Free 4th of July & Canada Day Iron-On Patch Tutorial!

Making your own iron-on patches is easy and full of possibilities. This is the perfect way to get creative and personalize jackets, hats, backpacks, and even suitcases. We’re celebrating Canada Day and the 4th of July with these adorable iron on patches. We’ll show you how to make your own with these embroidery designs included free for download! Once these patches are complete, you can either sew them or iron them on to whatever you like.

Free embroidery design download: https://www.wonderfil.ca/embroidery-design

We are going to use a plain white canvas type material as our base. Denim also works well for patches, but you want to choose a fabric that is fairly firm and has some body.

For the stabilizer, we have chosen this sticky stabilizer to keep our canvas nice and flat. You could also choose to hoop your fabric with a good cut- away stabilizer. If you choose a sticky stabilizer or an adhesive spray, you may want to use a super non-stick needle, so your needle runs smoothly through the fabric.

We’re choosing to stitch our design with PolyFast. Polyfast is a 2 ply trilobal polyester thread that has a brilliant sheen, and it is strong enough to withstand a fair bit of abuse, should you decide to put the patch on a bag. Polyfast is available in 210 colors, so you can easily find the right color for every design.

We’ll pair it with this 80 wt DecoBob prewound bobbin, to keep the design soft and the tension consistent. We always recommend a fine bobbin thread like DecoBob, especially with embroidery designs, as it will give you a better stitch consistency with all of the dense stitching involved with embroidery.

You will also need some fusible web, such as Heat n Bond, and some Fray Check.

Hoop the sticky stabilizer paper side up in your hoop, then score around the edges with a pin and pull up the paper to reveal the sticky side. Smooth the base material over the center of the hoop. We are also going to float a heavier stabilizer under the hoop to give the patch a bit more body.

Open the design in your embroidery machine, thread your machine with the first color, then begin to stitch out the design, changing colors as indicated on the machine.

Once your design is completely stitched out, remove the fabric and stabilizer from the hoop and cut around the design, about 1/4” from the border stitching.

Turn your patch wrong side up, then place a piece of Heat n’ bond, paper side up and with the fusible side against your patch, and iron in place.

Now, with your patch right side up, run a bead of Fray check all along the border stitching line. This will help to keep the fabric edges from fraying once the patch is cut out.

When the Fray Check has dried, use a sharp pair of scissors to trim closely to the border stitches, taking extra care not to cut into the stitches themselves. Now run a second bead of Fray check along the edges, to further weld down any stray threads.

Once the Fray Check has dried, the paper backing can be peeled off the patch, so you can iron it on to your chosen article. You can then choose to stitch it down by hand for extra security, if you’re putting it on something like a bag or suitcase.

Adding patches to your clothing or bags is a fun way to add some whimsy to your style, and to show your patriotic spirit for Canada Day or Independence Day. Let us know in the comment section below what you like to dress up with patches! Inspired to sew with WonderFil threads? Find a store in your area that carries WonderFil at www.shopwonderfil.com/shop-local. You can also sign up for our free newsletter to receive more educational sewing tips, tutorials, and free patterns. Register by clicking here! We’ll see you again next time!

Metallic Embroidered Tie Tutorial (Free Embroidery Pattern Included!)

If you’re looking for that perfect gift for the father, husband, or friend in your life, this personalized embroidered tie will make a statement in any board room. We’ve even included 3 free digitized embroidery designs for you to download! All you need to do is choose your thread colours and add initials.

We have included 3 totally free digitized designs for you to download: a game controller, a fish and a bug. You can choose which you’d like to download and in what file type by clicking here. We are showing the finished product with a personalized monogram, but we leave these for you to add, so you can have the right initials.

We have chosen to use a purchased black tie as the backdrop for our embroidery. You can choose any color, but a solid color will show off the design better. To fit the included designs, the tie must be at least 2 inches wide at the point where you want your design to sit.

We have decided to stitch out the design in WonderFil’s metallic thread, Spotlite. Spotlite is a 40 wt metallic with a rayon core. Since rayon has no stretch, the core won’t stretch as a polyester or nylon core might. That stretching can cause the metallic wrap to separate, which causes the shredding and breaking that sometimes happens with metallic threads. Since the rayon core in Spotlite doesn’t stretch, that is less likely to happen, so you will have trouble free embroidery stitches, and a soft finish to the design.

We will be pairing the Spotlite with our 80wt DecoBob in the bobbin. Even very dense stitching stays soft when you have a fine bobbin thread and the evenly wound prewound bobbins will also ensure that you have no tension issues as you stitch out your design. As always, we will be using a Thread Tamer and a WonderGuard to tame the curl in the metallic thread, and a large eye 90/14 topstitch needle. As you will be using a sticky stabilizer to stabilize the tie, you can also use a universal super nonstick needle as another option. See our video on stitching trouble free with metallic thread without the headache to learn our tricks on sewing with metallic thread.

To begin, we will hoop this sticky stabilizer, paper side up, in the hoop. We are going to lightly score the paper around the edge of the hoop with a pin, and from corner to corner, so we can easily pull the paper away. Mark the center so you can easily place your tie on the right spot.

Decide where you want the center of your design to sit on the tie and mark the spot with some tailor’s chalk. With a stitch ripper, open up the back of the tie for at least 6”, so your tie can sit flat and open on the stabilizer. Using your hoop grid, place the tie centered on the hoop and smooth and press it in place so it sits flat and even.

Download the digitized design you prefer, in the format appropriate for your embroidery machine. If you choose, add the text or monogram from your machine’s text to the design before proceeding. Thread your machine with Spotlite in the first color, with a Decobob prewound bobbin in the bottom. Stitch out the design, changing colors as indicated. We have included the color numbers of Spotlite we used for our designs.

When your stitchout is complete, remove the stabilizer from the hoop and trim away on the underside of the tie. Trim all the threads, then using a hand needle and DecoBob, hand stitch the back of the tie closed again.

And there you have it. The man in your life will be proud to wear this fun, customized tie, and it is sure to be a conversation starter!

Inspired to sew with WonderFil threads? Head on over to shopwonderfil.com for a list of stores and retailers you can purchase from. You can also sign up for our free newsletter to receive more educational sewing tips, tutorials, and free patterns. Register by clicking here! We’ll see you again next time!