An embroidered gift is a very lovely, personalized item. The thing is, not everyone has the time to learn how to embroider (especially if the gift is to be given in the almost immediate future!). Practice is obviously required to make it anywhere near the look you want the embroidery to have, and you are short on time to do that, too!
Let’s face it – even when you’ve learnt the basic embroidery stitches, you may get the urge to be overly ambitious and want to work on something fabulously cute and fancy but have none of the creativity or skills needed to bring the design to life! What to do then?
Iron-on embroidery patches, to the rescue! These patches are also known as applique. Check out your nearest fabric, crafting or haberdashery store and you’re bound to find a section of embroidered patches. The selections range from basic letters and numbers in various fonts, to cute cartoon images or random designs – from the smallest barely an inch high to massive badges meant to draw your absolute attention. The motifs are endless – choose according to your preferred look/theme.
These patches are perfect for all your sewing and crafting projects – embellishing a new baby’s onesie, jazzing up a tired jacket or t-shirt, adding a fun focus to your bag or hat, hiding a tear or stain on your favorite skirt or denim pants, or even as a point of interest on a quilt! The size of the item you plan to spruce up with the embroidery patch will determine how big of an embroidery patch, and how many pieces, you should choose.
What do you need to iron on embroidery?
- Obviously, the item/project to be jazzed up of your choice (bag/hat/jacket/quilt/pants/skirt/top/onesie/sneakers – endless options!) Just be careful not to use anything made with delicate fabrics – those would be better embellished with hand embroidery
- Your chosen iron-on embroidery patch (I chose this funky pink guitar by the Maria George brand, bought from Spotlight Malaysia)
- An iron and ironing board (a small one specially for your crafting work would be great at the sewing table, but if not, any regular iron & ironing board will do)
- A small thin towel or piece of cotton fabric – this is your pressing cloth, so make sure it doesn’t have any worn-out fuzz that may transfer to your patch
- A solid piece of cardboard covered in aluminium foil or other heat-safe backing material (if that’s not handy, use a flat potholder)
Step 1
Preheat the iron to the desired setting – in this case, try the dry cotton setting (between 150-160 degree celcius). Be careful of the temperature setting – you don’t want to accidentally burn the patch or the project!
Step 2
Layer your project on top of the covered backing material between your item, and position the patch where you want it to be on the project, face up (the actual design facing you, the shiny part with adhesive against the project). Cover it with the pressing cloth.
Step 3
Press the iron over the pressing cloth and the embroidery patch for a few seconds, lift it and press it back down again (the same way you press iron-on interfacing). If the patch is a large one, make sure you’re pressing all over the entire patch in a lift-up-and-put-down motion – not the normal clothes-ironing motion of sweeping left and right. Do this several times until you are satisfied the patch has been secured. You can try tugging on a corner of the patch to see how well it has adhered to the project.
Step 4
If it is doable, turn your project inside out and repeat Steps 2 and 3. This is obviously easier with onesies, tops and pants compared to caps, hats, sneakers and bags.
Step 5
If you really really want to make sure the patch is secure, sew around the design of the patch – if the patch is relatively thin, you can hand-sew a running stitch or blanket stitch around it. This is exactly how I secure my children’s name tags and school badges on their uniforms hahaha. If it’s thicker, or you’re just not keen to give your fingers blisters and holes from poking a needle through a patch and fabric, then use your sewing machine’s embroidery stitches to further secure the design on the project.
If what you see in the shops is not to your liking, you can also make your own iron-on embroidery patch/applique! I love using these especially for quilts.
All you need to make your own embroidery patch/applique:
- The project the applique will be attached to
- The material for the applique
- Pattern/template for the applique – you can draw this out freestyle, download from many free and paid websites or trace from an image you like
- Double-sided fusible interfacing/fusible web
- Very sharp scissors to cut out the design
- Another pair of scissors to cut through the double-sided fusible interfacing template – never use your fabric scissors on paper unless you want them dulled!
Step A
Draw out the design you want on the double-sided fusible interfacing and cut it out carefully without any allowance. It can be your own design, or a shape or design based on patterns on the fabric you chose to make the patch from.
Step B
Press the interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric. Once it has cooled, cut out the design from the fabric (no need to add any allowance around the template).
Step C
Peel off the adhesive protective paper on the newly-cut-out fabric,and place it on your project as per Steps 2 to 5 – Tadaaaa! You’ve made your own embroidery patch! You are ready to make more applique designs for your future projects!