Recently I received this embroidery tip from Pfaff regarding making badges and patches using the applique shapes in 3D/4D.  What a great idea!  The directions are, of course, for doing this project using 3D/4D, but the same idea can be applied to many different brands of machines and embroidery programs.  Enjoy! –Katrina

Whether you are making badges for a kids’ group or your golf club, the Pfaff creative 3D^TM or creative 4D^TM Embroidery Software has some great tools to get you started making borders for use when creating badges.

Open creative 3D^TM or creative 4D^TM Embroidery. Choose the 100x100mm hoop.

Choose from Shapes 1, the badge in the 3^rd row 2^nd column. Change the size to 95mm, then Apply or Enter. This is a very nice shape for a badge.

Tip:
For a larger badge, the satin stitches may be too wide and catch when
wearing. Add a pattern to the satin to break up the stitches.

On
the right side of the page there are two buttons – Satin and Fill.
Because this shape consists of satin stitches, choose satin. A dialog
box comes up that lets you choose satin properties. Choose pattern 3
then 12 and see what the satin changes to. Try other patterns.

Use a pattern for any satin shape. It gives nice texture to the shapes and helps when there are long stitches.

Another great tool is in creative 3D^TM and creative 4D^TM Stitch Editor (for creative 4D^TM, this is part of the creative 4D^TM Design Enhancer package). You can make a border with a consistent width no matter how large you make the border.

On the Modify tab find the Border (creative 3D^TM) or Border/Applique (creative 4D^TM) tools. Choose a 100x100mm hoop. Go into Preferences . Click the Border tab. Here is where you choose the border width, density, color and if you want underlay for your border.

In creative 3D^TM Stitch Editor you can make a rectangle, ellipse or polygon border.

Choose any design and bring it into the program. Choose the Rectangle border tool . Click and drag to create a rectangle in the hoop. Don’t worry if you touch the original design.

Now click the Create Border tool .
A border comes around the design in a new window. Notice at the bottom
there is a new tab with the design name and “b” after it. Your original
design is still intact in the previous window. Click on the original
design tab and then go back to your “design_b” tab. This will refresh
the screen and bring up the border color in the design tab.

Go to the Design tab and right click on the border (last) color. The border should be hidden. Make Block from Visible Area then Delete. Your border is still hidden. Click Draw All Stitches . Your border is finished.

In creative 4D^TM
Stitch Editor, you have many options for borders. Either draw your own
shape with the Polygon Draw or choose one of the 50 shapes included!
You can even make the border an appliqué automatically.

Choose New and on the Modify tab, choose shape number 25 and then Draw Border Shape . Click and drag the shape in your hoop. Now choose Create External Border or Create External Applique .

Tip:
In Help, Contents, read the Border and Applique chapter to learn a lot
more about how to create external and internal borders and appliqués
with designs.

That’s it. You have created a shield that you can use for your badge!

Best wishes from Pfaff.

To test-drive a Pfaff and see machine embroidery in action, please be sure to visit the Pfaff experts at your local Quality Sewing and Vacuum.