Method and System for Automatic Appliqué Design

Abstract

A automatic appliqué system and method including a user input element configured to receive a selection of an alignment stitch pattern, an attachment stitch pattern and a border stitch pattern, a processor executing a set of instructions and a sewing element being controlled by the processor based on the set of instructions to sew the alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sew the attachment stitch pattern aligned over the alignment pattern of the top material thereby attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sew the border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.

Description

BACKGROUND

An appliqué design is typically a smaller ornament or swatch of cloth applied to another surface. In the field of sewing, appliqué refers to a needlework technique in which pieces of fabric, embroidery, or other materials are sewn onto another piece of fabric to create a visual effect in the form of designs, patterns or pictures.

In creating an appliqué on a fabric using the embroidery technology currently available, there is no easy way for a user to create an appliqué design onto another piece of fabric. Specifically, the user is required to apply the appliqué manually. For instance, the user would either have to sew on the fabric by hand. This would be very time consuming and difficult, if not impossible, to accurately replicate. Alternatively, the user could use a computer to generate the appliqué design. However this would require the user to create and shape the design by-hand. This also would be a very time consuming task, and a desired appliqué design may be too complex for the user to create. Thus, a simpler and more efficient method is desired for decorating garments and fabrics using appliqués.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for sewing, by a sewing means, an alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sewing, by the sewing means, an attachment stitch pattern into a top material that covers the alignment stitch pattern, the attachment stitch pattern attaches the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sewing, by the sewing means, a border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.

A automatic appliqué system having a user input element configured to receive a selection of an alignment stitch pattern, an attachment stitch pattern and a border stitch pattern, a processor executing a set of instructions corresponding to the selection received by the user input element and a sewing element being controlled by the processor based on the set of instructions to sew the alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sew the attachment stitch pattern aligned over the alignment pattern of the top material thereby attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sew the border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including a set of instructions that are executable by a processor. The set of instructions being operable at least to receive a first selection of an alignment stitch pattern, instruct a sewing machine to sew the alignment stitch pattern onto a base material, receive a second selection of an attachment stitch pattern the attachment stitch pattern being a substantial duplicate pattern of the alignment stitch pattern, instruct the sewing machine to sew the attachment stitch pattern into the top material, attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and instruct the sewing machine to sew a border stitch pattern around edges of the top material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of an automatic appliqué system including an embroidery unit for applying an appliqué to a base material according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a base material attached to an embroidery hoop and an appliqué material to be applied to the base material according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a method for applying an appliqué to a base material using a computerized sewing machine according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4A-4E shows an example of applying an appliqué to a base material according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5A-5E shows another example of applying an appliqué to a base material according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description of exemplary embodiments and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments are related to systems and methods for decorating material such as garments and fabrics. Specifically, the exemplary embodiments described herein relate to automatically creating an appliqué design using a sewing machine.

As will be described in greater detail below, the exemplary systems and methods of appliqué creation provide a quick and efficient process of decorating materials such as garments, fabrics, etc. using a sewing machine, such as a computerized processor-based sewing machine. In addition, this decorative process may be performed in conjunction with a shape creator mode (e.g., shaping feature) of the sewing machine. For instance, an example of such a shape-creating program may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/675,518 entitled “Positioning of Stitch Data Objects” assigned to VSM Group AB, incorporated here by reference. The shaping feature may provide a user with a unique way to customize and use built-in decorative stitches, sequences, and/or embroidery designs to form new shapes. Specially, shaping operations may include selecting of a stitch pattern or sequence, adjusting dimensions (e.g., width, length, stitch density, etc.) of the selected pattern, and sewing the stitch pattern onto the material according to the adjusted dimensions. The selection of the stitch patterns, sequences and designs may be from a plurality of shaping tools stored in a memory of the sewing machine. Alternatively, a stitch shape may be created “by-hand” by a user using a stitch creator program to generate new and unique stitches.

There are several benefits to the use of automatic appliqué creation over conventional appliqué creation by hand. As opposed to the time-consuming process of conventional hand-made appliqué creation, the systems and methods described herein utilize the shaping feature of a computerized sewing machine to create customizable appliqué designs on fabric that resemble a user-selected shape. The properties of the user-selected shape (e.g., location, dimensions, rotation, angle, etc.) may be under the control of the user. Therefore, the shape creation feature combined with the automatic appliqué feature makes it possible for the user to easily create and modify unique designs on fabric that would otherwise take a great deal of time and effort.

Furthermore, these features also allow for easy duplication of user-generated designs. Specifically, each of the shapes used and modified by the user may be stored within the memory of the computerized sewing machine for future use. As opposed to creating each design by hand (e.g., “from scratch”), the shaping feature allows for easy reproduction of previous designs for automatic, repeated creation of appliqué designs on fabric. Manual reproduction of the shapes would be time-consuming and lack the accuracy of a computer-assisted shape-creating feature. Thus, the exemplary systems and methods described herein for automatic appliqué allow the user to create, and accurately recreate, unique decorative appliqué designs on any type of material.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an automatic appliqué system 100 for creating, modifying and attaching a customizable appliqué according to an exemplary embodiment. The appliqué system 100 may comprise a computerized sewing machine 110 that includes a memory 120, a processor 130, a user interface 140, a sewing surface 150 (e.g., a work plate), a needle 160, thread 170 fed from a spool (not shown), an embroidery unit 180 and an embroidery hoop 185. It is noted that the memory 120 and the processor 130 are typically internal components, but are merely shown in this manner for illustration purposes. Those skilled in the art will understand that a computerized sewing machine may include many more components than those described above and may include many other functionalities in addition to the exemplary automatic appliqué functionality described in detail below. The above components are described for the purposes of providing the exemplary embodiments.

The processor 130 may be any type of electronic circuit or component capable of performing the functions described herein for the processor 130. Examples include processors, microprocessors, controllers, application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), integrated circuits, etc. Similarly, the memory 120 may be any type of electronic circuit that is capable of storing the data described herein. Examples include hard drives, flash memory, arrays, dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”), etc. Moreover, the user interface 140 may be any component that allows the user to receive feedback from the sewing machine 110 and/or input commands to the sewing machine 110. Examples include depressible buttons or levers, a selection grid, a touch-screen, etc.

The memory 120 may store any number of pre-programmed stitch shapes (e.g., patterns, sequences and/or designs) that may be performed by the sewing machine 110. Each of the pre-programmed shapes may include a set of instructions executable by the processor 130. In addition, the memory 120 may also store user-generated shapes and user-modified shapes based on input received from a user using a shape-creating program. Accordingly, the stored or created stitch shapes may be displayed to the user via the user interface 140

FIG. 2 shows an example of a base material 190 attached to the embroidery hoop 185 and an appliqué top material 195 to be applied to the base material 190 according to an exemplary embodiment. The work-piece or base material 190 is the fabric or garment onto which the user desires to place a decorative appliqué composed from a top material 195. In FIG. 2, the base material 190 includes a portion 194 that is within the embroidery hoop 185 and a portion 192 that is outside the bounds of the embroidery hoop 185. Those skilled in the art will understand that the portion 194 of the base material 194 will receive the appliqué. Those skilled in the art will also understand that the embroidery hoop 185 includes other components in addition to the frame shown in FIG. 2 to hold the base material 190. It is also noted that the FIG. 2 is not meant to signify any specific size and/or shape, either relative or absolute, of either the base material 190 or the top material 195. Also, there is no patterns or colors shown for the base material 190 or top material 195, but typically the top material 195 used to create the appliqué is composed of a material different from the base material 190. This difference may be, for example, the type of the material, the color of the material, the pattern of the material, etc.

The user may place the base material 190 into the embroidery hoop 185 as shown in FIG. 2 and then place the embroidery hoop 185 into the embroidery unit 180 of the computerized sewing machine 110. Those skilled in the art will understand that the embroidery hoop 185 and the embroidery unit 180 are only exemplary and that there are many different types of embroidery hoops and units and that the exemplary embodiments may be used in conjunction with any type of embroidery hoop or unit. The user may then select, via the user interface 140, one or more stitch shapes to outline the appliqué. The processor 130 will receive the selection. After receiving a first selection, the processor 130 may provide a pre-programmed stitch shape to the user. For example, the memory 120 may store corresponding stitch shapes that may be used to create a final decorative appliqué design. The user interface 140 may also display shape-editing tools for performing tasks, such as, but not limited to, defining and selecting control points in the shape, adjusting stitch spacing and line position, modifying shape dimensions and angle, etc. Thus, the pre-programmed stitch shapes may be used in combination with user-generated modification in order to create a decorative appliqué pattern.

The pre-programmed, or “built-in,” stitch shapes of the system 100 may include universal symbols such as letters, clouds, flowers, ribbons, generic shapes, etc. With either these pre-set designs or after user modifications, there is no limitation as to the types of shapes that may be supported by the system 100. Furthermore, the user may also choose to create unique shapes using a drawing tool of the user interface 140. According to the exemplary embodiments described herein, the functionality of the shaping program may be combined with the automatic appliqué program to provide the user with an expansive range of customizable appliqué designs.

In a specific example, if the user selects a ribbon stitch shape (e.g., an “awareness ribbon” template), the processor 130 may provide the user with shape-editing tools, via the user interface 140, to adjust the ribbon shape (e.g., expand or elongate the ribbon shape). Once the stitch shape is selected and modified, the exemplary system 100 may store the altered shape in the memory 120 for current and future use. The dimensions (e.g., width, length, etc.) for each of the selected shapes may also be adjusted automatically by the processor 130 based on a prior user adjustment. For instance, if the user modifies the shape of one alphanumeric character within a selected font family during a project, the processor 130 may automatically adjust each of the remaining characters according to the user's changes.

FIG. 3 shows a method 200 for applying an appliqué to a base material using a computerized sewing machine according to an exemplary embodiment. As described above, the exemplary method 200 may be utilized to sew a decorative appliqué from a top material 195 onto a base material 190 using a selected stitch shape. Specifically, the selected stitch shape may define the shape of the top material 195, thereby creating a custom-made appliqué design on the base material 190. According to one embodiment of the exemplary method 200, the selected shape may serve as the shape of an alignment stitch pattern, an attachment stitch pattern and a border stitch pattern. The alignment stitch pattern is the stitch pattern that is sewn into the base material 190 in the general shape of the desired appliqué. An example of the alignment stitch pattern sewn into the base material 190 is illustrated as reference numeral 315 in FIG. 4A. The attachment stitch pattern is the stitch pattern that is sewn to attach the top material 195 to the base material 190 in the general shape of the desired appliqué. An example of the attachment stitch pattern is illustrated as reference numeral 325 in FIG. 4C. The alignment stitch pattern and the attachment stitch pattern are substantially duplicate patterns. The border stitch pattern is the stitch pattern that is sewn along the border of the appliqué to further secure the top material 195 to the base material 190 and to provide a decorative edge around the entirety of the appliqué. An example of the border stitch pattern is illustrated as reference numeral 330 in FIG. 4E. The steps of the exemplary method 200 will be described in relation to system 100 of FIG. 1 and its corresponding elements and the base material 190 and top material 195 of FIG. 2.

Beginning with step 210, the base material 190 to which the appliqué is to be applied is positioned within the embroidery hoop 185 that is then positioned within the embroidery unit 180 of the computerized sewing machine 110. Specifically, the user may place the base material 190 in relation to the embroidery hoop 185 based on the desired location for the appliqué.

In step 220, the processor 130 may receive a selection of a stitch shape. The stitch shape may be stored within the memory 120 as a pre-programmed stitch pattern, or, alternatively, may be a user-generated custom design. The processor 130 may receive the selection of the stitch shape via the user interface 140.

In step 230, the processor 130 may receive an adjustment to the stitch shape. The adjustment may include an adjustment to the dimensions of the stitch shape, stitch spacing, stitch density, etc. For example, the user may use the user interface 140 to adjust the length and/or the width of the selected stitch shape. In addition, each of the stored shapes may include pre-set control points for defining the appearance of the shape. Accordingly, the user may adjust location and/or the number of control points within the selected shape via the user interface 140. It should be noted that by adjusting the control points, the user may adjust the selected shape within unlimited possibilities. Examples of some appliqué stitch shapes are provided below and these exemplary shapes show that the same shape may be used in each step towards the final appliqué design.

It should be noted that, in addition to adjustments in control points, the user may also adjust the position of the shape relative to a reference line. For example, the stitch shape may be positioned above, below or across the reference line. The stitch shape may be rotated to place the top, bottom, right or left side along the reference line. The stitch shape may be angled to adjust alignment to the baseline. Thus, in the same way that a user may define the design of the stitch shape, the user may define the orientation and alignment of the shape prior to sewing the shape onto the base material 190. Again, the processor 130 may receive these selections and adjust the stitch shapes as needed.

Returning to the method 200, in step 240, the processor 130 may instruct the sewing machine 110 to sew the selected stitch shape as an alignment stitch pattern onto the base material 190. This sewing is a conventional sewing stitch where the needle 160, sews the thread 170 from the spool into the desired pattern on the material 190. As the sewing machine 110 sews the alignment stitch pattern onto the base material 190, the system 100 may automatically reposition the base material 190 during the process to create the desired pattern based on the selected stitch shape and the other parameters entered at step 230, e.g., length, width, stitch density, etc.

In step 250, the top material 195 may be aligned over the alignment stitch pattern on the base material 190. Specifically, the alignment stitch pattern on the base material 190 may allow the user to configure the top material 195 in such a way that the top material 195 covers the shape of the stitch pattern, in its entirety. Furthermore, if the top material 195 includes any patterns or designs, the alignment stitch may allow the user to select specific portions of this design to be included in the finished appliqué design.

In step 260, the processor 130 may instruct the sewing machine 110 to baste the selected stitch shape as an attachment stitch pattern through the top material 195 onto the base material 190, thereby attaching the top material 195 to the base material 190. Those skilled in the art will understand that basting generally refers to stitching fairly large temporary stitches. The attachment stitch pattern may be of substantially the same shape as the underlying alignment stitch pattern to secure the top material 195 to the base material 190.

In step 270, excess material from the top material 195 may be removed (e.g., trimmed) to create a raw shape for the attached appliqué design. For instance, the user may trim the excess material as close to the attachment stitch line as possible. This removal may define the rough edges of the appliqué design of the top material 195. It should be noted that the removal of the excess material does not need to be extremely thorough, as these rough edges of the appliqué will be covered with a border stitch of step 280.

In step 280, the processor 130 may instruct the sewing machine 110 to sew the selected stitch shape as the border stitch pattern through the material 195 onto the base material 190, thereby creating a decorative border along the edges of the trimmed top material 195. Again, the border stitch pattern may be of substantially the same shape as the underlying alignment stitch pattern. The border stitch pattern may be, for example, a high-density satin stitch that is broad enough to cover the edges of the top material 195 as well as the attachment stitch pattern.

It should be noted that the method 200 merely provides an example for performing automatic appliqué creation using a computerized sewing machine. Any number of steps in the exemplary method 200 may be duplicated or eliminated to allow for alternative variations to the method 200 within the scope of the invention.

FIG. 4A-4E shows an example of applying an appliqué to a base material according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 4A shows a base material 310 having an alignment stitch pattern 315 in the shape of an “awareness ribbon.” As noted above, the alignment stitch pattern 315 indicates to the user where to place the top material 320. FIG. 4B shows the top material 320 placed over the alignment stitch pattern 315 (not shown because the top material 320 is covering the alignment stitch pattern 315 in the base material 310 in this FIG. 4B). As illustrated, the top material 320 is able to fully cover the underlying alignment stitch pattern. Accordingly, the user can be certain that sufficient material is used for the creation of the appliqué. Furthermore, the user may choose to realign the top material 320 over the alignment stitch pattern based on the graphical design of the top material 320 so that the desired pattern of the top material 320 is included in the final appliqué.

FIG. 4C shows an attachment stitch pattern 325 applied through the top material 320, thereby attaching the top material 320 to the base material 310. FIG. 4D shows the top material 320 after being trimmed along the edges of the attachment stitch pattern 325. After this step, the user is provided with a rough version of the appliqué design on the base material 310.

Finally, FIG. 4E shows a border stitch pattern 330 applied through the top material 320, along the attachment stitch pattern 325, thereby producing the end product of the automatic appliqué design. As noted above, the border stitch pattern 330 may be composed of a very dense stitch pattern in a decorative thread, such as a satin stitch to completely cover the attachment stitch pattern 325 and any rough edges caused by the trimming of the top material 320.

FIG. 5A-5E shows another example of applying an appliqué to a base material according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 5A shows a base material 410 having an alignment stitch pattern 415 in the shape of the letter “U.” As noted above, the alignment stitch pattern 415 indicates to the user where to place the top material 420. FIG. 5B shows the top material 420 placed over the alignment stitch pattern 415 in the base material 410 (again not shown because the alignment stitch pattern 415 is completely covered by the top material 420 in this FIG. 5B). As illustrated, the top material 420 is able to fully cover the underlying alignment stitch pattern. Once again, the user may choose to realign the top material 420 over the alignment stitch pattern 415 based on the graphical design on the top material 420.

FIG. 5C shows an attachment stitch pattern 425 applied through the top material 420, thereby attaching the top material 420 to the base material 410. FIG. 5D shows the top material 420 after being trimmed along the edges of the attachment stitch pattern 425 to provide the user with a rough version of the appliqué design.

Finally, FIG. 5E shows an alternative border stitch pattern 430 applied through the top material 420, along the attachment stitch pattern 425. According to the example, the alternative border stitch pattern 430 includes a plurality of smaller shapes (e.g., diamond shapes). As opposed to finishing the appliqué design with a decorative thread, this alternative border stitch pattern 430 automatically places a repeating pattern of smaller shapes to give the user endless options for applying a border pattern to the appliqué design.

Each of the above examples includes the characteristics of the automatically creating an appliqué design on a base material to provide a unique decorative design. However, these characteristics are not requirements. That is, it is possible to include any number of stitch patterns and designs along the border stitch pattern. For example, in the exemplary border stitch pattern illustrated in FIG. 5E, the user may select and modify any shapes to create a decorative border pattern. Thus, the final decorative pattern may be similar to the decorative border pattern 430, except that instead of being created with a repeated diamond pattern, the decorative pattern may be created with different or alternating shapes or patterns, such as flower and leaf patterns, two different color flowers, etc.

In the above exemplary embodiments, an embroidery unit and embroidery hoop was used in the automatic creation of appliqués. However, in instances where the appliqué is a simple appliqué, the exemplary embodiments may be used to manually sew the appliqué to the base material. In such an embodiment, the computerized sewing machine will not include the embroidery unit or embroidery hoop, but will operate in the normal sewing mode. Upon selection of the desired stitch shape, the user interface 140 may display the shape with its corresponding stitches with stitch direction indicators (e.g., hash-marks and/or arrows). The user may then sew the desired stitch shape in the base material to create the alignment stitch pattern using the computerized sewing machine 110 in the normal sewing mode, rather than the embroidery mode. Similarly, after placing the top material over the alignment stitch pattern in the base material, the user may again sew the attachment stitch pattern using the computerized sewing machine 110 in the normal sewing mode. Finally, the user interface may show the selected border stitch pattern and the user may sew the border stitch pattern using the computerized sewing machine 110 in the normal sewing mode. Thus, the exemplary systems and methods are not limited to the embroidery mode, but may also be accomplished in the normal sewing mode of the computerized sewing machine 110.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the automatic appliqué systems and methods, any combination of stitch shapes and border stitch patterns may be utilized in the creation of a completely unique pattern. The customization tools available to the user in modifying both the overall shape of the appliqué design and the decorative effects of the border stitching give the user more creative freedom over how the finished appliqué product will appear.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any number of manners, including, as a separate software module, as a combination of hardware and software, etc. For example, stitch creation tools and the above described sewing methods may be a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present invention, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sewing, by a sewing means, an alignment stitch pattern into a base material;

sewing, by the sewing means, an attachment stitch pattern into a top material that covers the alignment stitch pattern, the attachment stitch pattern attaches the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern; and

sewing, by the sewing means, a border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attachment stitch pattern is a substantial duplicate pattern of the alignment stitch pattern.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the base material that receives the alignment stitch pattern is loaded in an embroidery hoop.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the sewing is performed by automatically moving the embroidery hoop within an embroidery unit of a computerized sewing machine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the border stitch pattern is a high-density stitch pattern.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the border stitch pattern is a repeating design of shapes that substantially alters a shape of the top material as defined by the attachment stitch pattern.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input from a user to select a shape of the of the alignment stitch pattern and attachment stitch pattern.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the shape of the stitch patterns are selected from a plurality of pre-programmed stitch patterns stored in a computer memory.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving input from the user to modify the selected one of the pre-programmed stitch patterns.

10. A automatic appliqué system, comprising:

a user input element configured to receive a selection of an alignment stitch pattern, an attachment stitch pattern and a border stitch pattern;

a processor executing a set of instructions corresponding to the selection received by the user input element; and

a sewing element being controlled by the processor based on the set of instructions to sew the alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sew the attachment stitch pattern aligned over the alignment pattern of the top material thereby attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sew the border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.

11. The automatic appliqué system of claim 10, further comprising:

a memory storing sets of instructions corresponding to each of a plurality of pre-programmed stitch patterns, wherein the alignment, attachment and border stitch patterns are included in the plurality of pre-programmed stitch patterns.

12. The automatic appliqué system of claim 10, wherein a portion of the base material that receives the alignment stitch pattern is loaded in an embroidery hoop.

13. The automatic appliqué system of claim 12, further comprising:

an embroidery unit that automatically moves the embroidery hoop within the sewing unit.

14. The automatic appliqué system of claim 10, wherein the border stitch pattern is a high-density stitch pattern.

15. The automatic appliqué system of claim 10, wherein the border stitch pattern is a repeating design of shapes that substantially alters a shape of the top material as defined by the attachment stitch pattern.

16. The automatic appliqué system of claim 10, wherein the sewing of the stitch patterns is performed by a computerized sewing machine.

17. The automatic appliqué system of claim 11, wherein the user input element is further configured to receive input from the user to modify the selected one of the pre-programmed stitch patterns.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including a set of instructions that are executable by a processor, the set of instructions being operable at least to:

receive a first selection of an alignment stitch pattern;

instruct a sewing machine to sew the alignment stitch pattern onto a base material;

receive a second selection of an attachment stitch pattern the attachment stitch pattern being a substantial duplicate pattern of the alignment stitch pattern;

instruct the sewing machine to sew the attachment stitch pattern into the top material, attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern; and

instruct the sewing machine to sew a border stitch pattern around edges of the top material.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions are further operable to:

instruct an embroidery unit to move an embroidery hoop including a portion of the base material within a sewing area of the sewing machine.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer readable storage medium and the processor are included as components of the sewing machine.