There are a thousand ways to Rome. Here's mine.

Slightly nervous and with a queasy feeling in my stomach, I embroidered my first shirt back then. My dear aunt had given me a material recommendation, which was invaluable at the time. Even so, I had beads of sweat on my forehead, because at least my T-shirt and a lot of effort were at stake. The result was so-so, I'd say. Lightweight fabric doesn't work well with overly large and heavy embroidery, and it was really only wearable in the garden (hehe!).

My advice on embroidering shirts is, as the title suggests, just one option. Retailers offer a wide variety of embroidery materials for such projects. However, this is my preferred method for ensuring the embroidery ends up smooth and neat on the shirt.

The materials and tools

It doesn't take much at all:

• Embroidery needle for jersey
• scissors
• Tear-resistant fleece with a minimum weight of 50 g/m², possibly doubled, e.g. Madeira Cotton Soft
• water-soluble film , e.g. Madeira Avalon or Sulky Solvy
• a pin

Choosing the right motif

The correct placement

This is one of the most important aspects for me, because if the design is placed too high or too low, it won't look good. To ensure this, I first cut out the design from the included PDF . When printed at 100%, it's almost exactly the same size as the embroidery (Note: This doesn't apply to very large designs that don't fit on a standard A4 sheet). To be sure, you can compare the dimensions with the size information in the top right corner of the "Production Sheet" page.

Now I put on the shirt and find the perfect spot for my design. If it's going on the chest, for me, the left side of the body is exactly at heart level, no lower and no higher. So I take my paper scrap and pin the design to this spot using the crosshairs, marking the starting point for my embroidery. Now I carefully take off the shirt (watch out for the needle!) and hoop it.

Clamping in the embroidery frame

First, I remove the paper scrap because otherwise it would be trapped by the water-soluble film. The needle must remain in place, however, as it will indicate the starting point for the embroidery process.

The sandwich goes like this:

• The tear-away fleece is at the bottom.
• the shirt in the middle
• The water-soluble film is on top.

When hooping, make sure the needle for the center mark is as close to the center of the frame as possible. The stabilizer should provide firm support, but the shirt shouldn't be stretched. If it's stretched during embroidery, it will shrink back after unhooking and form unsightly creases all around. My magnetic frame makes it easy, but it works well with a clamp frame too. Open the screw far enough so the fabric isn't stretched, press the frame sides together while the fabric is lying on the table, and then tighten the screw.

The embroidery

Before you start embroidering, make sure there's enough thread in the machine. Save the design to the embroidery machine and rotate it so it won't end up tilted or upside down (I'm speaking from experience ;)). On my machine, a laser dot indicates the center of the design. On yours, it might be the needle that needs to be positioned precisely over the starting point. Use the arrow keys to move your embroidery hoop into the correct position. Remove the marker needle before you begin embroidering. I usually push it under the water-soluble film to the very edge of the hoop, or I make a small hole in the corner and pull it out that way.

After embroidering, you can carefully remove the tear-away stabilizer. To do this, after removing the shirt from the hoop, turn it inside out, press your thumb firmly onto the embroidery, and carefully tear the stabilizer away all the way around. Do the same with the water-soluble film. You can remove any small residue with a damp sponge. It will be completely gone after the first wash. If necessary, iron away any frame marks, and then you're finished with your embroidery!

I hope I was able to answer some of your questions with this blog post and wish you lots of fun embroidering your shirt!

Sincerely,

Cora Sandra

P.S. I'm aware that there are many more embroidery materials available for embroidering stretchy fabrics, such as soft stabilizers. In my experience, the results are better with a slightly firmer stabilizer, especially since tear-away stabilizer softens with each wash. Sensitive skin or a scratchy feel can be avoided by backing the embroidery with a lightweight stabilizer. This is particularly recommended for embroidering baby and children's clothing.