Embroidering Collar Tips and Cuffs

Embroidering collar tips and cuffs is a wonderful way to personalize garments, and to make them special.

Collar tip designs and miniature designs add extra charm and style to many clothing items: shirts, dresses, pants, pajamas, robes, cardigans, even the cuffs of socks!

Read on for project instructions to add small designs to shirt collars and cuffs, and then put them anywhere you would like a bit of embroidery.

Supplies Needed:

**Medium weight cutaway stabilizer

**Temporary spray adhesive

**Air-erase pen

**Ruler

**Tape measure

Special Project Notes:

We have many collar tip designs that are the right size for this project.

The miniature designs would also fit perfectly on collars and cuffs, and there are many miniature designs to choose from as well. Actually, any design that is about 1" by 1" in size will work. Let your imagination go wild as you dress up your wardrobe with tiny but fabulous decorative elements!

Embroidering Collar Tips:

First, lay the collar flat with the tip facing towards you. Using an air-erase pen or other marking tool, measure and mark the center of the widest part of the collar (the area from where the color meets the placket to the outer edge of the collar).

Draw a vertical line at the mark you just made from the point of the collar back to where the collar meets the back of the shirt.

Create a paper template of the design by printing it at full size using embroidery software. Poke a hole in the center of the template and align it with the first mark you made along the vertical line. Mark the horizontal axis points.

Remove the template draw lines connecting the axis points.

Cut a piece of medium-weight cutaway stabilizer a bit larger than your hoop and spray it with temporary adhesive.

Smooth the collar in the center of the stabilizer with the tip of the collar pointing towards the bottom edge of the stabilizer.  Align the ruler with the existing lines on the collar and extend them by drawing lines onto the stabilizer.

Hoop the stabilizer and collar together by aligning the marks on the hoop with the lines on the fabric. The entire collar does not need to be hooped, as the adhesive will hold the fabric in place during the embroidering process.

Attach the hoop to the machine and load the design. Orient the design in the proper direction, move the hoop so that the needle is aligned with the center point on the fabric, and embroider the design.

When the design has finished, carefully trim away the excess stabilizer on the backside of the embroidery.

Embroidering Cuffs

Embroidering cuffs is very similar to embroidering collar tips. However, I will not be hooping the cuff, as it does not lay completely flat like the collar. First, lay the cuff as flat as you can and using a tape measure, measure and mark the center of the cuff along the outer edge by measuring and dividing by two. Draw a vertical line from the mark up the top edge of the cuff.

Create a paper template of the design, poke a hole in the center, and align it with the vertical line you just drew.  Position the design on the cuff by measuring equal distances from the top edge of the design to the top edge of the cuff and between the bottom edge of the design and the bottom edge of the cuff. Mark the horizontal axis points.

Remove the template and draw lines connecting the marks.

Cut a piece of medium-weight cutaway stabilizer a bit larger than your hoop. Draw a vertical line down the center of the stabilizer. Then draw a horizontal line perpendicular to the vertical line across the center of the stabilizer.

Spray the stabilizer with temporary adhesive and hoop the stabilizer only by aligning the marks on the hoop with the lines on the stabilizer. Align the lines and center point on the cuff with the lines and center point on the stabilizer and press firmly in place (the cuff will not be hooped as the adhesive will hold it in place).

Attach the hoop to the machine, load the design, move the hoop to align the needle, and embroider the design. When the design has finished, trim away the excess stabilizer on the backside of the embroidery. Your cuff is complete!