Embroider on Clothing

I’ve been embroidering on my clothes for a few years now. These are just a few of my patches. There hadn’t been many instructional videos or articles specifically for clothing that I came across when I was starting, so I figured I’d write my own with some tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years. Now, before you embark on this adventure, I have to offer a warning- embroidering take a lot of time, especially for a newbie. I’ve spent eight hours straight embroidering a single image. But if that doesn’t bother you, or you think this is too fun to not at least give it a try, I’m glad. So without further ado, let’s get started!

First, you need some article of clothing you want to embroider on. You can use pants, shirts, jackets, really any piece of clothing you want. But be careful! You don’t want to use a jacket with any lining (trust me, been there done that and it was a disaster). Also, take into account what material your clothing is made of. Denim will be substantially harder to embroider than cotton. The thicker the material, the more force you’ll need to push the needle through. I embroider my denim jacket because it's so broken-in that the denim is thin and soft. I would recommend using a thinner material than denim for your first time.

You will also need an image you want to embroider. Keep it simple, at least for your first time. I chose a hazard road sign for this tutorial.

You’ll also need embroidery floss, which you can get at every general craft store I’ve ever been to and online. I like DMC thread because it’s cheap and comes in all sorts of colors that are numbered so you can find the same shade again. When you choose colors, think of what color your chosen piece of clothing is. You don’t want to pick a good-looking color palette and then realize it doesn’t work on the color of the item you picked. I’ve gotten pretty good at seeing what colors go with what, but if you’re stuck, I’d recommend using some sort of color palette website. I sometimes use coolors.co, they have a generator that works wonders. You can go to the part of the website that reads 'make your own palette', choose the color of your piece of clothing, ‘lock’ the color, and then see what it spits out. You’ll probably find color combinations you wouldn’t have thought went together but do. Then all you do is pick floss that matches the colors and you’re golden! Word of warning, the site can get a little 'flashy' as in lots of rapid movement and lights, especially when you generate palettes, so watch out for that if you have sensitivity to that sort of thing.

Next, you need a needle. I don’t actually know the size of the needle I use, so just get a variety pack or ask a friendly craft store worker, they’ll probably be happy to tell you which one is best. The needles you need are generally right near the floss if you buy in person. 

You’ll need some kind of erasable drawing implement that isn't a pencil. There are friction-erasable pens, air-erasable pens, and water-erasable pens. I use washable markers, the ones you used to use in early elementary school, because they’re cheap and all you have to do is chuck it in the washing machine or run it under water and scrub and the lines are gone. Plus, until you wash it out, the lines stay. I very rarely complete embroidery projects all in one go, either because they’re long-time projects or I get distracted (for example, I was embroidering a different patch on my denim jacket when I realized I never made this instructable so here we are). I used a brown one because I couldn't find my black and I wanted a dark color for this instructable, but I'd recommend a purple or maybe a red, some color that won't be in your final design so it's easier to see where your stitches are.

You also need scissors. There are scissors specific for embroidering, but I just use normal paper ones because I just don’t care. Any scissors will work. 

Some kind of ‘needle minder’ is also helpful. I have a tin that I use to keep my needles in, and the bottom is magnetic so I just use that. A needle minder is basically a magnet you can pull apart and use on your work so your needle doesn’t get too far away. Because trust me, dropping a needle isn’t fun. It’s like playing Where’s Waldo but if you don’t find Waldo he stabs you in the foot. But if you do fall victim to hubris, a flashlight is your friend. You can use it to spot the metal shine of that hiding little miscreant.

There’s also something that’s nice to have- some kind of hands-free magnifying lens. I’ve used mine for more fiddly projects, and it even has a light on it. But embroidering is best done in full light or sunlight if possible. 

I recommend this step for anyone starting any kind of creative endeavor, and this is no different. You should take into account what clothing you’ll be embroidering (material and color, which I mentioned before). Or not. You do you. For example, I really like embroidering on overshirts and denim jackets because they’re pieces that you can pair with most outfits. The cool thing with this kind of embroidery is that it’s a wearable art piece, which is why I like it so much. So get creative! Don't feel constrained by the random images I picked- look up embroidered jackets on your choice of search engine’s image tab, browse your favorite social media, think of other places where you like to draw inspiration. Just don't directly copy someone's work unless it's clear it's not yours- for example, you can copy from Michaelangelo or da Vinci (God help you if you decide to do that for your first one), just not your favorite internet artists. Not cool.

Now, I have a frankly ridiculous amount of ideas for embroidering on clothes (cough, over nine hundred, cough), but I’d recommend starting small. Don’t run before you can walk, folks. I’d suggest doing a patch instead of a whole back piece to see if you like it. If you find out you do, it opens up a whole new world. 

Think of what makes you YOU. Think of your aesthetic (if you can pin one down), what you like, and what hobbies you enjoy. Do you like Star Wars? Great! Think of images from your favorite movies or TV shows. More of a floral person? Awesome! There are TONS of embroidery designs featuring flowers. Punk? Rock on! Think of your favorite parts of that culture. Anything else you can think about? I can almost guarantee there’s something out there that will speak to you. And don’t worry or feel pinned down about ‘clashing’ things! Hell, on the embroidered jacket I’ve been working on the most steadily, I have a whole mish-mash of designs and patches as I showed. I also have a heart, a shining star kind-of diamond thing, a radioactive symbol, and a whole bunch of other patches. My point is, it’s YOUR jacket, and if anyone gives you any beef about it, you can say ‘It’s mine, and I like it’ and that’ll shut down most arguments from polite people. 

This is slightly different than research. When you have the image you want, it's time to think about where you want it to sit on your chosen clothing item. On the arm? Back? Shoulder? Hip? Leg? Put the clothing on and look in a mirror that shows that body part, imagining how it would look there. I wouldn’t do it on a pocket because it’s hard to keep the pocket usable for a newbie, but if you’re confident, try it! Also, seams are incredibly hard to get through so I avoid them whenever possible. Once you’ve decided, draw it on! If it’s possible, keep the clothing on so you know the size and placement will be exactly where you want it. For the size, I’d recommend something about 3-5 inches. That’s a good size because it’s small enough that it won’t take an extraordinarily long time, and big enough that you don’t have to be super careful with your stitches. Once that’s done, it’s time to take the clothing off and start embroidering!

Embroidery floss comes in six strands. I’d recommend starting with all six because it’s a bolder line and easier to see, but if you want a thinner line you can use fewer. I wouldn’t go fewer than two or three for your first time, and two is a little thin. And don’t feel confined to the same amount of strands through the entire patch. Do the outline in six and the inside in three, or vice versa! 

So what you do is you pull the tail from the barcode end of your thread (it'll have a little tail for this) until you have about an arm's length. This may seem like a lot at first, but it goes quick. You also want to keep the floss length consistent because it makes it easier to figure out when it gets tangled on something, which I’ll explain more later.

I always thread the needle first and then knot the other end, just so that if one end turns out to be harder to thread, I can use the other side. To thread the needle, I either fold the end slightly to make a loop and then thread it, or if the eye of the needle is too small, I take just the end and then thread it through. The way I thread a needle is to pinch the thread between my thumb and forefinger on my dominant hand, pull it to the center of my fingertips so you can't see the thread, hold the needle in the opposite hand with the same fingers, and then kind of push it through, making sure every strand goes through. If you’re having trouble, there’s a magical invention called a needle threader that is a life-saver. A needle threader is basically a loop of very thin wire on one end and something to hold onto on the other end. I don’t have a good one and I can (usually) thread needles just fine, so I can’t show you a real one, but there are tons online. What you do is push the wire through the eye of the needle, put the floss in the wire with some hanging over the edge to make a tail, and just pull through. You want the tail to make sure that when you start embroidering, you don’t immediately pull the floss all the way through the needle. Once your needle is threaded, knot the other side.

There are embroiderers that swear to never knot your thread, but I say that every beginner should. Since this is clothing, no one will ever see the inside of the embroidery, so it makes even less of a difference. The way I knot floss is with a basic double knot. This can get tricky when you’re using less than six strands or you’re a beginner, but you want to make sure that the knots are right on top of each other to prevent the floss from going all the way through the fabric. So take the not-threaded end of your floss and just tie a basic knot. If you’re not sure how to do that, you take the end of the thread and cross it over the ‘body’ part of the floss, then bring the tail around the body, through the loop, and pull it tight, sliding it down the body until you have just a short tail. I’d recommend a little over half an inch's worth of tail. Then just knot it again, being careful to keep the knot right on top of the first, and voila. I’m not sure if it’s necessary to do a double knot with six strands, but better safe than sorry. Now you can start embroidering!

Don’t feel like you have to embroider straight onto the fabric like I do. You can use a separate piece of cloth and then put it on if you feel like you’ll mess up. If you do this, sew it, don't just use glue or that iron-on stuff. In my experience, that wears away.

Now, there are literally hundreds of embroidery stitches, but don’t get overwhelmed. I’ve only ever used a running stitch, back stitch, satin stitch, long and short stitch, lazy daisy, woven wheel, and French knot, and not even all on the same patch. I’d recommend starting with a running or back stitch, then see how it looks. There are tons of videos online about how to do those specific stitches, but I’m gonna explain them here. The main difference between the running and back stitch is that the running stitch is a dashed line and the back stitch is solid. 

To make both, you take your needle through the inside of your fabric (the side that isn’t going to show when you wear the clothing) on a line that you’ve drawn, and pull the floss through until the knot hits the fabric. You’ll know when that happens when you can’t pull the thread gently anymore. Don’t force the floss. If you’re unsure, take a look at or feel the inside of the fabric, and you should see or feel the knot pressed right against the fabric. Next, and this might seem a little scary at first, but put your non-dominant hand on the inside of your fabric to make sure you don’t embroider through both sides. You want to be able to wear the clothing after, don’t you? You just have to be careful not to stab yourself with the needle, which I’ve done. A lot. It’s never fun, as you might have guessed. 

The needle and floss should be sticking up out of your fabric now and you just follow the line you drew before, about a quarter of an inch away, then pull the floss entirely through. You want to keep the stitches more or less that length because if they’re too long they can get snagged on things and if they’re too short you’ll pretty much drive yourself crazy. Then you push the needle through the fabric, still on the line, just from the inside. You’ll have to kind of poke around a bit at first until you can see the needle where you want it- again, about a quarter of an inch away- and then pull it through. You’ll get more of a feel for it as you go on, but experienced embroiderers still make the same mistake sometimes. Now, here’s the difference between the running and the back stitch. For a running stitch, you don’t fill in that space you left with another stitch and for back stitch, you do. That’s the reason it’s called the ‘back stitch,’ because you go back. Another fun thing about the back stitch is that, if you do it correctly, the inside of your fabric will look the same as the outside. As you can see, I did a back stitch. Be careful not to put the needle in the middle of the previous stitch, that will split the strands and leave holes. And then just continue! As you can see, my stitches are uneven because I was thinking too hard about it, but that doesn't matter. No embroidery police will come arrest you. When you have about ten inches left on your floss, tie it off on the inside. Don’t think you can go shorter, at least until you’re more experienced, that’s hubris talking. How I tie it off is by threading the needle under an existing inside stitch, being careful not to poke through to the outside, pulling until there’s a small-ish loop, then putting the needle through the loop and pulling it tight. I usually do that twice because, again, better safe than sorry. Then cut it so a tail's length, which is about a quarter of an inch, is left.

A couple of tips: when you face a curve, smaller stitches are your friends. You also might want to let the floss dangle for a bit to untwist every once in a while, say every ten or fifteen stitches, because by the same kind of demon magic that transforms neatly-coiled wired earbuds into gordian knots in your pocket, your floss will get tangled into itself eventually. You want to catch that before it gets too bad, and dangling to let it sort itself out is the best way to go. Just make sure the needle stays on the floss, otherwise you’ll be playing the messed-up Where’s Waldo game I mentioned before. Keep an eye on the length of the floss- you don’t want it to get too short before tying it off. If it seems like it’s shorter than it should be, check that it isn’t tangled around a button or something because that happens. All in all, just be careful and you’ll avoid most problems before they get too bad. You’ll make different mistakes later, so it’s better to nip easy ones in the bud to prevent bad habits. And if you end up getting a knot in your floss with a loop, it's generally a pretty easy fix- put your needle in the loop until the loop is more or less in the center of the needle, pull a bit, take it out, and then pull the floss on either side of the knot firmly but carefully and it'll untie. If you pull too hard, the floss might snap.

Sooner or later, you’ll finish the outline of your design. Hooray! Give yourself a pat on the back. Now you might want to keep the patch as an outline, I’ve done that, but you might decide it looks better filled in. Enter the satin stitch. Now, since your patch is small if you followed my friendly advice (if you hadn’t, I’ll get to you in a second), the satin stitch should be all you need to fill it in. What you do with the satin stitch is basically the same as doing your outline stitch, just a little different. You still start on the inside of the fabric- you should with every embroidery stitch- and stitch the same way you’ve been doing for however long it took to complete the outline. But to ‘properly’ fill in the stitch, you might want to start on the OUTSIDE edge of the stitches you already laid down. It’s ok if you don’t, but it just looks neater. So just push the needle through the fabric just outside the existing stitches, go the shortest way around the space you want to fill in, and push the needle to the inside again. Now, you want to go the shortest way because of the same reason you keep stitches about a quarter of an inch long- the longer stitches can snag. Then just make a second satin stitch right next to the first one, and you’re on your way. Keep doing that until you filled in all the space you want to. Another tip: Be careful not to use the same exact hole from the last stitch because you’ll just undo the stitch, and don't pull hard- especially with the satin stitch- because the fabric will pucker.

If you didn’t keep the patch small, or even if you have a larger piece to fill in on a small patch (like I did at the bottom), don’t fret if you think the space to fill in might be too big for a satin stitch. Enter the long and short stitch. Basically, a long and short stitch is an irregular satin stitch. You generally want to make the first row of stitches longer than the second row, but you do you. For the second row, I like to keep the stitches about half the length, and the third about twice that length, and the fourth about half, and keep going like that. Keep it irregular and most people's eyes will skip over the ends of the stitches. Think of it kind of like bricks. Keep the stitches close together and you’ll fill in the space eventually. You can see one of my sides turned out a little wonky when I tried to make it symmetrical, but it's perfectly imperfect. And that just goes to show you that even experienced embroiderers make mistakes, especially on really 'technical' ones like this one that have less room for error. I made a similar mistake when I did my radioactive patch.

And there you have it! If you’re anything like me, you found the entire experience rewarding, if a little difficult. But that difficulty decreases with every attempt, so it becomes even more fun! Plus, you'll probably get inspired by other work people have done and start making plans for more patches with more advanced stitches.

When you’re done with the patch, erase the lines you didn’t follow exactly (hey, it happens) and voila, a fresh new patch.

Now you have a wearable art piece to show off to friends, family, and strangers. You also get the pride of getting to say ‘I made it!’ to anyone who asks you where you got that clothing customization and watch their reaction go from ‘that’s cool!’ to ‘holy cow, really?!’ That’s one of the best things about this part of the hobby. So wear your art proudly, friends, and hopefully you found this tutorial at least somewhat helpful. If you stitched anything following these instructions, feel free to show it here! I always love to see what designs other people make.