than a bit of trimming, this one is done. I could leave the circular patch as is, but I usually remove the tear away and the sticky back so that it is not so thick.

Now, how do you attach them? Once they are placed correctly on the fabric (perhaps with a dab of fabric glue or you can fuse wonder under to the back of the finished patch so you can fuse it into place), I then sew a close zigzag around the patch using the outside satin stitching as a guide. I can use either a matching white thread or a clear monofilament (my favorite).  The red patch is easy and really only needs that one line of satin-stitching.  I have added an extra line of satin stitching to the Taoknitter patch specifically for this attachment stage.  The color of that stitching could either be used to highlight the patch or it could be the same color as the fabric it will be attached to so that it recedes.

I have made a few patches in the past by appliquéing onto fabric, like this flower below.

This makes trimming very difficult because unlike the tear away stabilizers that will wear away off of the edges, any fabric fuzzies and/or threads will not. I have found that muslin is easier to get rid of because it is a looser weave, unlike the satin above. But, there really is no need to make patches like this. I do like having a single layer of fabric to anchor the whole patch, but I deal with it as I have shown in the 2 patches above.

When I want there to be fabric on the back of the patch as below (this was an old experiment which would have again required tedious trimming)…

…then I follow these steps:
1. Follow all the patch steps above until right before the final outside satin-stitching.
2. In my digitized design, I have added another patch outline running stitch.
3. I remove the hoop from the machine and turn it over.
4. I use either a spray adhesive or a bit of Fabri-tac to attach fabric, right side out, over the back of the patch. Make sure there is no fabric hanging down to get caught in your machine.
5. Put the hoop back on and run the patch outline,
6. Remove the hoop again, trim the fabric under the hoop to the tack down line. Fray-check the line.
7. Replace the hoop on the machine and run the final satin stitch outline.
8. Punch out the hoop and finish as above.