Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Pique

Pique polo shirts are ever stylish, and popular to embroider on. Create a custom look for a specific sport, team, or interest to customize your pique shirt with embroidery.

Project Needs & Notes:

- Pique / polo shirt
- Medium-weight cutaway stabilizer or
  no-show mesh
- Temporary spray adhesive (like Gunold KK100)
- Air-erase pen for marking

Designs featured in this tutorial and video are:

D9986, Filigree Sewing Machine 1
L3740, Swedish Pig Silhouette
C7854, Lady Luck Club
K4688, Beer Is My Superpower
F5628, Northwoods Silhouette Buck

A template is a printout of a design, and it's an excellent tool to plan where to stitch.

Print a template of the design from your embroidery software. If you do not have embroidery software, Wilcom's TrueSizer is a free program to use.

Arrange the template on the shirt. Usually a design is placed so the top is about 4 1/2" down from the left shoulder seam, centered between the button placket and the side seam.

After you have the template where you want to stitch the design, mark the center point as well as the vertical and horizontal axis lines.

Those marks help to hoop the shirt straight.

Turn the shirt inside out.

Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive.

Smooth the stabilizer onto the inside of the shirt on the back of where you'll be embroidering.

Turn the shirt right side out.

Slide the outer hoop inside the shirt.

Press the inner hoop in place, lining up the marks on the fabric with the marks on the hoop.

Roll the excess up and out of the way so nothing gets caught while embroidering.

Hair clips are helpful for securing the fabric out of the way.

Attach the hoop to the machine and load the design.

Move the hoop so the needle is right over the center point.

Embroider the design. A size 11 or 75/11 embroidery needle is a nice choice when embroidering on pique.

After embroidering, turn the shirt inside out.

Cut the excess stabilizer away from the back, leaving about 1/2" around the design.

Sometimes when embroidering on a light-colored shirt, a ridge from the stabilizer may show through.

No-show mesh is softer, thinner, and more flexible than a traditional cutaway. It should not leave a noticeable ridge.

When choosing designs for pique polo shirts, choose lighter and simpler designs.

Avoid heavy or complex designs, as those will drape poorly on the pique fabric.

Here, this filigree sewing machine design adds a crafty look to a polo shirt. Perfect for sewers, quilters, or embroiderers!

Lighter, simpler designs, like this pig silhouette, offer the best results when embroidering on pique polo shirts.

The light and open areas of this one-color deer design allows the fabric to drape well after embroidering.

A simple, three-color club design is the perfect size for embroidering on a polo shirt. Great for poker night or card parties.