Tips & Tricks for Embroidering on Shirt Shoulders

Give your T-shirts and sweatshirts a stylish new look with this creative placement idea! Generally traditional placement is the go-to choice, but wedges and sprays, placed artfully in the shoulder and chest area, can add a fashion-forward look to your apparel.

Project Needs & Notes

- T-shirt or sweatshirt
- Medium weight (2.5 ounce) cutaway stabilizer
- Temporary spray adhesive (Gunold KK100)
- Air-erase pen for marking

Designs featured in this tutorial include:
- G6796, Spooky Leaves and Flowers Wedge
- F3279, Leaves of Luxury 1
- J7365, Hibiscus Filigree

This project was featured in the following:
Embroidering on T-Shirts Lookbook

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 embroidery software. If you do not have embroidery software, Wilcom's TrueSizer is a free program to use.

Arrange the template in the shoulder area. In this example, the top of the design is about 1" above the shoulder seam.

Mark the center point and the vertical and horizontal axis lines.

Turn the shirt inside out. Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive, and smooth that on the back of the area that will be embroidered.

Turn the shirt right side out. Slide the outer hoop inside the shirt.

Pull the shoulder seam and collar down over the top of the hoop until the marks that you made on the shirt line up with the marks on the hoop.

After the marks are lined up, press the top hoop in place and tighten the screw.

Roll the excess shirt up and out of the way. Secure with clips (like hair clips or chip clips) to keep the fabric from rolling over while embroidering.

Load the design to the machine, and move the hoop so the needle is right over the center point.

Embroider the design. A size 75/11 embroidery needle will work well; a ballpoint needle can also be used.

When embroidering, you'll notice that you'll be sewing over the seam. This is okay -- the stitches will run over the seam smoothly.

After embroidering, trim the excess stabilizer away. I usually leave about 1/2" around the design.

Cutaway stabilizer is the best choice for T-shirts and sweatshirts, as it supports the fabric during embroidery, wear, and wash.

Having a colorful spray design come up over the shoulder on this T-shirt brings unexpected style to the garment.

A slightly lower placement gives less tapered designs a place to shine. This filigree hibiscus is a brilliant way to update any tee.

A cozy sweatshirt gets the perfect shoulder placement for fall with this autumn leaf wedge design. Placing it with the top of the design 1" down from the shoulder adds a contemporary look to any outfit.