Ann The Gran Community

Hi there all

Am going to do my first ordered design - a name - on the back of a casual jacket, below the collar on the yoke.  It is waterproof material, but not slippery.  The jacket is lined, the lining is sewn to the jacket at the hem and of course at the collar.  I am trying to decide whether i should pick open the hem at the bottom and scrunch up the jacket to get to the top yoke or should I unpick at the collar and  go in through that way?

Also which would be the best stabiliser to use? I have decided that I would  not be able to hoop the material, but rather baste it to the stabiliser and do it with the free hooping method. Or would this show too many needle holes?  Oh no, so many things to think of!!

I am quite new to ME.  I have done a sample of the name to see the size and where to place it.

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!

Amanda

Welcome to the wonderful world of machine embroidery (ME) and AnnTheGran (ATG). ME is the most fun craft, it is beautiful, and creative, you are going to fall in love!

I recommend that you do open the hem for a more professional look.  That means some extra work, but well worth it when you see the results.   Not opening it seems a little unprofessional.

I also recommend that you use a #65/9 needle for this project.  Then I would use an adhesive stabilizer which should be sufficient to hold your project.  If you must use a spray or apply an adhesive, put most of the adhesive on the stabilizer and just a small amount on the fabric. 

I to have a blog on hooping or hoopless embroidery which may help you.  I also recommend that you use some sort of roller, like the brayer shown in the blog, to smooth out the adhesion.  Unfortunately, ATG does not ship outside of the US, because there is exactly what you need right here. 

Show us your project when you are working on it and/or finished.  We enjoy seeing other's work and helping when necessary.

Pat

Amanda,

It is the first time that I have embroidered jackets, so I am going to tell you how I did them. Hopefully you will get some more replies and then you can decide what is best for you.

Pat gave me a very good tip when there is a lining to the jacket, tack the lining to the jacket. My area happen to be for a 4x4 hoop size, so I hand tacked the lining to the jacket in that 4x4 area, making sure to check front and back that there were no wrinkles and it was smooth.  I then hooped a piece of cutaway stabilizer and sprayed it with 505 spray. I carefully lined up my markings and pat it down in place. I hand basted the stabilizer to the jacket going around the same area. I found that some jackets showed little holes when I basted by machine, although I was able to just steam them out. I thought that by doing it by hand there was less chance of slippage when putting my hoop in the machine. I always use a water soluble topping when doing lettering. It makes the letters pop more. So far I have had great sucess with all the different types of jackets I have done, from nylon to satin.

I looked at some jackets I had that were professionally embroidered and some seemed to use a water soluble stabilizer. Maybe someone else has experience using that type. I preferred the cutaway because I know that is is well stabilized and will stand up, especially when being laundered.

Good Luck. Don't let it intimidate you. Enjoy the world of ME.

Nancy

Hello.

I have yet to do a jacket with a lining.  The previous two suggestions are great.

BUT, my concern is your fabrication.  You mentioned a waterproof material.  Waterproof could be a slicker type of fabrication, a PVC fabrication or a duckcloth fabrication.

In a slicker type and a PVC type, holes could be left behind if basted.  In those cases, you certainly could not iron and don't believe steaming would help either.

In any case, you might want to baste a piece that may be inside of the jacket (not noticeable) and leave for a bit and see how the fabric reacts after basting has been removed.

Joan

Hi all

thanks for all your help.  I did one jacket yesterday, went in through the lining just below the collar. The hem at the bottom was too neatly top stitched and was afraid that I would not be able to match it.  Luckily the top lining was not attached to the collar which made it much easier.  I used normal stabliser which I put into the hoop with some adhesive tape.  Managed to get the jacket onto the hoop without getting the lining caught underneath. 

The first name i did was smaller than the one you see in the picture - I gave it to the owner (luckily he works with me, so thought it was great) today and he ordered another one to be done but a bit bigger.  Unfortunately I seem to have got it slightly tilted, hope it is not too noticeable.  I trouble with the first one in that the top cotton kept on breaking, also I put waterproof stabilser on the top, but did not do it with the 2nd one.  I notice that there is not a lot of stabliser remaining on the 2nd one.  Can anyone tell me why?

You are brave to tackle the jacket!  I haven't done anything that I had to unsew!  And I rarely do someone's own apparel.  They order the apparel and the design, then I do the work.  The good thing about this is that if I "screw up" I haven't ruined their favorite piece!  I can order another piece and they'll never know I goofed the first time!

There is an easy way to make sure your design is straight in the hoop.  I see in your photo that there is both a vertical and horizontal seam on your jacket.  That is a great thing to use to verify that you are hooped straight.  Line up the needle  (or placement indicator) near the top of the seam.  Then move your hoop up and watch the needle or indicator follow the seam,  If is does - great!  If it doesn't you can re-hoop to straighten, then repeat the procedure to check again.  You can do this either vertically or horizontally, or both.

Of course, if the seam isn't straight, neither will be your design.  But I think visually, sometimes it's better to match the seam (or other visual reference) than the true straight.  I always try to visualize what the finished product will look like.  I just did a v-neck tee where the point of the v wasn't exactly in the center.  It wasn't off by much, but enough that if I had correctly centered the design it would have looked "off"!  It looked great when done, and unless someone measures down to the 1/8th inch they wouldn't know!  And on a moving body it looks perfectly lined up!

If you start doing a lot of jackets, or other lined items, there are blanks you can get that are designed just for embellishing.  They have "ports", entry points, sometimes opened by an invisible zipper, so you can access traditional embroidery points!

Happy Stitching - SunRai Pat

Amanda-Excellent work and photo.  Embroiderers tend to be a little overly picky about their projects.  It is a little off, but people are not necessarily looking at it and picking it apart as you do.  Take it easy on yourself and make sure you line up the name better the next ime.  Line it up with the double stitching and you will be fine.  Additionally, most people have different height and slope to their shoulders, and are often in motion, so it will not be very noticable. 

I do recommend that you place a floating piece of water soluble stabilizer on top before you begin. 

I think you have done a great job, applause, applause, applause. 

Pat

I am not sure what you mean by "not a lot of stabilizer remaining on the 2nd one." 

Make sure you are using  fresh needle in this type of project because lettering this size will look best with a very small needle that is new. 

Pat

Thanks to everyone for all your help, could not have done it without you!  I get more help and tips from this website than from my Brother supplier!

Yeah to the girls on Anne the Gran, thank goodness I found this website!

Pat, when you say a very small needle, what size are you talking about?  That's one thing I have not been thinking about, buying new needles and changing them often!

Hope you American ladies and your families are all alright in this time of economical upheaval - things don't look too good on the news over here in SA.

Take care all and thanks

Amanda