stabilizers TYPES OF STABILIZER TEAR-AWAY For most designs, a medium weight tear-away will be sufficient. This stabilizer is best for designs stitched on a woven fabric and that are not too stitch intensive. This type of stabilizer is also used for some in-the-hoop projects because it tears away clean and does not have to be washed. Be sure to use a tear-away that tears clean and does not leave a fuzzy edge especially when creating “in-the-hoop” projects. If the fabric or placement is too difficult for you to hoop, use a temporary spray adhesive with the tear-away stabilizer. STICKY BACK TEAR-AWAY If you prefer not to use spray adhesive, a sticky back tear-away stabilizer works great when you can’t hoop the garment or a bulky towel. Some have an adhesive, like a sticker, and some are activated by water. If you are using sticky back or wet-and-stick stabilizers, always test it on a scrap of fabric to be sure it removes clean. If you do not like the results, use the spray adhesive method. CUT-AWAY This type of stabilizer stays behind the embroidery design indefinitely to help hold the stitches. There are a few different weights of cut-away: a lightweight or No-show Mesh, a medium weight, and a heavyweight. The No-show Mesh version works great on lightweight knit or stretchy fabrics and is also used in quilt blocks. See Stabilizers for Quilting Designs for more info. The medium and heavyweights are best used on thicker knits, like sweatshirts, or if a design is very stitch intensive (over 50,000). WATER SOLUBLE Water soluble stabilizers are great for creating freestanding embroidery designs. Be sure to look for versions that are fibrous, meaning they look like a dryer sheet versus clear like a piece of plastic wrap. We find these fibrous water-soluble stabilizers do not stretch or perforate while stitching and produce much better freestanding embroidery designs. TOPPING There are two types of topping: watersoluble and heat-away. Toppings are used when stitching fabrics that have a loft or texture, You do not need to use a topping on regular cotton. Watersoluble comes in handy as a topping for difficult fabrics like minky, fleece, and waffle weave, or when embroidering on garments like sweaters or sweatshirts. When using this, make sure the fabric you use can get wet. Heat-away, or melt-away topping is best used on towels or terry cloth since it remains underneath the embroidery after use and washing. This topping also works well on fabrics you cannot wet, like velvet or velour. STABILIZERS FOR QUILTING DESIGNS Since the Mix & Match quilting designs are stitched directly on stabilizer, using the correct stabilizer is very important. We recommend using a lightweight or Noshow Mesh cut-away stabilizer as the base. To ensure optimum embroidery results, hoop the stabilizer as tightly as possible. These designs need to have a stable base. We also suggest doing a test with your brand of stabilizer to be sure you like the results. Light stitch designs are designs that have very few stitches in them. Light stitch designs have less than 15,000 stitches; folded fabric designs and free motion designs fall into this category as well. Medium stitch designs are designs with 15,000-40,000 stitches and include most of the Mix & Match designs. All of these types of designs only require one layer of No-show Mesh stabilizer. Heavy stitch designs are designs with more than 40,000 stitches. Use two layers of Noshow Mesh, and you may also need to back the fabric with fusible interfacing. Fusible interfacing will eliminate puckering and distortion in your embroidery designs. A medium weight iron-on woven fusible such as Pellon Ultra-Weft 860F works thick craft interfacing because the fabric too thick. To ii interfacing, simply iron it on to the back of piece of fabric. lways ure e thod. hind itely e y:um ow ght ed ng nd er y after use and well. Avoid th it will make th si the t entire pie ecaus use the e 21
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