Machine embroidery is a unique, stylish, and strong way to repair clothing and home furnishings such as cushions and blankets. Whether an item is torn, worn, or stained it can be repaired with the addition of embroidery. Machine embroidery mending works best on single colour items and heavyweight fabrics such as denim and canvas. In this example, I mend a pink denim girls’ pinafore.
Machine Requirements
- PFAFF sewing machine
- PFAFF Embroidery Sewing Needles
- Embroidery Hoop
- General Sewing Equipment
Requirements
- Embroidery threads in suitable colours
- Lightweight bobbin thread / Bobbin Fill
- Lightweight iron on interfacing
- Stabiliser
- Matching fabric (if needed to patch any holes)
- Thread to match your garment (for darning)
Before you begin, select an embroidery design that will suit your item and is a little bigger than the damage, ideally something dense without too many gaps in the design. This will ensure the damage/stain is well hidden behind the embroidery.
If you have a hole or stain in an area of a garment that is tricky to embroider you could consider making an embroidery patch and then sewing it on over the damage.
Sewing Instructions
- Prepare and pre-repair the item:
- For big holes – trim any excess thread and sew in a fabric patch on the wrong side of the fabric, behind the hole, and sew it on. Optionally darn over this for extra strength
- For small holes and tears – iron interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric, behind the damage, and sew on top with a darning stitch. If damage is minor, you can skip darning.
- For stains – iron interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric behind the stain.
- Put your item (with stabiliser behind it) on an embroidery hoop and prepare your machine for embroidery (refer to your sewing machine manual for detailed instructions). If your project can’t be hooped, then you can put stabiliser in the hoop and pin and/or baste your project to the hoop.
- Position your embroidery to be over the damaged area and resize the design as required. You should test the positioning before embroidering by basting the design box.
- Embroider your design!
- Trim excess threads and remove stabiliser.
Congratulations on finishing your project!
We can’t wait to see what you create! Don’t forget to share them with us on Instagram, tagging @pfaffsewingaus and using the hashtags #pfaffsewingaustralia #pfaffsewing #perfectionstartshere or our Facebook page Pfaff Australia