Embroidery / Orts

5 Dos and Don’ts for Upcycling Your Closet With Embroidery

February 12, 2025
Written by

Pssst! This writ­ing first appeared in my week­ly newslet­ter, Orts! If you’re a fan of tex­tile art and crafts, check out my past newslet­ters and sub­scribe here.

I’m doing a low-buy year (sim­i­lar to a no-buy year), and one way I’m doing it is by zhuzhing the cloth­ing in my clos­et that could use some love. Embroi­dery is the per­fect way to do that! By embroi­der­ing a shirt, that cozy frock can have a new lease on life with stitch­ing and appliqué.

Whether you’re doing no-spend, low-spend, or just want to live more sus­tain­ably, embroi­dery on cloth­ing is pos­si­ble for any­one! But what will you embroi­der? That’s the eter­nal ques­tion. For that, I always like a bit of inspi­ra­tion. Embroi­dered inspi­ra­tion, that is.

Check out four fiber artists who upcy­cle cloth­ing with thread and applied fab­ric. Each per­son has their own style, but the out­come is the same: a gar­ment with a one-of-a-kind design on it.

Plus, scroll down for three dos and two don’ts to remem­ber as you embark on your embroi­dered cloth­ing journey.

Here are some do’s and don’ts for embroidering on clothing:

DO when stitching on your clothes:

  • If you’re new to embroi­dery on cloth­ing, start with a woven gar­ment made of nat­ur­al fibers, like a cot­ton or linen but­ton-down shirt. This type of mate­r­i­al is much eas­i­er to work with because it has lit­tle or no stretch. Once you’ve gained more expe­ri­ence with cloth­ing, give knits a try!
  • Con­sid­er the place­ment of a design. My favorite thing about cloth­ing embroi­dery is the oppor­tu­ni­ty for fun! You can get play­ful with your place­ment. Stitch a design next to the pock­et of a shirt, for instance, to make it look like it’s pop­ping out of there. (Like Melis­sa of MCre­ativeJ has done!)
  • Make sure the embroi­dery feels com­fort­able on your skin when you’re done. Sulky makes Ten­der Touch, which you iron onto the back­side of your embroi­dery (the part that touch­es your skin). It’ll cov­er uncom­fort­able or scratchy threads.

DON’T when embroidering on clothing (or at least proceed with caution):

  •  Set your design up to fail. Think twice about putting the design in a high-traf­fic area that could eas­i­ly rub or get torn, like on the elbow of a shirt.

  • Make your stitch­es too long. When work­ing on cloth­ing, short­er stitch­es are bet­ter. Long stitch­es can look flop­py on cloth­ing, espe­cial­ly as they con­tour the body. They can also get mis­shapen in the wash or snag as you wear the garment.