Editing Embroidery Designs to Make a Patch

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Making embroidered, iron-on patches is a lot of fun, and it's a great way to add personality to ripped jeans, backpacks, tote bags, and jackets. You can make each patch different, with a new design or theme. Or, you can make dozens of the same patch, and give to clubs and groups, such sports teams, cheer groups, book clubs, Red Hat Society members, and more.

The basic concept of making an embroidered patch consists of two steps: First, embroider the design that you have selected as the inside of the patch. Second, embroider an applique shape design onto water-soluble stabilizer, adding the embroidered piece midway through the process. You can find instructions for making a patch that way by clicking here.

But there's another way that you can make an embroidered patch, by combining or merging the two designs together in editing software, rearranging the sewing order, and then embroidering the patch all at one time. The instructions below demonstrate how to do this.

The editing software used in this example is Embird (available from www.Embird.com). If you have a different kind of editing software, you can apply the same concept, although the steps for merging a file and rearranging the sewing sequence may be slightly different.

To begin, open the design in Embird, and go into "Editor" mode.

Merge the design with the applique shape by clicking "file" and "merge"

After you click "file" and "merge," direct Embird to the applique design, and click "ok."

That will bring both designs into your workspace. Now we'll work on rearranging the sewing sequence.

On the upper right side of the screen you'll see little blocks of colors for each design.

Right click on one of the boxes for the applique circle design, and choose "separate all colors."

Note how each of the color stops for the applique circle is now on a separate line.

Now we will rearrange the sewing order so that the applique circle's dieline sews first, the tack-down stitch sews second, the dragon sews third and fourth, and the satin stitch border sews fifth and last.

To do this, left click on the dieline for the applique circle. Hold down the left mouse button, and drag that field up to the patch design. When you release the left mouse button, you'll get a pop-up box. Choose "insert before object."

Note how the dieline for the applique circle is now at the top of the list.

Next, move the tack-down stitch up, below the dieline, above the dragon. Again, hold the left mouse button down as you drag it up to the right spot, and when you let go, select "insert before object."

Now that the sequence is in the right order for making a patch (dieline, tack-down, patch design, and satin border) it can be saved with a new name.

Generally I don't recommend that you rearrange a sewing sequence for one design -- that's why we left the dragon design untouched. Digitizers create a design to sew in a specific order, and rearranging the sequence can cause troubles, such as underlay sewing on top, highlighting sewing underneath fills, things like that. But in this particular case, splitting one design around another design does not affect the integrity of either design.

To make sure that your merge was successful, look at the number of color changes or color stops in both designs, and add them together. The dragon design has two color changes, the applique circle has three color changes. That's five color changes total.

The merged patch design has five color changes, so that's an indication that the merge was done correctly. You can add the stitch counts together, also. The stitch counts of both designs should equal the stitch count of the merged file.

Then, follow these steps to make a patch:

In the zipped file that you downloaded for the applique patch shape, you will have two files. One file is a dieline, and it's marked with "_DL."

Print the dieline file from your embroidery software, and cut around the shape to make a template. You don't actually embroider this design -- you just use it for its shape.

When making patches, choose a medium to heavy weight, sturdy fabric. Denim, canvas, twill, duck cloth -- all work well with patches.

Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive, and smooth it onto the backside of the fabric.

Place the template onto the fabric and stabilizer, and cut around the shape.

Load the merged patch design into your embroidery machine.

Hoop a piece of heavy weight water-soluble stabilizer. We use Sulky Ultra Solvy. For this particular project, you'll need a clear water-soluble stabilizer -- nothing fibrous, like Vilene.

Embroider the design.

The first thing to embroider will be the dieline.

Spray the backside of the fabric and stabilizer composite with temporary adhesive.

Place the fabric and stabilizer composite in the sewn dieline.

Next, the tack down stitch will sew, to bind the fabric and stabilizer to the water-soluble stabilizer.

The elements of the inner patch design will sew next...

And finally, the satin stitch border.

When the design has been completed, unhoop the stabilizer and gently tear it away from the outside of the patch.

You'll need to remove the water-soluble stabilizer from the backside of the patch, too.

Cut a slit through the water-soluble stabilizer on the backside....

..and then it's pretty easy to tear the remaining stabilizer away.

There are several brands of patch glue on the market. We're using one called Patch Attach. It's available at most craft stores.

If using a different brand of patch glue, please follow those instructions.

Lay a line of Patch Attach glue along the outside of the patch, and then in the center. Allow to dry for 10 minutes.