Terry Cloth is a looped towel fabric, and embroidering on it well comes down to preparation. The loops swallow stitches and blur edges, so the stabilizer, needle, and stitch settings matter more than the design itself. This guide covers how to get clean results on terry cloth, and how to create a machine-ready design for free with SewFlow.
Best Stabilizer and Needle for Terry Cloth
For terry cloth, use a tear-away plus a water-soluble topping stabilizer with a 75/11 needle. The loops swallow stitches and blur edges — keeping density moderate and underlay appropriate is what separates a crisp result from a puckered one.
How to Make a Terry Cloth Embroidery Design with SewFlow
- 1Open the SewFlow Image to Embroidery tool at sewflow.com/image, or the Text tool at sewflow.com/text for names and monograms.
- 2Upload your logo or artwork and remove the background, or type and style your lettering.
- 3Set the design size to fit your terry cloth, then choose your machine's format — JEF (Janome), DST (Tajima/commercial), PES (Brother/Babylock), EXP (Bernina), XXX (Singer), or SEW (Janome legacy).
- 4Click Preview Stitches to check the stitch path and density before downloading.
- 5Download the file, hoop or float your terry cloth with a tear-away plus a water-soluble topping stabilizer, and run a test stitch on a scrap first.
Create a terry cloth embroidery design free in your browser:
Open Image to Embroidery →Project Ideas for Terry Cloth Embroidery
- •Bath towels
- •Robes
- •Washcloths
- •Beach towels
- •Bibs
Tips for Clean Terry Cloth Embroidery
- •A water-soluble topping is mandatory or stitches sink into the loops.
- •Use a knockdown underlay to mat the loops first.
- •Choose designs with bold outlines to stay crisp on terry.
Knock Down the Loops
Lay an underlay grid to flatten terry loops before stitching the design.