How To Use A Stick & Stitch Pattern

How To Use A Stick & Stitch Pattern

Here is a step-by-step tutorial for using one of my Stick & Stitch Patterns to add embroidered embellishments on your favorite jacket, tea towels, hats, or anything you can get a needle through! I especially love using embroidery to cover or distract from stains on my clothes. 

My earliest experiences with embroidery included stitching a flying pig on my jeans in high school. Yup, I was THAT cool. I wanted to make some simple "stick & stitch" patterns that folks could use on their own clothing, bags, hats, or anything they like! 

The following tutorial is written for folks who have some experience with embroidery. If you are new to embroidery and would like more detailed instructions on embroidery stitches / techniques, you can refer to my Stitch Style Guide.

Materials & Supplies needed: 

  • A Stick & Stitch Pattern - I use Sulky Stick N Stitch sticky backed wash away fabric. It works great in case you are interested in making your own!
  • A fabric base - clothing, your favorite jean jacket, hats, tea towels, pillow cases... any fabric with minimal stretch to it will work! If it is a stretchy fabric it will tend to pucker with embroidery. I have found that cotton, linen, canvas, and denim work best. 
  • Scissors to cut excess wash away fabric. Embroidery snips are handy and portable, but you can use any scissors. Fun fact: if you're traveling TSA will not confiscate your peacock embroidery snips but they will confiscate ordinary scissors! I know from experience, ha!
  • Embroidery thread in colors of your choosing (I purchase DMC and Anchor thread at local craft stores like Michaels and JoAnne's)
  • Size 10 embroidery needle if you are using 1-2 strands of thread, size 5 embroidery needle if you are using multiple strands. 
  • Needle threader (optional, can be helpful when using the tiny size 10 needle!)
  • Embroidery hoop (optional, but it can keep your fabric taut and help prevent puckering. I don't find it necessary with most small patterns)

For this tutorial, I will share one of my Migrating Duck patterns I stitched on a thrifted beanie. I used 6 strands of embroidery thread and a size 5 needle for this project. At the end of this post, I'll show you what it looks like to use 3 strands and 1 strand of thread on a different project!

Steps:

1. Test out the placement of your project before moving on

       

2. Peel off the Stick & Stitch backing.
3. Smooth printed design onto fabric. Non stretchy fabric like cotton, denim, and linen works best. 
4. Embroider over the pattern. For the chunky knitted hat, I used 6 strands of thread. For a more delicate linen shirt, I experimented with 3 strands and with 1 strand. You can choose your adventure! I used a combination of the most basic embroidery stitches: back stitch, split backstitch, and split stitch for these projects.     
    5. Carefully cut away any excess Stick & Stitch.
     
    6. Rinse away remaining Stick & Stitch by submerging and agitating the project in warm water or hold under the faucet at an angle for 2-3 minutes. Air dry flat.

           

    7. If project feels stiff after drying, repeat rinse. Voila!

     

    Here is another project where I used the Migrating Ducks pattern to hide some stains on one of my well-loved white linen shirts:

    I used 3 strands of thread for the duck flying on the sleeve (bottom) and the duck on the upper left. I used 1 strand of thread for the duck on the upper right. You can see how much it changes the look of the embroidery!

    I almost always go for using a single strand in my hoop work, and of course for when I am thread painting. But, I honestly cannot decide what I prefer for these little guys! I kind of like the chunky, more graphic look of using 3-6 strands on clothing!

    I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Happy Stitching!

     

    Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or need clarification, feel free to reach out to me: hannah@hannahlamarstudio.com - I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as I can!

    Back to blog