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On this page you'll find
useful, practical embroidery projects you can do with your HAPPY
embroidery machine. The sewing projects are discussed with a nod
to commercial sewing, addressing questions about sewing efficiency
(time) and quality, and profit potential. However, the projects
also speak to good sewing/embroider techniques for anyone wanting to
create quality, memorable embroidery projects.
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Commercial Applique
Project (and Answers to Questions abut Applique)
written by Rene Rosales |
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project is designed to illustrate the benefits of
applique. We'll learn how to sew the emblem
shown below as a decoration on a cheerleader's
uniform. The shape is available for purchase
from STAHL'S (www.stahls.com) as a stand-alone piece
or as part of one of their startup kits. Since
sewing applique adds a couple of steps to the
embroidery process, this project answers the natural
questions of why and how: |
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What:
What is applique? We'll answer
this question specifically in-depth for
beginners. |
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Why:
I can cut out my own shapes. Why
would I want to buy them? |
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Why:
If applique adds steps to the embroidery
process, why add the time and
complexity? |
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Why:
I'm not very confident yet with my
embroidery skills. Why would I
want to try this? |
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How:
We'll take you step by step through
this project to teach you how it's done. |
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Answers to
Questions |
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WHAT is Applique?
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By its barest, broadest
definition, appliqué is the decoration of an item
(clothing/bag/other decorable item) with a shaped piece(s)
of material. In practical terms, appliqué is most
often seen as sewn (and/or ironed-on) shapes of letters
and logos as part of uniforms in athletic wear (near
right). Look a little further and you'll also see
creative, fun shapes commonly sewn on sweater, sweatshirts
and even dress items, such as the sweater shown on the far
right.
Visually, appliqué lends dimension and artistic freedom to
clothing decoration, with creative options for colors,
shapes, textures and patterns to be sewn or pressed onto a
garment.
For embroidery designs, appliqué does something else in
addition: it substitutes large, flat areas of a design
with a colored piece of material instead of filling in
with embroidery stitches. Since the only |
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sports jerseys |
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decorative applique |
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design, all stitching: 25,000
stitches |
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applique version: 3,000
stitches |
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stitching needed for those
applique areas are the tack-down stitches to sew the shape
onto the garment, a lot less time is needed to sew the
same design with some or all of it done as applique (vs.
all of it done as embroidery fill stitching. To
illustrate, I used a standard 6"w x 4" h Stahl's applique
shape, called Spirit Megaphone, and as an experiment,
digitized the design at the same size as pure embroidery
stitching (far left photo). My final design came out
to just shy of 25,000 stitches. The same shape,
cutout in applique, including gold, blue and white parts,
pre-glued together, required only 3,150 stitches to tack
it down to the fabric. At 800 stitches per minute,
my digitized all-embroidery version would take 32 minutes,
while the stitching for the applique would take about 4
and a half minutes only! |
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WHY would I want to buy shapes
that I can cut myself? |
There's nothing wrong with cutting your own applique shapes;
this gives you a lot of decorative creative license. Don't
forget that you will also need to digitize a design to go with
your shape that includes (1) a placement stitch and (2) a
tack-down stitch. We'll explain later in "How to Sew this
Project" down below. However, if you don't want to create
your own shapes, you'll have the following advantages in
ordering the shapes from a reputable company like Stahl's:
1. Standardization: Stahl's cuts the applique
shapes with precision CAD-based cutting machines to ensure
they're all identical. This also means that the shapes are
very exact.
2. Choice of materials, colors, and adhesive: You
can order either custom shapes or pick from a catalog of
standard letters, logos and shapes. The shapes can be
ordered in a variety of materials, including some that simulate
embroidery fill stitching. Iron-on/heat-sensitive backing
can also be included, making the process even easier.
3. Sew File Included: For most services,
the pre-digitized sew file is included with the shapes you buy,
so there's no time lost scanning the shape and digitizing. |
WHY is applique worth the added steps? |
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you've been reading so far, you know that applique can save
significant time per job. In the example above, it took 32
minutes (at 800 spm) to sew an embroidery stitching-only version
of the Spirit Megaphone project, while it takes ony 4 and a half
to sew the tack down stitches for the applique. Now, to be
fair, applique also requires some additional steps which might
take a couple of minutes (again, explained below in the "how to"
section). But even if each shape took an additional 5
minutes of additional steps, you're still 3 times faster (and 3
times more productive!) doing the same shape in appliqué. |
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WHY would beginners (and/or experienced embroiderers) want to
try this? |
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Appliqué is a relatively easy technique. For beginners, we
would strongly recommend that you become comfortable with the
basics of embroidery (setting tension, hooping, sourcing good
quality digitized designs, and basic sewing technique).
However, if you've developed some confidence that you can do
this as a beginner, the steps for applique are simple and offer
professional quality results for your efforts. Be sure to
read on in the "How to Sew" section below. |
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| How to
Sew This Project |
I
chose this project because the applique shape can be sewn on all
models of HAPPY machines, being only 6" wide by 4" tall.
1. Hoop the garment as you would any normal
embroidery job - for this 6" x 4" design you can use a HAPPY
18cm round hoop (if you have it), or use your standard 32cm x
32cm square hoop.
2. Load the special, digitized appliqué design into machine memory.
3. Set up the applique design in the machine's color
selection screen. The specially digitized design or
"sew disk" contains 2 parts: the zig-zag stitches that
permanently sew the applique shape on the garment (also called a
tack-down stitch), and a running stitch outline (also called a
"marker" or "placement" stitch) that sews before the zig-zag
stitch that marks the garment to show you where to place the
shape. After the marker stitch is sewn on the garment, the
machine needs to pause sewing to give you time to fix the
applique shape on this outline. The special digitized
design makes this very easy - in the same screen where you
choose the color for the zigzag/tackdown stitch, you'll see the
mark stitch sew as a separate color first. When choosing
the color for the mark stitch, press the SET key (for current
HAPPY machines). You'll see an asterisk appear next to the
color block - which is your HAPPY machine's way of telling you
that it knows to sew that color block and stop.
4. Sew the marker stitch. After setting up the
design and checking to see that it's centered in the hoop.
The machine will sew the marker stitch described above.
Because of what you did in step 3 above, the machine will stop
after sewing the marker stitch so you can lay the applique shape
down on the garment.
5. Remove the garment from the machine (leave it in the
hoop!) after it has finished
sewing the marker stitch and stops. It is VERY important
that you do not remove the hoop
6. Place the shape carefully on the marker stitch and
"stick" it in place. Align the shape as accurately as
you can. In our example, the applique shape also comes
with a heat sensitive backing - so we laid a sheet of backing
over the shape once in place, and ironed with a medium iron for
about 20 seconds.
7. Replace the garment on the machine and finish sewing
by pressing START.sewing the tack-down stitch and any decorative satins as well. |
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