How to Make & Attach Embroidered Patches to Velvet

attach embroidered patches

Last week the embroidered hoodie pattern got many of you guessing how to attach embroidered patches to stretchable velvet.  I'm sure the advanced sewists out there got the clues immediately after looking at the fabric swatches.  For the others, I'm now going to show you how I did it and how you can too.

attach embroidered patches

I borrowed this technique from a Japanese quilting designer Masako Wakayama who I meet last year in one of the workshops she taught in Singapore.  A gentle lady with a sunny disposition and a lovely patchwork technique that goes back hundreds of years, but her ability to design a scenery on a quilt is nothing less than extraordinary.  She has written ten books and I'm lucky to have one autographed by her.  Although the book is in Japanese, thankfully her class was in English and it allowed me to understand how this quilting technique can be used in other ways.

Materials

Tools

How to choose the right embroidered fabric

attach embroidered patches

Find a fabric where you can isolate a flower or a cluster of flowers you like and can use it as an interesting detail on the garment.

I have marked in yellow the flowers that I am planning to use.  Using a sharp pair of pointy scissors, cut away the pieces you want to use.

How to make the embroidered patches

Cut at least 1/8″ (3-5mm) from the edge of the embroidery.  Sometimes you will have to get very close, but try not to cut the threads that make up the embroidery.

attach embroidered patches

Place the patch on the rough side of the Heat and Bond.  Pin the embroidered patch down on the Heat and Bond.  Place a cloth on your ironing board and turn the embroidered patch upside down and iron.  Cut away the excess tulle getting as close as possible to the embroidered patch.

attach embroidered patches

attach embroidered patches

attach embroidered patches

Peel the backing of the patch and place it where ever you like on the velvet.I have cut away a few flowers from the embroidery and played around with the composition to achieve the “look” I am looking for.  I want to have some flowers but not make it look overwhelming.  Please see the picture below.  

How to attach embroidered patches

To make the glue melt on the velvet you need to use the tip of the iron and no bigger.  The iron is going to make ugly marks on the velvet and ruin your project so be careful.  Velvet is a pile fabric and the heat of the iron will flatten, or worse, melt the fibers. Place a Teflon or cotton fabric to prevent the fibers around the patch from melting.

Taking this precaution is what's going to give your garment the machine embroidered look and no one will believe it is a patch.  Iron in the middle of the patch until is it glued down.

attach embroidered patches

attach embroidered patches

attach embroidered patches

Take the cloth away and iron the edges very carefully. Using just the tip of the iron will take time to glue the patch on the velvet, but it is good enough to finish the job.

attach embroidered patches

A better tool and one developed for this same purpose is the mini iron by Clover.  The tip and the edges are ideal for melting the glue and bonding the embroidered patch by getting in the smallest corners.

attach embroidered patches

The heat and bond glue backing may still not be enough to make the embroidered patches stay on the velvet because of the pile fibers.  In this case, use a hand needle and invisible threat to sew around the embroidered patches.

As you change the thread from patch to patch you may want to zap the thread with your Thread Zapper to avoid the tale of the thread scratching your skin.  If you don't have one of these handy tools, please check out the link below.

Here's how the patches look from the inside of the garment.

attach embroidered patches

If you do not have access to Heat and Bond

After cutting the flowers from the tulle, use a transparent drying fabric glue to attach the embroidered patch to the velvet. I prefer to use E6000 because it dries transparent and flexible.

Leave the embroidered patches to dry overnight, the last thing you will want is the patches moving around when you are sewing them.  Use the invisible thread to sew around the patches.  This is just a precaution since the glue will be strong enough to keep the embroidered patches down.

And that's it!  I hope you enjoyed learning this new technique for how to attach embroidered patches.  Please feel free to share pictures of your work in the comments below.  I'd really love to see it.


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emmaastone007
emmaastone007

We have been the preferred choice for embroidered patches for sports teams, businesses, private clubs, and other various sectors.

Mary Marshall
Mary Marshall

Thank you for sharing. I am now going to call BF in Colorado and convince her to do this together. I am in Arizona. I know she will, reason being BF, everyone needs at least one!

Karin
Karin

When you have finished embroidering on the tulle (nylon) and rinse out the wash away stabilizer and the piece is dry you can melt the tulle around the design with a wood burning tool and a pointed adapter, place the piece on a heat safe surface and trace around it with the wood burning tool be sure to your thread isn’t nylon.

Janiece
Janiece

I’m excited to try this! I am a beginner, but that’s not going to stop me! I think this is the hoodie pattern I’ve bee waiting for. Thank you!

Do you prefer the ironing method or the gluing method? Gluing seems easier for me.

Andrew Evelyn
Andrew Evelyn

On the velvet cloth, the patches look good and spectacular. I Read your blog, and I got a lot of excellent and valuable information from your blog. I like the patch on the clothes, and you have elaborated well how to put a patch on the velvet cloth. Thanks for sharing the great information. Good Luck!

Ruth Bowler
Ruth Bowler

This method sure beats doing embroidery directly onto the garment. Then 2/3 of the way through the application messes up big time. Thank you .

Pam
Pam

Very interesting but I did not see the link to Thread Zapper.

Sheryl
Sheryl

Thank you!!

Brenda
Brenda

Thank you so VERY much. I’m not quite sure when / how you affix the flowers to the tulle. I must need more coffee this morning.

I do thank you so VERY much for this lovely idea.

Sue Young
Sue Young
Reply to  Mayra Cecilia

I have not done it but have seen embroidery done on tulle just this weekend at a workshop – the results were amazing. The person who did it used tulle and two layers of water soluble stabilizer, one on top and one on bottom and did this to make patches. I bought tulle on the way home so when I get a chance I can try.

So Sew Easy
Admin
Active Member
Reply to  Sue Young

Hi Sue, thanks for letting me know. Please feel free to leave a pic of how your work turns out. I’d love to see it.

Sue Young
Sue Young
Reply to  So Sew Easy

Sorry – I just found out it is 2 layers of tulle and one of stabelizer (in video on YouTube – about half way through it is mentioned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRfPgO6WDZk&list=PLKulQp8bMEXTEBgXM2PGJ8rq65iaeD8N8) When I try it I will post a pic – not sure when I will get to it – too many ideas, too little time!

Ruth
Ruth
Reply to  Mayra Cecilia

Glad you clarified…I wasn’t sure if you embroidered the flowers, how you embroidered them and etc….since I machine embroider I didn’t know if you embroidered right onto the garment or if you embroidered the design on something else then applied them…got a little confusing for me….and, did you machine stitch your own patches…

Candace Blanton
Candace Blanton
Reply to  Brenda

No, I was wondering the same thing. Read it twice. Seems that step is missing. Glad you said something.

Ballou Sheryl
Ballou Sheryl

I am making this hoodie on my embroidery machine. Very excited about making it. My only question is where do I find the sizing chart?

Carolyn Kipp
Carolyn Kipp

Thank you!