Customized casual sweater using machine embroidery

I've had the idea in my head for a little while that I wanted to make a casual sweater, but with a bit of interest. Some embroidery on the front was my first thought, but after trying out a couple of designs, they were too dense in stitches for my soft French terry fabric, making the embroidery too stiff for this application. I searched for a less dense design, something that looked more like a sketch and found this one on Urban stitches It's a lovely vintage-style peony flower. The design is portrait style so wasn't really going to work on the front, so I had the idea to put it on the sleeve. I also added in some small bees, also a design from urban stitches, for a little extra quirkiness.

I started on the first sleeve with just 3 of the small bees, hooped up in the 120x120 hoop as it was a small design.

I used a double layer of solvy to stabilise and this actually worked really well.

Once that was done I set to designing the other sleeve.

I used the larger 260x200 hoop for this as it was a bigger design.

I placed the large flower in the centre, and 3 of the smaller bees around the edges

I decided to start by embroidering the flower in a pale silver thread, then have a play with some over stitching in a bright coral.

I wanted the embroidery to look like a drawing, I think this worked really well

The double layer of solvy worked really well and left me with as soft as possible fabric to work with after removing it.

Once my embroidery was complete, I laid my pattern piece on top to determine the best placement, and got to cutting!

This sweater is a really quick simple make, front, back and sleeves with ribbing binding at cuffs, hem and neckline.

I can't share the pattern with you just yet as it's still in development, but it will be available soon, and I'll share the link with you then.

Article written by Julia Mulcair

Julia Mulcair is the owner of Pitt Trading, an Australian online fabric store and the lingerie society, a monthly subscription service for lingerie sewers. She grew up around fabric, and has been sewing for 30 years. Julia focuses on garment sewing, with a particular love of lingerie making. She shares her makes on Instagram and YouTube and is always working on the next lingerie design!