APPLIQUE: A technique in which smaller pieces of fabric are sewn onto a foundation piece of fabric to create designs. Originally created to cover areas of wear and tear on items, appliqué can add dimension and texture to your project. Designs with appliqué are economical because they reduce the amount of embroidery stitches required to fill the design area and in turn usually save you stitching time.

BACKING (or ‘Stabiliser’) is the material added to the back of the fabric being embroidered to give stability. It is recommended that the backing be hooped with the item, but can also be placed between the machine throat plate and the hooped garment for certain applications. Embroidery Stabiliser comes in various weights, in three types: tear-away, cut-away and wash-away.

BIRD NESTING: A collection of thread between the needle plate and the fabric being sewn. A ‘birds nest’ of thread can be caused by improper thread tension, incorrect threading of the machine or improper installation of the bobbin case.

BOBBIN: The small spool or reel that holds the bobbin thread, which forms secure stitches on the underside of the fabric.

CONVERSION SOFTWARE: A program that reads information and translates it from one machine to another.

CROSS-STITCH: A popular form of embroidery in which X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture.

CUTWORK: A technique where parts of the design are cut away before or after a design has been embroidered. Tiny running stitches are placed close to the edge to prevent fraying and to give a raised effect to the finished work.

DENIER: The international system for numbering silk and man-made filament yarns and fibers. The low numbers represent the finer thread sizes and higher numbers, the heavier yarns.

DIGITIZING: The method of digitally converting artwork into a series of commands that can be read by an embroidery machines computer. Formerly known as ‘punching’.

EDITING: Changing aspects of a design using a computerised editing program. Also known as ‘customising’.

FILL STITCH: A series of stitches combined to cover large areas of a design.

FOAM (3D) can be stitched over to add dimension to an embroidery design.

FREE-STANDING LACE: Also known as ‘stand-alone’ lace.

GIF FILE: A type of computerised picture file - Graphic Imaging Format.

HOOP: A device made from wood, plastic, or metal with which fabric is held in place for machine embroidering.

JUMPSTITCH: Movement of the frame from one point of a stitch out to another without forming a stitch.

MONOGRAM: An embroidered design of one or more letters - usually the initials in a name.

NAP: The ‘fuzzy’ surface of fabric.

ORIGIN: The starting point of your design.

PUCKERING: The undesired result of fabric being gathered by stitches. Can be caused by loose hooping, insufficient backing, or incorrect thread tension.

PUSH AND PULL COMPENSATION: A degree of distortion built into a design by the digitizer to compensate for the push or pull on the fabric caused by the embroidery stitches.

QUILTING: Stitching through layers of fabric and a filling so as to create a design and hold the layers together.

REDWORK: An embroidery technique where pictures are "drawn" with a series of joined stitches in a single colour. The picture is usually embroidered in red using a backstitch, but black or blue thread can also be stitched for a variation.

REGISTRATION: This refers to the ability to line up details and parts of designs with each other.

RUNNING STITCH: A series of single stitches forming a line.

SATIN STITCH: A zigzag sewing action where two stitches form a column. It is often used for lettering, outlining, and detail.

STABILISER (See ‘Backing’)

STITCH DENSITY: The number of stitches used to give proper coverage of the design.

STUMPWORK: A style of embroidery where the stitched figures are raised from the surface of the work to form a 3-dimensional effect. Stitches can be worked around pieces of wire to create individual forms such as leaves, wings, flower petals etc.

TENSION: The tautness of thread when forming stitches. Proper machine thread tension is critical to quality embroidery.

TOPPER (OR TOPPING): A specialised material that is hooped or placed on top of your fabric prior to embroidery. It provides a smooth surface so that the stitches can be laid down properly and prevents fabric nap from interfering with stitch appearance.

TRAPUNTO: A quilting technique where yarn or stuffing are added between layers of fabric to give height/texture to a specific area.

TRIMMING: The finishing process of cutting loose thread, removing backing, etc, from an embroidered project.

UNDERLAY STITCH: Usually the first stitches of a design, these stitches will attach the backing to the fabric being embroidered as well as giving support to the top embroidery.

VARIEGATED THREAD: A continuous strand of thread with two or more distinct colour hues.

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