How To Embroider On Sewing Machine: A Beginner's Guide

How To Embroider On Sewing Machine: A Beginner’s Guide

Can you embroider with a regular sewing machine? Yes, many sewing machines can do embroidery, but how you do it depends on your machine. Some standard machines let you do ‘free motion’ embroidery, where you move the fabric by hand to create designs. Other special sewing machines have features or units that do embroidery patterns automatically. This guide will teach you the simple steps to start machine embroidery basics using different kinds of machines. Machine embroidery means drawing pictures or patterns on fabric using a needle and thread on a sewing machine.

Grasping What Machine Embroidery Is

Machine embroidery is a way to make designs on fabric. You use a sewing machine to put stitches on cloth. Think of it like drawing with thread instead of a pencil.

There are two main ways to do this on a machine:

Free Motion Embroidery: You guide the fabric yourself under the needle. Your hands make the design. Your machine needs to let you lower the feed dogs. Feed dogs are the little teeth under the needle that move fabric usually.
Automatic Embroidery: Special machines (or sewing machines with an embroidery part) do the design by themselves. You load a pattern, put the fabric in a hoop, and the machine stitches it.

This guide talks about both ways. But we will spend more time on free motion. This is because many basic sewing machines can do it.

Getting Ready: Your Machine and Tools

To start machine embroidery, you need a few things. Getting the right tools makes learning easier.

Your Sewing Machine

Can you use your machine? It depends.

For Free Motion: Your machine must be able to lower the feed dogs. Or it needs a plate to cover them. This lets you move the fabric freely. Most mechanical and many electronic machines can do this.
For Automatic: You need a machine made for this. It will say it does embroidery. It might be just for embroidery or a sewing machine that also does embroidery.

If you want the best sewing machine for embroidery that does patterns by itself, look for one that says it’s an “embroidery machine” or a “combination sewing and embroidery machine.” If you have a basic machine that lowers feed dogs, you can do free motion.

Machine Embroidery Supplies List

Here is what you will need:

Your Sewing Machine: The one that can do embroidery.
Fabric: Cotton is a good fabric to start with. Use a piece that is not too stretchy or thin.
Embroidery Needles: These needles are strong and have a special eye. They help the thread move easily and stop the needle from breaking. Size 75/11 or 90/14 are good sizes.
Embroidery Thread: This thread is often shinier than regular sewing thread. It is made to run smoothly at higher speeds. Polyester or rayon threads are common. You can use regular sewing thread for practice, but embroidery thread looks better for designs.
Embroidery Machine Stabilizer: This is very important. It is a special material you put under or on top of your fabric. It holds the fabric steady while you stitch. This stops the fabric from getting wrinkles or puckers.
Embroidery Hoops for Sewing Machine: These hold your fabric and stabilizer tight. This flat surface is needed for stitching. Make sure the hoop fits your machine if you are doing automatic embroidery. For free motion, you can use any hoop that holds your fabric tight.
Bobbin Thread: You often use a lighter thread in the bobbin for embroidery. Many stores sell special “embroidery bobbin thread.”
Small Scissors: For cutting threads closely.
Fabric Marking Tool: A water-soluble pen or chalk to draw your design on the fabric if doing free motion.

Holding Fabric Still: Picking Stabilizer

Embroidery machine stabilizer is key to good results. It gives the stitches something firm to pull against. Without it, your fabric will look bumpy or wrinkled.

Think of stabilizer as a temporary backing for your fabric. It helps the needle make clean stitches without pulling the fabric out of shape.

There are different kinds of stabilizer. You pick one based on your fabric and how you want to remove the stabilizer when you are done.

Types of Stabilizer

Tear-Away Stabilizer: This material is like thick paper. You place it under your fabric in the hoop. After stitching, you gently tear it away from the stitches. It works well for stable fabrics like cotton or denim. It is easy to remove.
Cut-Away Stabilizer: This material is soft or firm but does not tear easily. You place it under your fabric. After stitching, you cut it away around the design. You leave a piece of it behind the stitches. This type is best for stretchy fabrics like knits or unstable fabrics. It stops the design from losing its shape after you are done.
Wash-Away Stabilizer: This material feels like plastic or a mesh. You place it under or on top of your fabric. After stitching, you put the project in water. The stabilizer then dissolves completely. This is good for delicate fabrics or when you do not want any stabilizer left. You might use a wash-away on top of fabrics like terry cloth to keep stitches from sinking into the fabric loops.
Heat-Away Stabilizer: This one melts away when you iron it. Use it carefully and only on fabrics that can handle heat.
Iron-On Stabilizer: This has a glue on one side. You iron it onto your fabric before hooping. It adds body and stability to the fabric itself.

Choosing the Right Stabilizer

For light or stretchy fabric: Use cut-away.
For stable fabric like cotton: Use tear-away.
For towels or fuzzy fabric (on top): Use wash-away film.
For designs on lace or sheer fabric (underneath): Use wash-away.

You might need to use two layers of stabilizer for dense designs or very thin fabrics.

Holding Fabric Flat: Using Hoops

Embroidery hoops for sewing machine work like small frames. They hold your fabric and stabilizer stretched tight and flat. This flat, tight surface is needed for the sewing machine needle to stitch correctly. It stops the fabric from moving as the machine stitches.

How to Hoop Fabric and Stabilizer

This is a very important step. Doing it wrong can make your embroidery look bad.

Get Your Hoop Ready: An embroidery hoop has two parts: an inner ring and an outer ring. The outer ring usually has a screw or clip to make it tighter or looser.
Place Stabilizer: Lay your chosen stabilizer flat on a table.
Place Fabric: Lay your fabric on top of the stabilizer. Put the spot you want to embroider in the middle of the hoop area.
Put Inner Ring Down: Place the inner ring of the hoop on top of the fabric. Try to center your design area inside this ring.
Put Outer Ring Over: Gently push the outer ring down over the inner ring and the fabric/stabilizer layers. The fabric and stabilizer should be caught between the two rings.
Pull Fabric Tight: Pull the edges of the fabric and stabilizer around the hoop. Pull gently but firmly. You want the fabric inside the hoop to be smooth and tight like a drum. There should be no wrinkles.
Tighten the Screw: Once the fabric is tight and smooth, tighten the screw or clip on the outer hoop. Do not make it so tight it damages the fabric or hoop. Just tight enough to keep the fabric from slipping and stay smooth.
Check: Run your finger over the fabric inside the hoop. It should feel firm and flat. If it is loose or wrinkled, take it apart and try again.

Tips for Hooping

Make sure the fabric grain is straight in the hoop if possible. This helps keep the design from looking tilted.
Use a hoop size that fits your design. Do not use a hoop much bigger than you need.
Do not stretch knits or stretchy fabrics too much when hooping with cut-away stabilizer. Just make them smooth, not stretched tight.

Hooping correctly takes practice. It is worth taking time to get it right.

Setting Up Your Machine for Embroidery

Getting your sewing machine ready is different depending on if you do free motion or automatic embroidery.

Setting up Embroidery Machine for Free Motion

Change the Needle: Put in a new embroidery needle. The right size is usually 75/11 for most projects.
Thread the Top: Thread your machine with your chosen embroidery thread.
Prepare the Bobbin: Put embroidery bobbin thread in the bobbin case. If you do not have this, use regular sewing thread. Wind the bobbin smoothly.
Adjust Embroidery Thread Tension: This is important. You might need to make the top thread a little looser than for regular sewing. Do some test stitches on a scrap piece of hooped fabric. The top thread should look smooth on top. The bobbin thread should look smooth on the back. If you see loops on top, the bobbin tension might be too loose or the top too tight. If you see loops on the back, the top tension is too loose or the bobbin too tight. Adjust the top tension dial a little at a time.
Lower the Feed Dogs: This is the most important step for free motion. Find the lever or button on your machine that makes the feed dogs go down. If your machine does not have this, check if it came with a plate to cover the feed dogs. You need to stop the feed dogs from moving the fabric.
Attach the Right Foot: You need a special foot. It is called a darning foot or a free motion embroidery foot. This foot does not press on the fabric like a regular foot. It hops or floats over the fabric as you move it. This lets you move the fabric in any direction.
Set Stitch Type: Set your machine to a straight stitch.
Set Stitch Length and Width: Set the stitch length to ZERO or the shortest setting. Set the stitch width to ZERO (for straight stitch). With feed dogs down, you control the stitch length by how fast you move the fabric.

Setting up Embroidery Machine for Automatic Embroidery

This is simpler, but you need the right machine and parts.

Attach Embroidery Unit: Follow your machine’s guide to connect the embroidery part (if it is separate).
Change Needle and Thread: Use an embroidery needle and thread, just like for free motion. Put bobbin thread in the bobbin.
Adjust Embroidery Thread Tension: Usually, the machine handles this better for automatic designs. But you still test on scraps. Make sure the stitches look good on both sides.
Attach the Right Foot: Use the embroidery foot that came with your machine.
Attach the Hooped Fabric: Your machine will have a way to attach the hoop. Slide the hooped fabric onto the arm of the embroidery unit.
Load the Design: Select or load your sewing machine embroidery designs. This might be from the machine’s memory, a USB stick, or a computer program.
Follow Machine Steps: The machine will tell you what to do next. This might include checking the design size, telling it where to start, and picking colors.

Picking and Prepping Designs

What do you want to stitch? You need a design!

Sewing Machine Embroidery Designs

Built-in Designs: If you have an automatic embroidery machine, it comes with designs already inside.
Purchased Designs: You can buy designs online or in stores. They come as digital files. You load these into your machine using a USB or computer.
Free Designs: Many websites offer free embroidery designs to try.
Your Own Drawings: For free motion embroidery, you can draw anything you like directly on the fabric or transfer a pattern.

Transferring Embroidery Patterns (for Free Motion)

If you are doing free motion and want to follow a drawing, you need to get the design onto your fabric.

Direct Draw: Use a water-soluble pen or chalk to draw right onto your hooped fabric.
Tracing: Put the fabric over a light source (like a light box or sunny window). Place your design on top of the fabric. Trace the lines onto the fabric with your water-soluble pen.
Transfer Paper: Use special paper that transfers a design when you draw over it or iron it. Make sure it is meant for fabric and will wash away.

For automatic embroidery, you do not need to transfer the pattern. The machine follows the digital design.

Stitching Your Design: Free Motion

Free motion machine embroidery is like drawing with your needle. You control where the stitches go by moving the fabric.

Getting Started with Free Motion

Machine Setup: Make sure your machine is set up for free motion (feed dogs down, darning/free motion foot on, straight stitch, length/width zero).
Hoop Your Fabric: Hoop your fabric and stabilizer tightly.
Position Fabric: Place your hooped fabric under the needle.
Lower the Foot: Lower the presser foot lever. The free motion foot will float just above the fabric.
Bring Bobbin Thread Up: Hold the end of your top thread. Turn the handwheel one full turn towards you. The needle will go down and up. It will bring a loop of bobbin thread up through the fabric. Pull this loop up with your top thread. You will have both thread tails (top and bobbin) on the top side of the fabric.
Hold Thread Tails: Hold both thread tails gently out of the way (maybe to the side or front) for the first few stitches. This stops them from getting caught underneath.
Start Stitching: Begin to sew. At the same time, start moving your hooped fabric.
Move Smoothly: Move the fabric smoothly and not too fast. The speed you move the fabric controls your stitch length.
- Move the fabric fast = long stitches.
- Move the fabric slow = short stitches.
- Stop moving fabric = machine stitches in place (makes a knot).
Control Machine Speed: Your machine’s speed pedal controls how fast the needle goes up and down. Try to keep a steady machine speed. Match your fabric movement speed to the machine speed to get even stitches. It is often easier to start with a medium machine speed. Then move your fabric smoothly at a speed that gives you nice stitches.
Follow Your Design (if you drew one): Guide the fabric to follow the lines you drew.
Practice Shapes: Start by practicing simple shapes like circles, squares, and wavy lines. Fill in areas with back-and-forth movements.
Finishing a Line: When you finish a line or area, take a few small stitches in place to lock the thread. Then lift the needle and presser foot to cut threads.

Tips for Free Motion Success

Practice, Practice, Practice: Your first tries might not be perfect. Keep practicing on scraps. It takes time to learn to coordinate machine speed and fabric movement.
Relax Your Shoulders: Do not be too stiff. Let your arms move freely.
Keep Fabric Flat in Hoop: Make sure the fabric stays flat and tight in the hoop as you move it.
Watch the Needle Area: Look where the needle is stitching, not too far ahead.

Stitching Your Design: Automatic

If your machine does automatic embroidery, the process is different. The machine does most of the work following the digital design.

Steps for Automatic Embroidery

Machine Setup: Make sure your machine is set up correctly (embroidery unit attached, embroidery foot on, needle and thread ready).
Hoop Your Fabric: Hoop your fabric and stabilizer tightly, making sure the design area is centered in the hoop.
Load Design: Choose or load your sewing machine embroidery designs into the machine.
Attach Hoop: Attach the hooped fabric to the embroidery unit on the machine.
Position Needle: Your machine will likely show you where the design will stitch. Move the hoop or machine needle to the start point.
Start Stitching: Press the start button. The machine will begin stitching the design color by color.
Change Colors: The machine will stop when it needs a new thread color. It will tell you which color is next. Change the thread and press start again.
Watch for Problems: Keep an eye on the stitching. Watch for thread breaks or tangles.

Fixing Common Problems (Automatic)

Thread Breaks: If the thread breaks, the machine stops. Re-thread the machine and the needle. Go back a few stitches using your machine’s controls and restart.
Loops on Top/Bottom: This is usually an embroidery thread tension problem. Check your threading. Do a test stitch on scrap fabric and adjust the top tension dial if needed.
Fabric Puckering: This often means the stabilizer is not right for the fabric or design, or the fabric was not hooped tight enough.

Finishing Your Embroidery Project

Once the stitching is done, you need to finish your work.

Remove Hoop: Take the hooped fabric off the machine.
Remove from Hoop: Take the fabric and stabilizer out of the hoop.
Trim Threads: Use your small scissors to carefully trim any loose threads on the front and back of your embroidery. Especially cut the small jump stitches connecting parts of the design (on automatic embroidery).
Remove Stabilizer:
- Tear-Away: Gently tear the stabilizer away from around the design. Be careful not to pull on the stitches.
- Cut-Away: Use scissors to carefully cut the stabilizer away from the back, leaving about 1/4 inch around the edge of the design.
- Wash-Away: Soak the embroidered fabric in water. Follow the stabilizer instructions for how long and what temperature water to use. The stabilizer will dissolve. Rinse well.
Pressing: Place the embroidery face down on a soft towel. Use a warm iron (check your fabric type) to gently press the back of the embroidery. This helps flatten the stitches and the fabric around the design.

Tips for Getting Better Embroidery

Always Test: Before stitching on your good project, always do a test on a scrap piece of the same fabric with the same stabilizer and thread. This helps you check your setup and embroidery thread tension.
Match Supplies: Use the right needle for the job (embroidery needle). Use quality embroidery thread. Match your stabilizer type and layers to your fabric and design.
Slow Down (Free Motion): Do not try to move the fabric too fast when learning free motion. Smooth, controlled movements give better results.
Check Needles Often: A bent or dull needle can break threads or harm your fabric. Change your needle after a few hours of embroidery.
Clean Your Machine: Lint can build up. Clean around the bobbin case and feed dogs often.

Working on free motion takes patience. Your first designs will help you learn how to move the fabric and control stitch length. Automatic embroidery needs you to follow the machine’s steps carefully. Both ways let you add beautiful art to your sewing projects.

You now have the machine embroidery basics needed to start. Gather your machine embroidery supplies list and try it!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Do I need a special sewing machine for embroidery?

A: Not always. For free motion embroidery, you usually just need a sewing machine that can lower its feed dogs. For automatic embroidery that stitches patterns by itself, you do need a special machine called an embroidery machine or a combination sewing and embroidery machine.

Q: Can I use regular sewing thread for machine embroidery?

A: You can use regular sewing thread, especially for practicing free motion. However, embroidery thread is made to be stronger and often shinier. It runs better at the speeds used in machine embroidery and looks nicer for detailed designs.

Q: What is the most important supply for machine embroidery?

A: Embroidery machine stabilizer is arguably the most important. It holds your fabric steady and flat, which is needed for clean, smooth stitches without wrinkles or puckers.

Q: Why are my stitches looping on top or bottom?

A: This is usually an embroidery thread tension problem. If loops are on top, your bobbin tension might be too loose or your top tension too tight. If loops are on the bottom, your top tension might be too loose. Check that your machine is threaded correctly and adjust the top tension dial a little bit.

Q: How do I pick the right embroidery hoops for sewing machine?

A: For automatic embroidery, you must use the hoops made for your specific machine model. For free motion, you can use any hoop that holds your fabric and stabilizer tight and flat. Pick a hoop size that fits your design area well.

Q: How do I get sewing machine embroidery designs?

A: Automatic machines come with built-in designs. You can also buy digital designs online or load free ones. For free motion, you can draw your own designs or use simple methods like water-soluble pens or tracing to put a pattern on your fabric.

Q: What is free motion machine embroidery?

A: Free motion embroidery is a way to stitch designs where you manually move the fabric under the needle. You use a special foot (darning or free motion foot) and lower your machine’s feed dogs so you can move the fabric in any direction to “draw” with stitches.

Q: How do I prepare my sewing machine for embroidery?

A: The steps for setting up embroidery machine depend on the type. For free motion, you need to lower feed dogs, put on a darning foot, and set stitch length to zero. For automatic, you attach the embroidery unit, put on the embroidery foot, and follow the machine’s setup steps for loading a design.

Q: How do I transfer a pattern for free motion embroidery?

A: You can draw directly on the fabric with a water-soluble pen, trace a pattern using a light box, or use special fabric transfer paper.

Q: What kind of sewing machine for embroidery is best for a beginner?

A: If you have a standard sewing machine that can lower its feed dogs, you can start with free motion embroidery right away. If you want to do automatic patterns, look for an entry-level combination sewing and embroidery machine. This lets you sew clothes and do automatic designs.