When holidays draw near, our creativity can sometimes fall victim to our busy schedules. The days seem to get shorter in more ways than one – we just don’t have time for all the projects with our calendars bursting at the seams! Luckily, there is one incredible time-saving tip we have to share. You already know that applique saves stitching time compared to fully-stitched designs, but when you add Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV) into the equation, you can shave a ton of time even from applique designs! Using the rip-away HTV applique method, there’s no time-consuming trimming or pre-cutting required!
The Rip-Away Applique Method
Almost any applique design can be stitched using HTV instead the fabric, so long as it has a satin-stitch edge on the applique segments. Simply load up and start your applique design, and after the placement runs are stitched, you lay the HTV over the placement stitches, extending beyond the edges of the applique area. Next, run the tack down stitch, holding the HTV in place and complete the design with the satin finishing stitch.
Remove Release Liner before stitching
Remember to remove the release liner BEFORE placing it in the hoop!
First, we run our placement stitches to see where the applique material should go, then we place the film.
There’s no need to trim after the material tackdown! We’ll tear it away after our final satin stitch.
Once the entire “SPOOKY” applique is stitched, now we can remove the HTV as it has been perforated nicely right along the edge.
Clearing the Way for Additional Design Elements
For the ‘Spooky’ design, we quickly removed the bottom edge of the HTV so that we could continue stitching the “bats and vibes” text without catching any of the material.
Once the entire design was finished stitching, we carefully “weeded” out the center holes of the letters using tweezers, then cleaned up any HTV remaining along the edges!
A Pressing Matter
After the design is fully weeded, we need to fuse the HTV in place. Remember to use a silicon pressing sheet to cover the right side of the HTV vinyl before pressing your embroidery from the backside. Follow all manufacturer instructions for proper heat temps and times!
Take Note
Remember, if you want to save instructions about application or simply anything you need to remember about a design in your BE working file, you can use the ‘Notes’ function attached to each Design object.
Simply select the DESIGN object in your working file as shown, and choose the Notes tab in the properties pane. This will let you edit and view your notes. Since they are saved in your BE working file, you can also find them by going to View > About this Design Page when you have your BE file open. This is just one of the many super powers of your BE working file!
The design is provided in our native .BE format, enabling you to save a stitch file for any embroidery machine. If you aren’t already an Embrilliance owner, we provide a free method to use our software called Express Mode. It will not only allow you to use any of the wonderful free designs found in our project blog, but also lets you install and create basic text treatments with fonts distributed in our popular .BX format produced by many embroidery design creators.