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!

Rayon vs. Polyester – What’s the Difference?

Both rayon and polyester are an excellent choice depending on what you want to achieve in your project, but we’ll discuss when to choose one over the other as they both have their own unique qualities and benefits. We’ll discuss the finish, tactility, purpose, and additional factors to consider when sewing with each type.

WonderFil manufactures both rayon and polyester threads. We’ll be looking at the two with the most similar uses: Splendor™, a 40wt rayon, and Polyfast™, a 40wt trilobal polyester.

While rayon and polyester are used in many of the same techniques, they both have very different origins. Rayon is manufactured from wood pulp that is chemically dissolved and undergoes a multi-step process resulting in the soft, lustrous rayon fibres. Polyester on the other hand, is a synthetic material with long, stable fibres that gives it the strength it is best known for. It’s resistant to abrasion and many common household chemicals, including bleach, making it a reliable choice for almost any application.

Rayon is fairly universal in its appearance and finish, however polyester can come in many forms. You might come across terms such as “cottonized polyester”, “wooly poly”, “all-purpose polyester”, or “trilobal polyester”. While these are all polyester threads, they vary greatly from each other in terms of where they are used and how they appear. Trilobal polyester is the most comparable to rayon in appearance and use. Both materials are (usually) colourfast and safe to iron if it comes from a reputable manufacturer.

If you’d like to learn more about the different kinds of polyester thread out there, check out our other blog: Exploring Polyester Thread: Varieties, Differences, & Where to Use Them.

Let’s take a closer look at rayon. It has a natural gloss that carries across the stitching or embroidery. Whereas polyester has an artificial gloss where the light is more fractured in appearance.

Comparing their tactility, rayon is actually softer to the touch in comparison to polyester. This leaves your fabric more flexible if you were to densely stitch with it. Polyester is rougher to the touch compared to rayon, and leaves the fabric feeling stiffer when densely stitched.

So now that you’ve learned the characteristics of each thread, which thread material should you choose?

We don’t recommend using rayon if you require the project to endure abrasion, long periods of moisture or bleach/chemicals. This is because rayon is a material that weakens when exposed to moisture. Rayon will always make a beautiful impression wherever it’s sewn and is a popular choice for this reason. It’s a gorgeous choice when used for decorative purposes, such as appliqué or decorative quilting and not for holding quits together structurally, such as edge to edge quilting. Choose it for quilting small areas or appliqué on a bed quilt, or used in projects that won’t be subjected to a lot of washing and handling. For example, quilting wall-hung quilts or art quilts.

Polyester has resistance to bleach and can handle light bleaching. It can also handle abrasion, mildew, and most chemicals it encounters. However as it does have a tendency to feel less soft and smooth to the touch, and leaves fabric a little stiffer. This material also keeps its strength even when exposed to moisture and is a reliable thread to hold your projects together when used for construction. This makes it ideal for edge to edge quilting, piecing, or other structural purposes. You can also consider it if you plan on embroidery patches on a backpack or items exposed to the elements.

We hope this video helps you understand what to consider and create quality projects that will last! If you are unsure if a thread material will work for you, save your time and money by researching and being informed before you sew with it. Ready to start sewing? You can find a list of stores that carry these threads on www.shopwonderfil.com/shop-local/.