Embroidering a Sweatshirt!

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog!

This week I embroidered a sweatshirt! I bought a plain white sweatshirt a while ago with the intention to embroider it, but I couldn't settle on a design. I finally figured out what I wanted to create, so I sat down and got to work! 

I was inspired by my favorite Greek god, Apollo. Apollo is the god of the sun, healing, music, poetry, prophecy, archery, and more. I wear a necklace everyday that has a lyre on the chain, one of Apollo's symbols. I wanted a piece of clothing that represented him as well, so I decided to base this design off of the sun, his most prominent symbol. 

I've done some embroidering before, on canvas, but never on clothing, so this was a learning experience for me! I definitely made some mistakes, but I figured out how to correct the problem. I love how the sweatshirt turned out! Keep reading to see how I did it.

Step 1

Gathering my materials! I used a plain white sweatshirt, embroidery hoops, yellow embroidery thread, and a sewing needle. I'm not entirely sure if a sewing needle is the proper tool to use, but it worked for me!  

Materials!

Step 2

I decided that I wanted to embroider a small sun on the corner of the sweatshirt pocket, so I used a small embroidery hoop to secure the area and keep it tight for the embroidery thread. I cut a piece of thread, about 16 inches long. I tied a small knot at one end of the strand, and threaded the other end through the tip of my needle. I had about 4 inches of thread hanging from one side of the needle, and the side with the knot hung about 12 inches. The shorter side didn't have to be secured, it was simply keeping the thread in the eye of the needle. 

Hoop is set!

                                                                    

Threaded!

Step 3

I started with the outline of a circle to make the body of the sun. I used a chain stitch to create the circle. To begin, I poked through the fabric from the back to hide and secure the knot. I then went back down through the fabric right next to the entry to create a very small stitch. Then I came back through the fabric about 2 millimeters away from the stitch. I threaded the point of the needle under the first stitch I created, pulled through, and returned the stitch down the same point I had come up. This creates a looping effect. I continued this process in the shape of a circle, creating a chain that I thought fit the shape perfectly. To create the rays of the sun, I used a backstitch. To do this, I poked through the fabric from the back and returned it to the back about 3 millimeters away. I came back through the fabric about 3 millimeters away from the first stitch, and returned the stitch down through the point of return for the first stitch. You can see in the image below that the rays of sun look like they have two stitches, although they each also appear as a continuous line. 

Starting stitch!

Chain stitch!

Completed small sun!

Step 4

Once the sun was completed, I removed the embroidery hoop. I then realized that I had accidentally embroidered through the pocket, effectively sewing it shut! It was really simple to cut the thread loose. To fix it, I just repeated the same process, making sure I only went through the top layer of the pocket. Once that was done, I moved on to decorating the outside of the pocket. I then threaded my needle with a new, longer piece of thread, and began to outline the pocket, making sure I didn't sew through it again! I used a running stitch, which is the most basic embroidery stitch. It's created by making a basic stitch to your length preference, and just repeating that process a few millimeters apart from each other.

Starting the pocket!

Completed pocket!

Step 5

After that, I added a few more decorations around the sweatshirt. I used a running stitch to outline the hood of the sweatshirt, and I used the chain stitch to add another, larger sun to the outside of my left sleeve. I kept the designs simple. 

Completed front!

Large sun on the sleeve!

Step 6

That's it!

Finished look!

I love how this sweatshirt turned out. I think it's so cute and happy. Maybe not everyone will know that it's designed to represent the Greek god Apollo, but I know (and you do too!) and that makes me happy! I think others will like the bright and sunny feeling you get when you see it. 

I would love to hear about anything you've embroidered! I'm still pretty new to embroidery, but since I had so much fun creating this project, I can definitely see myself doing more in the future.  

Thank you for reading my blog!

Have a fantastic day!