- Think about what you'd like to embroider on your sweater. For a feminine look, consider using a chain stitch to embroider a delicate vine that travels up the front of your sweater and loops up and over the shoulder. Use a satin stitch to fill in leaves and flower shapes along the vine. Or use a simple lazy daisy stitch to make random, disconnected flowers all over the sweater. Don't limit yourself to traditional floral designs, however. Nearly anything that can be drawn can be embroidered. Think about holiday motifs, hearts, folksy animals, birds, butterflies and cute bugs, or fairies, dragons and other fantasy creatures. Page through embroidery pattern book books for ideas or just let your imagination run wild.
- Use a water-soluble marking pen to draw your design on your sweater. Although there are many iron-on transfer patterns available to purchase, most require that a hot iron be pressed firmly onto the fabric to make the ink transfer from the paper onto the item you are going to embroider. If you do this, you will likely ruin your sweater. The yarn is not made to stand up to intense heat and pressure.
Water-soluble ink will wash out of your sweater, but it's important to note that you must not iron over the ink or expose it to dryer heat before you wash it out. Doing so will permanently set the ink into the fabric.
If you are gifted with a talent for drawing, you can sketch the design freehand onto your sweater. If you need a little help, cut out shapes, lay them on your sweater where desired and trace around them. - Use an embroidery hoop to keep the area of the sweater you are working on stable and prevent puckering as you embroider. You must use a gentle hand when you put on the hoop, though. Avoid pulling or stretching the knitted fabric that is in the center of the hoop, and adjust the hoop tension, so it doesn't crush the fabric between the two circles of the hoop. As you embroider, work the needle and thread or yarn though the fabric without pulling tightly.
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