Anita’s Anita’s Wonderland Wonderland || Stabilizers
Overview
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 inthe
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 discussed above.
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 the quilt blocks, see Stabilizers for Quilting
Designs for more information. 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: water soluble 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. Water soluble
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 onto
stabilizer, using the correct stabilizer is very important. We recommend
using a lightweight or No-show Mesh cut-away stabilizer as the base.
To insure 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 No-show 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 well. Avoid thick
craft interfacing because they will make the fabric too thick. To use the
interfacing, simply iron it on to the back of the entire piece of fabric.
You will notice an improvement right away.
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