DIY Faux Chenille Patch on a Ricoma EM1010: Glitter HTV + Towel Appliqué (Without a Chenille Machine)

Supplies Needed for Faux Chenille Patches

Welcome to the "controlled chaos" of Faux Chenille. As an embroiderer, you likely crave precision, so the idea of intentionally trapping a fluffy towel under satin stitches to create a "messy" texture might feel counterintuitive. But when executed correctly, this technique mimics the vintage, high-end look of true chenille (which typically requires a machine costing upwards of $15,000) using the machine you already own.

However, this is an intermediate technique. It introduces variable thickness (felt + stabilizer + towel + adhesive), which is the enemy of standard embroidery hoops. If your hoop tension isn't perfect, your layers will shift, and your final satin stitch will miss the raw edge, ruining the patch.

Core materials shown in the video

To achieve the result shown by Patrice with her Ricoma EM1010, you need a specific cocktail of stabilizers and adhesives to keep this "sandwich" from moving.

• Embroidery Machine: Ricoma EM1010 (multi-needle), though this works on single-needle machines if you manage your thread changes efficiently.
• Hooping Solution: 8x13 Mighty Hoop.
  • Editor's Note: While standard plastic hoops work for one-offs, clamping thick patch stacks into plastic rings can cause "hoop burn" or pop open mid-stitch. Magnetic hoops are the industry standard for thick assemblies like this because they clamp flat rather than forcing the material to bend.
• Stabilizer: Black Cutaway Stabilizer (2.5oz or 3.0oz recommended). Never use tear-away for patches; the needle perforations will cause the border to detach.
• Base Fabric: White stiff felt (acrylic or wool blend).
• Texture Layer: White shaggy towel (standard terry cloth).
• Adhesives: HeatnBond Ultra (Red Pack) for the towel; Glue stick or temporary spray adhesive (like Odif 505) for floating.
• Mixed-media Layer: Siser Glitter HTV (Green).
• Cutting Tools: Double-curved applique scissors (essential for the deep cuts inside letters).
• Finishing: Lighter (for singeing) and a lint roller.

What you’ll learn (and why it matters)

• The "Sandwich" Physics: How to prep a shedding towel so it acts like a stable fabric.
• Workflow Logic: Mastering the Automatic Manual setting to force the machine to pause exactly when you need to trim.
• Precision Cutting: How to trim a towel inside a 1-inch letter without slicing your satin stitches (a common rookie mistake).

If you are building patches for gifts, sports teams, or small-batch Etsy sales, this technique offers a high perceived value. However, be aware: cutting time is your bottleneck. This is why professionals pairing this technique with magnetic embroidery hoops report significantly lower fatigue and higher output per hour—the magnetic clamp allows for faster mounting and unmounting between the frequent trimming steps.

Preparing the Towel and Stabilizer

This project succeeds or fails at the ironing board. Terry cloth is unstable—it stretches and sheds. If you hoop raw towel, the loops will catch on the presser foot. We must transform the towel into a stable material before it ever touches the machine.

Step 1 — Cut towel to cover the design

Patrice cuts the towel to a size that fully covers the stitched area. For this design:

• Width: ~6.5 inches
• Height: ~3 inches

The "Safe Zone" Rule: Always cut your fabric at least 0.75 inches larger than the design on all sides. When you are trimming later, you need something to grab onto. If you cut it too close, you will burn your fingers when trying to tack it down.

Step 2 — Apply HeatnBond Ultra to the back of the towel

This step serves two purposes: it prevents the towel from fraying when you cut it later, and it adheres the towel to the felt base.

1. Cut HeatnBond Ultra to match your towel piece.
2. Sensory Check (The "Rough" Test): Run your finger over the HeatnBond. The rough side is the adhesive; the smooth side is the paper carrier. Place the rough side down against the back of the towel.
3. Press with a Cricut Mini Press or household iron (Medium-High heat, no steam).
4. Cool Down: Let it cool completely. If you peel it hot, the adhesive will stay on the paper, not the towel.
5. Peel the paper backing. You should see a shiny, smooth film on the back of the towel.

Warning: Sewing through HeatnBond Ultra (Red Pack) can be sticky. It is thicker than HeatnBond Lite (Purple Pack).
Risk: Adhesive buildup on the needle.
Prevention: Use a Titanium-coated needle or a Non-Stick needle (size 75/11 or 80/12). If you hear a "thwack-thwack" sound while stitching, your needle has gummed up. Stop and wipe the needle with rubbing alcohol immediately.

Pro tip from the comments: avoid gumming up needles

A viewer noted that red-pack HeatnBond is heavy-duty. While Patrice uses it successfully here for a permanent bond, if you find your machine struggling (breaking thread or skipping stitches), switch to HeatnBond Lite for the tack-down phase and rely on the satin stitches for the permanent hold.

Hidden consumables & prep checks (don’t skip)

Before you start the machine, gather these items. You cannot walk away once the "Automatic Manual" sequence begins.

• Needle: A fresh Sharp or Topstitch needle (Ballpoint needles may struggle to pierce the HTV + Glue + Towel stack cleanly).
• Tweezers: Precision tweezers are mandatory for pulling stray towel loops away from the needle path.
• Lint Management: A small vacuum or strong tape. Towel dust is the enemy of your bobbin case.

Prep Checklist (end-of-prep)

• Towel Sizing: Cut with 0.75" margin on all sides.
• Adhesion: HeatnBond applied, cooled, and paper peeled (shiny side exposed).
• Base: Felt piece cut and ready to float.
• Environment: Lint roller on the table.
• Machine: NEEDLE CHANGED to a fresh, sharp one.

Setting Up the Ricoma for Applique (Automatic Manual Mode)

Standard "Automatic" modes on multi-needle machines will sew the entire design without stopping. For appliqué, we need the machine to act like a single-needle machine: STOP after every color change to let us work.

Step 3 — Hoop stabilizer with a magnetic hoop

Patrice hoops black cutaway stabilizer in an 8x13 magnetic hoop.

Why Magnetic Hoops? (The Engineering View): When creating a patch, you are building a "stack": Stabilizer + Felt + Glue + HTV + Towel.

• Plastic Hoops: You have to loosen the screw to fit the stack, which often leaves the stabilizer loose (drum-skin failure).
• Magnetic Hoops: The top magnet self-adjusts to the thickness of the stack, maintaining even pressure without distortion. This is why pros upgrading their shop often start with magnetic hoops for embroidery machines before they even buy a second machine—it solves the "hooping thick stuff" problem instantly.

Step 4 — Load the file and switch the color-stop behavior

On the Ricoma panel (and similar on Tajima/Happy/Barudan):

• Navigate to Settings/Color Protocol.
• Change from “Automatic Automatic” to “Automatic Manual”.
• Visual Check: The screen should show "Hand" icons or "Stop" signs between color changes. This ensures the needle bar lifts and stops, allowing you to place your materials safely.

Step 5 — Float the felt (don’t hoop it)

Patrice places the felt on top of the hooped stabilizer rather than hooping the felt itself. She secures it with a glue stick (perimeter only).

The "Floating" Strategy: Felt is thick. Hooping it can leave permanent "crush marks" (hoop burn) that are impossible to remove. By floating it on cutaway stabilizer, the stabilizer takes the tension, and the felt stays pristine. This is the industry-standard way to make badges and patches.

Setup Checklist (end-of-setup)

• Hoop: Black cutaway stabilizer hooped drum-tight (listen for the "thump" when you flick it).
• Settings: Machine confirmed in Automatic Manual mode.
• Floating: Felt secured to stabilizer (check lifting corners).
• Safety: 8x13 mighty hoop or similar magnetic frame is cleared of any loose metal objects (pins/scissors) that could snap onto the magnets.

Layer 1: Applying Glitter HTV

We build the patch from the bottom up. The HTV provides a clean, sparkly background for the chenille to sit on.

Step 6 — Run the first placement stitch

Press Start. The machine runs a running stitch (outline). This shows you exactly where to put the vinyl.

Step 7 — Remove the clear carrier sheet before placing

Critical Process Note: Standard HTV application usually leaves the carrier sheet on until after pressing. IN EMBROIDERY, you must peel the clear plastic carrier BEFORE you stitch.

• Why? If you stitch through the plastic carrier, perforating it, it becomes a nightmare to pick out of the stitches later.

Step 8 — Lightly tack the HTV in place

1. Apply a light dab of glue stick inside the placement lines.
2. Place the Glitter HTV shiny/color side up.
3. Press Start to run the Tackdown Stitch.

Step 9 — Peel away excess HTV (tear-away method)

Patrice removes the hoop to trim.

• The Tear-Away Trick: Because the needle has perforated the HTV, and HTV is vinyl-based, you can often "tear" it away like a stamp perforation rather than cutting it.
• Technique: Hold the design down with your thumb over the stitches. Pull the excess vinyl gently. It should zip off cleanly.

Checkpoint: Inspect the edges. If the vinyl lifted, use your Mini Press for 2 seconds to fuse it back down before proceeding.

Layer 2: Creating the Chenille Effect with Towel Fabric

Now for the main event. We are trapping the towel.

Step 10 — Run the second placement stitch

The machine runs an outline indicating where the towel layer belongs.

Step 11 — Place the prepared towel over the letters

1. Apply glue stick or temporary spray to the back of your prepared towel piece (the side with the HeatnBond film).
2. Place it over the letters.
3. Run the Tackdown Stitch: This is usually a Zig-Zag or E-Stitch open running stitch.

Sensory Watch: Listen to the machine. Since you are now sewing through Stabilizer + Felt + HTV + Glue + Towel + Adhesive, the machine works harder. If the sound changes from a hum to a "laboring" thud, slow the speed down.

• Recommended Speed: Drop to 600-700 SPM (Stitches Per Minute) for this heavy pass.

The Crucial Cutting Step

This is the most dangerous part of the process for your project. You must cut the towel away from the outside of the letters, but also from the inside holes (like the triangle in 'A' or the loop in 'P').

Step 12 — Remove the hoop and cut the towel *inside* the letters

Remove the hoop from the machine. Do not un-hoop the fabric. Place it on a flat table.

The Appliqué Cut: Using Duckbill Scissors or Double-Curved Scissors:

1. Pull the towel fabric upward gently to separate it from the felt.
2. Snip a starter hole in the area you want to remove.
3. Glide the scissors as close to the stitching as possible without cutting the thread.
4. The Goal: Leave about 1mm - 2mm of towel raw edge. The Satin stitch will cover this.

The Physics of Failure: When you manipulate the hoop on a table—pushing scissors against the fabric—basic plastic hoops can slip. If the fabric shifts 2mm inside the hoop, your final satin stitch will be off-center, leaving an ugly gap. This is another scenario where magnetic hoops for embroidery machines shine. Their clamping force (often 10+ lbs of pressure) is distributed across the whole frame, making it nearly impossible for the fabric to shift during aggressive trimming.

Step 13 — Clean up lint immediately

Do not skip this. Use a lint roller on the patch while it is still in the hoop. If you don't, the loose towel fibers will trigger the "Thread Break" sensor or get sewn permanently into the satin border, making it look dirty.

Comment-driven “watch out”: laser cutting temptation

Do not try to laser cut this towel step unless you have specific fire-suppression gear. Cotton towel combined with polyester adhesive is highly flammable. Stick to scissors.

Finishing and Sealing the Patch Edges

The infrastructure is done. Now we make it pretty.

Step 14 — Stitch the final satin border

Reattach the hoop. Ensure it clicks in fully.

• Speed Check: Standard satin borders can run fast, but this border is going over a "cliff" (from the high towel to the low felt).
• Recommendation: Keep speed at 600-700 SPM. High speed here causes thread breaks or needle deflection.

Expected Outcome: A thick, raised satin column that completely hides the raw edge of the towel and the HTV.

Step 15 — Remove from hoop and cut out the patch

Un-hoop the project. Using sharp scissors, cut the felt around the outer satin border.

• Style Choice: You can leave a 2mm white felt evenly around the patch (easier) or cut flush to the stitches (requires heat sealing). Patrice cuts flush.

Step 16 — Seal fuzzy felt edges with a lighter

The "Burn Finish" is a trade secret for professional-looking patches.

1. Hold the patch vertically.
2. Flick the lighter.
3. Run the blue part of the flame quickly along the edge.
4. Purpose: This melts the protruding stray felt fibers and seals the polyester thread knots.

Warning: You are holding fire near fabric. Do not hold the flame in one spot. Keep it moving. Doing this over a flammable table is a bad idea.

Step 17 — Apply HeatnBond backing for an iron-on finish

To turn this into a functional iron-on patch:

1. Cut HeatnBond Ultra to the shape of the finished patch (slightly smaller is better to prevent glue oozing).
2. Place patch face down on parchment paper.
3. Place HeatnBond (adhesive side down) on the patch back.
4. Press firmly.

Expert Note on Application: This patch is THICK. When the customer applies this to a jacket, heat will struggle to travel through the towel/felt/glue layers to melt the back adhesive.

• Instruction to end-user: "Iron this patch from the inside of the garment (reverse side) to drive heat directly into the glue."

Operation Checklist (end-of-operation)

• Trimming: Towel trimmed close (1-2mm) without cutting tack-down threads.
• Hygiene: Lint rolled before final satin stitch.
• Finishing: Edges singed to remove fuzz.
• Backing: Iron-on adhesive applied straight.

Warning: Magnet Safety. If you adopt the specialized tools mentioned, remember that items like the magnetic hooping station and frames use N52 industrial magnets. They can pinch fingers severely. Keep them away from pacemakers, credit cards, and computerized sewing machine screens.

Troubleshooting

If things go wrong, use this diagnostic table before you blame the machine.

Results

You now have a Faux Chenille patch that feels premium, has depth, and captures the light beautifully thanks to the underlying glitter HTV.

If you plan to scale this operation—making 50 patches for a local little league, for example—your hands will be the first thing to fail. The repetitive motion of screwing and unscrewing standard hoops, combined with the precision grip required for trimming, is exhausting.

The Growth Path:

1. Level 1 (Technique): Master the "Automatic Manual" stops and floating technique shown here.
2. Level 2 (Workflow): Upgrade to magnetic frames to eliminate strict hooping effort and reduce fabric shifting errors.
3. Level 3 (Scale): Move to a multi-head or specialized machine setup (like SEWTECH solutions) if you are turning away orders due to speed.

Start with one patch. Master the sandwich. Then build your empire one stitch at a time. Happy stitching