Guide to Embroider Lettering with Effect Foil

Hello everyone,

Several times, I have admired embroidery with a beautiful glitter effect on social media and wanted to try it myself. A special foil, placed on the fabric during embroidery, gives the design a gorgeous color shimmer with a unique glitter effect.

But does this work with self-created text designs? If you’re equipped with the BERNINA Embroidery Software 9, it’s no problem! In this post, I’ll show you how, using the text “Spaceport,” which I transformed into a glitter foil embroidery to embellish a sweater using a foil plot.

BERNINA Embroidery Software 9

BERNINA Embroidery Software available in two levels ✓ Designer Plus offers outstanding and creative embroidery ✓ Upgrade from Creator to DesignerPlus any time ✓ For experienced users and software newbies ✓ Edit existing designs or create your own ✓ New tools and functions ✓ Transfer your designs wirelessly with the BERNINA WiFi Device ✓

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Of course, you can also embroider individual letters with this technique, as shown in this photo:

Embroider Lettering with Effect Foil – Let’s Get Started

Materials

You will, of course, need an embroidery machine. I used the BERNINA 700. You will also need the BERNINA Embroidery Software 9

BERNINA 700

The B 700 convinces with many new, innovative functions such as the pinpoint placement. Moreover, this embroidery machine comes with many embroidery patterns.

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Additionally, you need an embroidery hoop suited to your design’s size; I chose the Oval Hoop.

For the glitter effect, you will need special embroidery foil.

Lastly, you’ll need embroidery stabilizer, embroidery thread, spray adhesive, and, of course, fabric or a garment for embroidery.

Step 1: Digitize the Lettering

First, we digitize the lettering. Open a new blank file in the embroidery software. Under the “Text / Monograms” tab, click on “Text” to create a text design. In this example, it’s the word “Spaceport.” Under “Object Properties” (accessible via right-click), you can select a font. It should not be too delicate so that the embroidery foil remains visible.

Adjust your lettering as desired: size, color, orientation, etc.

If the letters are close together, it may be helpful to increase the letter spacing slightly.

Once all adjustments are made, confirm with “OK.” This will close the Object Properties window.

Tip: Want to preview changes before closing the window? Click “Apply” after each change to keep the window open and see immediate updates on your embroidery.

Step 2: Adjust Stitch Density

Next, adjust the stitch density of the lettering. To allow the foil to show through, increase the distance between stitches. In “Object Properties,” go to the “Fill Stitch” tab, select “Manual” under “Satin Stitch Distance,” and enter a new value. This should be between 0.7mm-1mm. I found 0.8mm visually appealing and chose that. Click “Apply” or “OK.”

Step 3: Outline the Lettering

To perforate the foil for easy removal and give the text a nice outline, add a border to the lettering.

In the “Edit” tab, click on “Contours and Offsets.” Choose “Object Contour” or “Offset Contours,” depending on your preference. In my example, I offset the contour slightly, with an offset of 0.5mm.

Select the stitch type for the outline, such as triple stitch or satin stitch. In the image below, you’ll see the blue outline created with a triple stitch.

For my sweater, I wanted a bolder outline. This can be changed in “Outline Stitch” after creating the outline. Here, I selected a satin stitch with a width of 1mm.

When satisfied with your embroidery file, export it as a machine file and transfer it to your machine via USB or directly.

Tip: Before embroidering on the final fabric, test the design on a scrap to see if everything looks as expected.

Step 4: Prepare the Embroidery Hoop

When ready, hoop a piece of stabilizer (with or without fabric). For my sweatshirt, I hooped only the stabilizer.

Spray a bit of adhesive on the stabilizer to secure the fabric (or garment) in place.

Step 5: Embroider the Wettering with Effect Foil

Place the effect foil on the fabric, and use the machine’s tack-down function to secure it.

Step 6: Finishing the Embroidery

Once your entire design has been embroidered, you can simply tear away the excess effect foil. The outline perforates the edges of the letters so thoroughly that you can easily remove the foil. Use tweezers if needed to remove any small leftover bits.