Making Soft Appliques Patches

(There is some good background info here: Pursuing the Perfect Embroidery Stitch-out.)

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 dresses are very often made with fabrics that cannot be washed, so this is another approach.  The result is the same.

(This post shows how I use the sticky back stabilizer on a hoop for the Bernina home embroidery machine.  To see attaching the stabilizer to a commercial hoop, ho here:  Using Sticky-back Stabilizer.) 

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, however do not pull it overly tight to achieve this. Just make sure it does not ripple. (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 hoop the whole shebang.

Next, your applique fabric must be interfaced and then stabilized with fusibles.  This interfacing and stabilizing helps the fabric stand up to what can be very dense stitching.  Whether or not your base fabric is stabilized with a fusible interfacing (tricot or woven) is totally up to you. After the fabric is interfaced, I fuse Pellon Decorbond to the areas to be embroidered.  This is fairly stiff interfacing which helps support the stitches.  Yes, there is softer, cheaper stuff, but I have found it does not work as well as I want it to.  I sometimes use two layers of this when making patches depending on the the base applique fabric I have chosen.

I will explain making this file into an applique patch:

Once you have hooped the sticky back and the tear-away, lay your interfaced and stabilized fabric in the hoop.  The following tackdown stitch will run:

Then the following knot will stitch out, stopping for the appropriate color changes:

When the above embroidery finishes, there will be another tackdown running stitch that runs just slightly outside the first running stitch.  I do this to help alleviate any fraying of the fabric. 

Remove the hoop from your machine.  Cut very closely to the outside stitching as shown below:

Then, put the hoop back on your machine and finish the outside satin stitching:

Using other patches as an example, I will show you how I finish them.  Here, the patch stitching is 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, but first I run a thin line of Fraychek on the back edge of the of the outside satin stitching. I let this dry, and then using either use my appliqué scissors or my fine, curved embroidery scissors, I trim the fuzz away.

Here they are trimmed. I can get closer with the smaller scissors…obviously the trick here is to trim closely without cutting threads which the Fraycheck actually helps with as it has sealed the edges which protects those threads. Since the edge embroidery thread is white, this is where I stop. When the outside satin stitch is a colored thread, I use either a permanent Sharpie or a fabric dye pen in the right color prior to applying the Fraycheck, and I color in the outside edge so all the white is gone, then trim when it is dry.

I sometimes then iron a fusible web to the back of the applique to hold the patch securely in place when I the sew around the edge.  My preferred way of sewing around the patch is to use a clear monofilament, and using the outside satin stitching as a guide, I use a wide zig-zag to attach the patch flush to the fabric.