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Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Velour
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Fabrics 101:
Embroidering on Velour
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Want to
craft something truly luxurious? It's
hard to go wrong with velour. Like its
beloved cousin
velvet, velour has a soft, dense
pile that gives it a unique beautiful
feel. The difference? Velvet is woven,
while velour is knitted. This means that
velour is naturally stretchy, making it
a popular choice for casual wear and
dance costumes. You're also likely to
find it in Christmas stockings, fabric
gift bags, upholstery, and draperies.
Take this fabric's unique character into
account, and it's easy to embroider! |
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FABRIC: Velour can be made from
natural cotton or synthetic material
such as polyester. As always, cotton
will shrink when you wash and dry it;
pre-shrink it before embroidering so
that the fabric won't pucker around the
fabric with further wash and wear.
Polyester, on the other hand, won't
shrink.
DESIGN: Designs with thick areas
of embroidery will stand out best. You
may want to avoid running-stitch design
such as redwork -- the thin lines of
stitching can be hard to see in the
plush texture of the velour. |
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NEEDLE: A 75/11 sharp sewing
needle, which we recommend for use with
most fabrics, will help you stitch a
crisp, clear design on velour.
STABILIZER: Velour is a stretchy
knit, so it needs some serious help to
support the embroidery well. Affix a
piece of medium-weight cutaway
stabilizer to the back of the fabric
using temporary spray adhesive.
TOPPING: As with
terrycloth or
microfiber plush (minkee), velour
has little fibers that can poke up
through the stitches if you don't keep
them under control. Use a water-soluble
stabilizer on top of the embroidery to
keep the fabric's pile from showing
through. |
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STABILIZER: Spray a piece of
medium-weight cutaway stabilizer with
temporary spray adhesive, and smooth the
velour fabric on top. |
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TOPPING: Cut a piece of
water-soluble stabilizer slightly
larger than your hoop. This will go
on top of the fabric, to hold down
the fibers while embroidering. |
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HOOPING:
Hoop all
three layers (stabilizer, fabric, and
topping) firmly together.
At this point you may be wondering --
what about hoop burn? When you unhoop
the fabric after embroidering, you'll
probably see that it's left a mark. In
most cases this can easily be removed by
washing the item --
see this hoop burn article for more
information. We recommend testing the
fabric if you can by hooping a sample of
it for awhile, then unhooping it and
washing it to remove the mark.
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If you find that, for some reason, the
hoop mark will not be removed by
washing,
this velvet article provides an
alternative: "floating" the fabric by
hooping just a piece of stabilizer, then
sticking the fabric to it. This method
does not hold the fabric as firmly in
place as hooping everything together, so
it's more likely to create subtle
shifting or poor registration. Only use
it if you must.
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Embroider the design. |
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FINISHING:
Tear away the excess topping. Cut away
the excess stabilizer. Wash the item, if
needed, to remove hoop burn. |
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Your embroidery is finished! It'll add a
beautifully personalized touch to an
already sumptuous fabric. |
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Karen
stitched these lovely little
gift bags out of sparkly red velour,
and lined them with red satin. Just
beautiful! |
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Rosalie stitched this rich
Victorian stocking out of black
velvet left over from a dress she made
for her daughter. It would look great in
velour, too! |
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Stitching tips for velour:
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