Monday, November 4, 2013

DIY Sunday: Removing Embroidery

Hello Friends!
I thought I would share a little adventure I had started last night. I had gotten a lunch thermal from a friend and it was customized with the embroidery that really wasn’t me. I thought that I would cause too much damage removing the thread so I left it alone. I got brave last night, was watching some Revenge and Homeland (I’m a drama junky), and decided to try to remove the embroidery. It worked great, and I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. 

Tools:

Seam Ripper
Tweezers

 
Directions:

First off, I was lucky because the embroidery was on the outside pocket and therefore wouldn’t affect the integrity of the thermal itself. I think you would have to be careful if the embroidery was right on the item. Also, a pattern will make the holes less noticeable. 

Before
Using your seam ripper on the front of the item, carefully work your way down the middle of each letter.

The "O" after being ripped out.
After you’re done with the front, move to the back. Rip down each letter with the seam ripper. Using your tweezers or hand, start pulling out threads. You will probably need to use the seam ripper once you remove some thread and can see what you miss.  The name of the game is slow and steady. Take care not to rip the fabric and create bigger holes.

The back will have both threads and a felt like material.


After you’re done pulling out the threads, throw the item in the wash. This probably won’t do much for a vinyl type fabric but with a softer fabric, the holes should be less noticeable. My item isn’t really an item you should wash, so I just did a cold delicate wash. It probably didn’t do much for the holes, but I thought it needed a good clean anyways.

Before washing the item.


Not perfect, but it works!


After washing. The holes seem to be a little less obvious. 


 Follow Me on Pinterest









Share:

3 comments

Frosting_Queen said...

I just got this exact tote with the same embroidering (must have been a distributor item?). Googled removing embroidery from thirty one items, and yours was the first hit! So glad to see it still looks nice!!!

Frosting_Queen said...

I just got this exact tote with the same embroidering (must have been a distributor item?). Googled removing embroidery from thirty one items, and yours was the first hit! So glad to see it still looks nice!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the idea! 2 things I learned while doing this: 1) Where possible, remove the embroidery from the BACK side of the item. It's much easier! All you need to do are rip the crosswise white threads with a seam ripper, then reverse to the front, grab a piece of colored thread and unravel. 2) Lightly press the item when you're through. Embroidering bunches the fabric, and removing it leaves holes. A light pressing blends both. Thanks for the great tutorial!

Blogger Template Created by pipdig