Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
Sweatshirts are an excellent canvas for designs.
Make yours unique and stylish by picking the
designs that suit your personal preference and
taste.
Sweatshirts are usually made of cotton, or a
cotton and polyester blend. Some are a bit
thicker than others, with a fleece-like lining.
Some have Lycra, and are stretchy.
No matter the sweatshirt that you're working
with, the techniques shown below will give you
picture-perfect results, each and every time.
Read on for details about placement, templates,
stabilizer, needles, hooping, and more!
The video plays best with a high-speed
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Begin by pre-washing the sweatshirt according to the label instructions. If you don't pre-wash,
you risk the fabric color bleeding onto the design, as well as shrinking / puckering around
the embroidery stitches, when the shirt is laundered later.
Then, determine where you want to place the design. Placement is largely up to personal
preference, so put the design where you want it. Traditionally a design is positioned so that
the top of the design is 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 inches down from the garment neck, centered between
the left and right sleeve seams. If you're working with a child's shirt, traditional placement is
1 1/2 - 3 inches down from the neck.
There's a handy-dandy chart that shows traditional placement on a variety of garments, and
you'll find that right here.
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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
I find that a template is helpful when
position a design. A template is a
printout of a design that shows the
actual size, as well as the center point
and horizontal and vertical axis lines.
Templates are made from embroidery
software programs. If you don't have a
software program that prints templates,
then try Wilcom's TrueSizer (free) or
Embird.
(Design featured is Snowmen and
Snowflake Trio.)
Place the template on the shirt.
When it's positioned where you want
the design to stitch, mark the axis
lines, and the center point. These
markings will help you to hoop the
shirt later.
I use an air-erase pen to mark, but
I've also used chalk, soap, and
masking tape.
Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer
with temporary adhesive. I use
KK100. Just a quick shot will be
enough - no need to overdo it.
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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
Turn the sweatshirt inside-out and
smooth the stabilizer onto the area
that will be embroidered.
Turn the sweatshirt right side out,
and slide the inner hoop inside the
shirt.
Place the top hoop on top of the
sweatshirt. Line the horizontal and
vertical axis lines on the shirt with the
marks on the hoop, and press the top
hoop into place.
Make sure there are no ripples in the
fabric, and that the grain isn't skewed.
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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
Attach the hoop to the machine, and
roll the excess sweatshirt up and out
of the way. Use chip clips or hair
clips to keep the excess shirt material
free and clear of the hoop.
Load the design into the machine,
and move the hoop so that the
needle is right over that marked
center point.
Once the needle is right over the
center point, embroider the design.
After the design has finished, remove
the shirt from the hoop and turn it
inside out. Trim the excess stabilizer
away. I leave about 1/2 inch of
stabilizer around the design.
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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
Stabilizer choices:
We're fortunate that there are many types of stabilizer available to us. The three main types are
cutaway, tear-away, and water-soluble. Some have adhesive, often called "sticky" or "sticky
back." In the photos above you saw that I use cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive.
Using cutaway stabilizer with adhesive is essentially the same thing, so that's fine to use.
However, if you use an adhesive stabilizer, be sure that it is a cutaway stabilizer. Tear-away
stabilizer is insufficient, and will be problematic. It can cause misalignment, gapping in the
stitches, and thread tension problems.
When manufacturers make a sweatshirt, they don't anticipate that anything will be added to it.
When we embroider on it, we add weight and tension with stitches. Stabilizer provides a good
foundation for the sweatshirt so that designs can be added to it.
If you use tear-away stabilizer, the needle perforations will weaken and degrade the stabilizer,
essentially tearing it away during embroidery. That leaves little behind to support the fabric. The
fibers of the fabric can stretch and skew, resulting in misalignment. You might experience
thread nesting or knotting, or bobbin thread floating to the top. And the stabilizer will continue to
degrade during wear and wash, so over time the fabric will become stretched, cupped, and
misshapen.
Cutaway stabilizer is a consistent and stable foundation for sweatshirts, which is why we use it,
and recommend it to our customers as well. It supports the fabric beautifully during embroidery,
and during wear and wash also. It's the best choice for top-quality results.
We've tested cutaway and tear-away in our sewing studio many times. Here's a peek at a
recent test:
We embroidered a simple Santa
design onto a sweatshirt backed with
one piece of tear-away stabilizer.
The needle perforations degraded
the stabilizer within the first two
thousand stitches. With little left to
support the fabric, the fibers
stretched and skewed and the
stitches started to land in the wrong
spot.
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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
The end result is a mess. Not only is
the fill not meeting the edges of the
oval, but the oval itself is skewed.
The fill is outside of the borders in the
letters and the numbers - and the
fabric is puckering as well.
Here's the same design, on the same
sweatshirt, with the same needle. But
instead of using tear-away stabilizer,
we used one piece of cutaway
stabilizer. The results are pictureperfect.
For best results, use cutaway stabilizer. One piece is sufficient, and a 2 or 2.5 ounce is just
fine. Using multiple pieces or layers of stabilizer is not recommended. That can dull the needle,
cause thread breaks, larger holes in the fabric, and puckering.
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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
Hooping the sweatshirt is also
recommended. I've heard from
embroiderers who prefer to hoop the
stabilizer only. Then, they use a
basting stitch or adhesive to adhere
the garment to the stabilizer.
I've tried that method and I've gotten
"ok" results, but there is always
shifting that occurs. Sometimes the
shifting is noticeable, and sometimes
it isn't. Here's a demonstration:
We embroidered two sweatshirts one was hooped, and one wasn't.
The two sweatshirts are side by side.
If you look at the unhooped shirt
you'll see a gap in the brim, and also
a thinner fill on the hat. The satin
stitches are a bit more ragged as well.
The hooped shirt doesn't have any
gapping. The results are "ok," but I
like the hooped result better.
There's also gapping and separation
between the stripes of the
snowman's hat.
Why does this happen? If fabric isn't
hooped with the stabilizer, then it's
going to wiggle a bit as the hoop
moves around and about. That
means that stitches aren't landing
where they should be, and there are
gaps and separations.
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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Sweatshirts
I also see a little bit of puckering
around the stitches in the unhooped
version. I think this occurred because
the stitches drew the fabric in. The
hoop keeps the fabric from pulling in,
or contracting, which eliminates any
fabric puckering.
Sometimes there is concern about
marks made in the fabric when
hooped. For a sweatshirt, a ring will
come out when moisture is returned
to the fabric. There's a nice "hoop
burn" tutorial right here for you.
Nearly any design can be stitched onto a sweatshirt, but consider how the fabric is going to
drape when it's worn. Avoid big and blocky designs for the front, as those won't drape very well.
I tend to use a sharp (sewing) needle on most of my projects, because I get crisp and neatlooking stitches. I used a size 11 sewing needle on the samples above. An embroidery needle
can also be used (75/11).
Stitching tips for sweatshirts:
Needle
75/11 sharp needle; an embroidery needle may also be used
Stabilizer
Cutaway (2.5 ounce)
Design Choice
Designs of any complexity will work well, but consider draping
Click here for a printable version of these project instructions.
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can download a free copy by clicking on the icon below.
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