What is an Appliqué?

An appliqué is a sewing technique that involves stitching a small piece of fabric onto a larger one to make a pattern or design.

Notes: 

Prep your fabric: **Especially** If you are using your cutting machine to cut your appliqué you will need to apply heat and bond lite to the fabric in order for your machine cut it out. 

**Notes** In order to have your cutting machine cut your fabric you will need an an svg and the correct dimensions to the appliqué design. Once the SVG has been upload you will need to change the size according to your appliqué. 

(Be on the look out for my next tutorial for this technique)

• Hooping background fabric: This is the fabric that you are applying your appliqué to. ( Example a shirt etc.) 
• Once you have upload the design to your embroidery machine you will see there are 3 steps to an appliqué. You are able to also see this on my print sheet for my embroidery files as well incase your embroidery machine does not have a display screen. My sequence will provided you a list of every step that is next along with the change in color thread.

Appliqué Steps:

Step 1: Placement Stitch- A placement stitch tells you where to place your piece of fabric. This is where you will lay your appliqué fabric down. (Be sure to stop your embroidery machine to allow you time to place your fabric down) 

Step 2: Tack Down Stitch-  A tack down stitch simply tacks down fabric on to your hooped fabric to hold down your appliqué. For all of my designs my tack down stitches are done in RED. ( If my appliqué is red I will change the tack down stitch to black.) 

Once your tack down stitch has stitched out be sure to STOP your embroidery machine and take your hoop out if you are cutting your appliqués by hand. You will need to cut around your tack down stitch as close as you can get to the tack down stitch without cutting it. **(Note) Make sure you are using appliqué scissors.

* Note * If you have never used appliqué scissors before they do take some time to get use to it so just take your time :) 

* Note* If you have used your cutting machine to cut the appliqué you can simply apply adhesive spray ( to keep your appliqué in place) and place it over your placement stitch. 

Step 3: Satin stitch and or decorative stitch- This is the last and final step to an appliqué at this point your machine will create a satin stitch or decorative stitch to go around your appliqué. This is not only aesthetically pleasing but also serves to hide any any imperfections from handing cutting the appliqué. :) 

Happy Stitching, 

Sukie Bracewell.