Types of fabric – What are the best for embroidering?

Can it be embroidered on any type of fabric?

Which are the best types of fabric? This is one of the questions that people ask me when they want to start embroidering. Another question is: Can we use any type of fabric to do embroidery?
To answer these questions, I will present below which fabric materials are best suited for embroidery.

Hand or machine embroidery

Before choosing the ideal fabrics to embroider, we must take into account what type of embroidery we want to do and what means we are going to use. If we want to embroider by hand or if, on the contrary, we are going to use a domestic or industrial embroidery machine. Each type of embroidery has its limitations.

Hand embroidery

If we do hand embroidery, as a hobby, we can use fabrics of any color, with some percentage of polyester and cotton. As a general rule, the most experienced embroiderers always opt for white to highlight the colors of the threads used in the embroidery. Although the color of the fabrics has some influence on the chromatic contrast, it does not influence the final quality of the embroidery work.

The best types of fabric to embroider by hand

The softest and most malleable fabrics are best suited for hand embroider and this has an explanation: the pressure exerted by the needle can cause the tissue to be punctured by the hands. Conversely, if the fabric is too thick, it will be more difficult to embroider and may even cause injury to the embroiderers fingers. Therefore, for a perfect and easy manual embroidery, we recommend the use of the following fabrics: linen, silk, blanket, cotton and Dacron.

In this video of "leyreideas", the author teaches about the different types of embroidery fabric:

Embroider on clothes

In addition to embroidering on various types of fabric, hand embroidery can also be embroidered on clothing, although it is less common. However, embroidery on clothing also works very well and can be done relatively easily. Besides jeans, embroidery on shirts is also very popular. The shirts have soft and flexible textures, which makes it easy to place patterns and embroider without any problem.

What kind of fabric can we not embroider by hand?

After presenting the types of fabrics that we can easily embroider by hand, there are others that we cannot or should not embroider. For example, we all know that we will have a hard time embroidering by hand on these fabrics: upholstery, leather jackets, heavy canvas, carpets and other synthetic materials used in shoe making. And the reason that makes it difficult to embroider on this type of material is almost always the same: its thickness or resistance. In these materials we need to apply more pressure to be able to make the points. As the pressure of the needle is done by hand, this makes it practically impossible to embroider on these materials.

If we want to use cotton fabrics with a percentage of polyester to carry out our embroideries, or even other types of fabrics with a percentage of polyester, in any case we will not have any problem to embroider them. In these fabrics we can easily use the various embroidery techniques that we know and practice in various projects.

embroider with machines

As for embroidering with machines, whether industrial or homemade, we have many more options for embroidery. The driving force of the machines allows us to embroider on much thicker materials, but it does not allow us to embroider on all of them either. For our machine embroideries we can use various types of fabrics: from cotton, through cotton-polyester blends and their variants, coats and various leather accessories, materials used in upholstery and even all the fabric options available on the market.

However, every time we are going to start up a new embroidery machine, there is a very important detail, which is the following: We must be very careful with the needles we use in the machines, since depending on the type of material we are When going to embroider, we must use a suitable type of needle, to prevent the needles from breaking and causing damage to our machines.

There is a very interesting curiosity: when we talk about materials that cannot be embroidered, machine embroidery is diametrically opposed to hand embroidery. Fine fabrics suitable for hand embroidery cannot be machine embroidered. The reason is that the pressure of the needles and cylinders of the machines damages the fabric.

Types of fabric that should not be machine embroidered

Chiffon, which is a type of fabric widely used to make party dresses, cannot be machine embroidered because, since it is not very thick, it cannot withstand the pressure exerted by the machine and ends up breaking.
Organza, which is a fabric very similar to chiffon, should also not be machine embroidered as it is not too thick.

other fabrics

With the exception of these two fabrics mentioned above, almost all fabrics that are available online or in physical stores are suitable for machine embroidery. There are also other materials that due to their characteristics, especially their thickness, are not suitable for working with embroidery. I am referring, for example, to car upholstery and carpets, although, with some modifications, they can be embroidered with special machines.

embroider bath towels

As we have already talked about various types of fabrics and their characteristics in terms of embroidery, now we are going to talk about an element that exists in our homes and one of the most embroidered in the world. We are talking about bath towels. There are two different ways to embroider these towels. They can be embroidered by hand or machine. Whichever method we use, it is enough to follow these recommendations that, in my opinion, are very important: first, use stabilizer when placing the pattern and then place a plastic on top of the pattern or a frame so that the needles penetrate the fabric without getting tangled towel fibers.