Apparel Decoration Techniques: Appliqué
Appliqué is the process of combining fabric and embroidery into a design that is sewn onto another piece of fabric to create designs, patterns or pictures. Appliqués can be put together to make an object or scene. Different fabrics are selected for the individual patches to add texture, contrast and style.
There are three different types of appliqué:
- Regular appliqué utilizes traditional appliqué to fill large areas of a design to reduce cost.
- Reverse appliqué is a technique that places the appliqué material inside of the garment, and then a laser cuts the garment fabric to expose the appliqué.
- Distressed appliqué occurs when a laser cuts the fabric of the garment you want to decorate, after the cut, the fabric frays which creates the distressed look.
Reverse and distressed appliqués have become popular at the retail level, especially in clothing stores– American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Hollister all regularly feature such items.