Tips For Embroidering Letters

This is an image of different hoops with embroidered words on them.

Introduction 


One of the best parts about embroidery is the ability to personalise and create pieces that are so treasured by their recipient. Adding names or initials to your creation will often give it the perfect finishing touch. So I wanted to include some tips on stitching letters and words onto your designs:

Tips


  • Draw or trace your words onto the fabric first, just like you would a normal design, rather than trying to freehand stitch as you go.


  • If you are drawing freehand letters to stitch, I suggest you add a guideline to keep your letters straight.


  • In general, I find my words drawn in freehand never look as nice as I want. So instead, I like to type out the words online in a font that I like, then trace that onto the fabric. This will definitely get you a slicker result, and means you can experiment with different fonts. You can either print out and trace on your design, or simply hold your fabric up to the screen and trace over it.


  • As you stitch, try not to trail the thread between each letter underneath (unless its script where the letters actually join up). This means you won’t be left with lines of thread underneath which might be visible through the fabric later.


  • When you stitch each letter, don’t stitch paths as if you’re writing them by hand (e.g. don’t double up your path strokes like with handwriting). You’re better off constructing one single-lane path that covers the shape of the letter. You can either stop and start new thread where needed, or sneakily weave back on the underside to get to the point where you want to start again.


  • You will find that as you go around curves, smaller stitches look best and are easier to use. As you go around sharp corners, either use super short stitches, or treat it as two lines where you finish at the pointy end of the curve, and then start afresh.

These are some ideal stitches to use:

This is an image of the word 'Piper' stitched with back stitch.

BACK STITCH: super easy and quite quick to work with.

This is an image of the word 'Harley' stitched with split stitch.

SPLIT STITCH: creates a nice even line, good for corners, and can also be used for filling in thicker shaped letters with a textured effect.

This is an image of the word 'yay' stitched with stem stitch.

STEM STITCH: this is quite elegant, also great for navigating around corners and for filling in thicker shapes with a smoother look.

In this video, I’ve shared my top tips for lettering, which you will hopefully find really helpful.

Examples of embroidered words

Embroidered words add a lovely personalised touch to your embroidery creations. I've used embroidered words to add that special touch to these Personalised Baubles.

Hands hold the personalised bauble pattern, available from the Clever Poppy Shop.

I have also used embroidered words to add names to this Festive Motifs Pattern.

This is an image of many clothing items with festive motifs stitched on top.

I have also used embroidered words in my patterns F*#k the Dishes, Progress over Perfection, and Get Cosy.

These words add a fun touch to these patterns.

This is an image of the Progress Over Perfection embroidery pattern.
This is an image of the Get Cosy embroidery pattern.
This is an image of the fuck the dishes embroidery pattern.

Conclusion


So there we have some tips to get you started. I’m sure it will look super lovely when you add names and quotes to your creations.


I really hope you now feel a bit more confident about how it all works. But most of all, I hope you feel super excited to dive into it.


Because I know how rewarding it is – not only do you get some lovely rewarding me-time... you get to enjoy personalizing your special creations!


We would all love to see what you make, so make sure you share

your progress.


Happy stitching!

What's next?


And there you have it, how to embroider letters! This is such a fun way to personalise your embroidery patterns. I just know you're going to love it.

 

If you found this article useful, you may also enjoy making one of my kits. I have kits to suit almost anybody's experience level and personal style. Grab yours today!


P.S. You should check out my blog, A Beginner's Guide for Embroidery onto Clothing.