Embroidering Jeans

Back in the 70's, I remember hand embroidering my favorite jeans. I stitched a vine with ladybugs going up the legs. It took several days, and lots of pricked fingers to turn those plain jeans into something special.

Today we can machine embroider those jeans in an afternoon. If the design will go up the leg and the ankle opening is fairly small, it will be much easier if you open the inner leg seam. Even a few inches will make the leg easier to embroider. You can quickly re-stitch the seam after embroidering.

Use a medium or heavyweight cutaway stabilizer. Denim is a stretchy fabric and needs the support that a cutaway stabilizer provides.

Use a larger needle (size 100/16). A sharp needle will work better than a ballpoint. Stop periodically to clean the bobbin area, as cotton denim will leave behind lint. Slow down your machine (if possible) when stitching over a seam.

If you want to embroider a pocket, remove it from the jeans, embroider, then re-stitch along the original stitching lines with a thread to match the original stitching.

Next issue: embroidering collar points

from Mary Jane Allen of Perfect Little Stitches

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