GlitterFlex Embroidery on Denim

What could possibly be more cool than a denim jacket? One with a GlitterFlex Dalmation on the back!

Recently, my five-year-old granddaughter came for a sleepover and part of the festivities are stitching something on the embroidery machine. I had recently bought her a lightweight Carter’s denim jacket for just this occasion. It was prewashed and very soft, so there were no worries about shrinkage. Thankfully, it was cotton, which is slightly easier to embroider.

Many of today’s denims are actually a cotton blend, which makes them stretchy. In those cases, you may want to use a heavier stabilizer or even add an interfacing to the back of the embroidery area, to prevent stretching and puckering.

Marking the Jacket

 

 

The back of the jacket had a center panel below the yoke. Ellie chose Bonnie’s Bark Buddies, number 8, the Dalmatian. You could print a template to use for design positioning, but I measured and drew centering crosshairs on the center panel with a fabric marker.

Resizing the Design

I don’t make a habit of resizing designs. The center panel was slightly smaller in width than the design and, even after auditioning several other design options, Ellie was certain that the Dalmation was the perfect choice for her jacket.

I used Embrilliance software and reduced the size just 13 percent. Since Bonnie is an excellent digitizer, and I changed size by no more than 20 percent (Embrilliance recommendation), it stitched perfectly.

Centering the Jacket in the Hoop

Clothing can be tricky to hoop properly. Jackets are nice because they open flat. I marked the centering crosshairs on hooped stabilizer. To match the center of the jacket to the center of design, I used a trick Marjorie Busby showed me using a thumbtack.

Push a flat thumbtack through the back of your hooped stabilizer at the center point.

Position the center of the jacket crosshair over the thumbtack and push it into the hoop.

A straight pin through the horizontal and vertical lines on the jacket front helps to line them up with the lines on the stabilizer. Use glue stick or temporary spray adhesive to secure the jacket to the stabilizer. Thumbtacks are also useful for exact fussy cutting of appliques as shown here.

When everything is centered properly, remove the thumbtack and pins. Place the hoop on the machine and stitch a basting stitch to hold everything in place.

Embroider according to the instructions using GlitterFlex Ultra white with silver. It did take a bit longer to fuse on denim than standard quilting cotton. I used a standard 75/11 embroidery needle. You may need to use a larger needle if stitching on heavier denim.

Finishing the Jacket

Once embroidery is done, remove basting stitches and stabilizer and you have an adorable jacket that your little buddy is proud as punch to wear.

Debbie Henry
Sew Inspired by Bonnie