Distressed applique provides endless creative possibilities and allows you to create a look made very popular by names such as “Hollister” and “Aeropostale”.
Distressed applique products are often created so that they will become even more distressed over time and with washing.

How can you make distressed applique?

In the previous article we talked about applications with raw cut, the advantages in terms of saving time/embroidery stitches and the added value they bring to the decoration of garments and fabrics.
We have emphasized that when cutting synthetic materials, the edges are welded by the laser beam.
So we left with a question:
“What effect do I get if I use the raw cut technique with natural fabric applications, such as jersey or sweatshirt?”
Follow a few simple instructions, to obtain a very popular decoration: the vintage or distressed applique.

Step-by step guide

Place a piece of cotton/jersey/fleece fabric on the garment, the embroidery machine stitches down the applique design, the laser bridge system cuts the outline of the applications, as you do for any laser embroidery process with raw cut.
Finally, eliminate the scrap fabric.
At this point, you can wash or wear the garment. The cut edges, not being welded, will fray, giving life to an effect that is very similar to the applied lettering found in the American Abercrombie garments.
You can combine different layers of appliqué or use the “reverse appliqué” technique as you can see in the next video. The possibilities are endless!

Don’t forget to test the quality of cut before proceeding with the production. Make cutting tests to find the proper cutting parameters, those that allow you to cut the upper fabric without affecting the lower one.

We recommend carrying out a cutting test on a test table, as our installation and service technicians teach in their courses.

On the latest version of the Stilista 3 laser driver software for the laser bridge, you can start from a set of pre-set parameters.
You can save optimal parameters as custom parameter sets for easy recall at a later time.
To find out more, you can contact our customer service experts or request personalized courses. Tel: + 0438556299 or click here.