Ann The Gran Community

I just embroidered a towel and washed it and it sorta puckers a little. What can I do to fix this? I used a light weight stabilizer on the back and a water soluable on the frotn. Any advice would great.

Hi

There are a lot of reasons this can happen,,

 1) Did you launder the towel before putting the embroidery on it? If not this could be the cause. Towels are usually made of cotton or linen fabric which tends to shrink, putting an embroidery on it before hand can make it pucker. I always buy an extra towel and test it by laundering it first to see what it will look like before putting any emboidery on that brand of towel. The result of that is you will also have a unique collection of towels to keep for yourself as well! Different brands will react differently when laundered. I test everything before I put a for sale or gift tag on it. Doing a test first is always the best way to do things. I do not put anything on my web site that I don't first test myself.

2) Too light a stabilizer? Having the right stabilzer for the task is the most important thing you can do, even more so than any other aspect of embroidering. A very wise woman told me a long time ago that you can Never Over Stabilize !!!! I use a no show mesh on the back for most towel projects I do along with a WSS both top and bottom. The mesh will help to hold the embroidery in place when being laundered many times, it is also easy to trim nice and close to the embroidery on the back and looks very neat and precise when finished. It also helps to hold the embroidry in place for many, many washings to come. The no show will also stabilize the fabric very well. I use it a lot when doing things like flour sack towels and kitchen towels, they always come out wonderful.

3) Too much design for the fabric. Some designs are very stitch intensive. By enlarging them just a bit usually will help as it takes out stitches as well. You can use either Catalog Xpress to do this or at your machine if yours will do that. either will work

4) Hooped to tightly! This is the most common reason for puckering! I usually don't hoop a towel but use the hoopless method for them due to the fact that I am One who tends to hoop things too much. I have had excellant results with this method. Just use a WSS adhesive for the bottom stabilizer, a good topping then just slip a piece of the no show mesh under the hoop or hoop it with the WSS adhesive, using that as your bottom layer. then lay your towel on top and lightly press into place according to your measurment for placement of the designs.

5) Machine tension and or bobbin tension is another reason for this as well, if all of the above doesn't work then maybe you should check your tension on your machine, my guess this isn't the reason but just in cast thought I would toss it in, you never know,LOL

My best guess is that the design was too much for the towel, or it was hooped too tightly. It sounds like your stabilzer may have been a bit on the light side as well.

Hope this helps you out a bit

Judy

Thanks Judy. How do I know if a design will work for a certain project? I am so new to this. I don't know what stabilizer to use with what. I have done tons of research and I try what I read and most of the times it still doesn't come out right. Any help would be great.

Hi Classy,

You are quite welcome!  The rule of thumb I try to use is weight of the fabric with which you want to put the embroidery on. For instance a light weight cotton towel, I would use a no show mesh stabilizer along with Wss adhesive and a topping, sort of like an embroidery sandwich so to speak, with a vintage type design so as not to over load the fabric. Sometimes this can also help to make the fabric pucker by trying to put a design on it that the fabric just cannot handle no matter how much you stabilize it. The lighter the fabric, the more you need to stabilize it. A heavy towel for instance would require less stabilizer, generally I use a sheet of WSS adhesive on the bottom and a sheet of WSS on the top and that is sufficient.

Another thing to consider is what design are you using, typically a more dense design requires some alteration. As I said I usually just enlarge one that is so intense with stitches, by doing this you are changing the intensity of the design. Having the right design for the right fabric is the oldest dilema we face when trying to make that perfect gift. If I am embroidering on a light weight cotton flour sack towel I would use more and heavier stabilizers.

 One thing to remember is to always do a test sew out using the same items you would use for the real one. By doing this you learn about the different fabric weights along with the different stabilizers. the key thing is to practice, practice practice! The more you do, the more you learn about the different aspects of all this. I never do any project with out first doing a test sew out. This tells you about your thread, top and bottom tension, design appearance, design desnsity, colors, stabilzers and placement.

Don't be so hard on yourself! No one learns all this over night. I have been doing this stuff for over 30 years, and every day is a new learning experience for everyone. You also need to know that there is no right or wrong method to use for this, what ever works best for you is usually the best method. Don't be afraid to TRY anything! Use different types of stabilzers and fabric combinations to achieve your desired results. Who knows you may come up with something no one has ever thought of before!

Read what you can about the different stabilizers, digitizers and methods. You will learn in time which embroidery sites, digitizers and designs work best for what you want. I know there are many New digitizers trying to break into the business also. Remember that they are new and learning their craft as well. Some sites are better than others, this all comes in time. Don't beat your self up over it!

There is one site in particular that the designs are spectacular, but very intense. Because they have so much detail, this also makes them very heavy, and you are embroidering over the same areas several times. This is why I enlarge them. The detail is still there but they are not so intense while sewing. Another, is a listing of new or resonably new digitizers, so some of the designs may not be all that wonderful when sewn out.

Also if you check on some websites they offer samplings of all their stabilizers that they carry, they will send you samples of them. This is a good way for you to see and feel the difference between them, and may help you to recognize then which are needed where. This is a great way to discover all that is out there for you to use also. One site in particular comes to mind, I will email it to you as I know it won't show up in here.

Just remember why you started this in the first place! Have fun with it! Don't get stressed over it, it will come in time, and most importantly get all the information you can about every product you use. Knowledge is power! Some products are better than others, buy small samplings of things like threads, stabilizers and the like. It will give you a chance to see how they work and if they are right for the item you want it for. Try everything! Don't get discouraged, we all have had designs fail, and sometimes you won't realize it until later, use that knowledge as a learning experience.

Remember too, that we all have gone through what you are going through right now, we have all felt that level of frustration. There are days I like to open the back door and toss it all out! Then there are days whe everything comes together so beautifully that you sit and wonder what did to make it do that!

Hang in there! We are all here to help you in any way we can!

Judy

Thanks again Judy. You are so helpful. I am still confused on how to look at a piece of fabric and know if a certain design is going to work with that fabric. Also, on the stabilizers I have a lightweight tearaway and a medium weight cutaway and the water soluable topping.  Is there anything else I need. What is WSS adhesive? I don't know when to use a tearaway or cutaway on a project.

So if I understand you right on my towel I did I should have used 2 sheets of stabilizer and possible enlarged it slightly. I wish I had your experience. I have not yet had a project come out perfect yet. But like you said it is trial and error. Every project I do I am learning something. And yes , I have wanted to throw my machine out the window several times.

Hi Classy,

You're welcome.

The lighter the fabric, the more or heavier the stabilizer you will need. Never worry about Over stabilizing something, you can't. Better to go more than less.I have never seen a failed design because it was over stabilized. When in doubt use a no show mesh and that will help a bit. You also should remember that you cannot change the makeup of the fabric itself, you can only stabilize it enough to put a design on it. I hate to say this, but cheap fabric is just that, cheap! Not much you can do to it to make it do something it was not made to do. Spend a little more to get the better stuff, you will be much happier with the results in the long run. After all if you are going to spend the time to put a beautiful design on it, you may as well make it worth it.

Atg is the only place I have seen the water soluble adhesive stabilizer. I use that to hold the towel in place rather than hooping it. It is a hoopless method, then just lay your topping on and embroider away. You can also use a feature on your machine to stitch around the inside edges of the hoop to hold the top stabilizer in place that is easily removed when it is done, it is called a basting frame. You can also use a good double sided tape to hold it in place. There are as many different methods of hoopless as there is thread as well, and everyone has their favorite one.

Also remember not to pull on the towel or fabric while setting it in the frame of the hoop. It is alright to tug lightly on it to remove wrinkles and such but once you start to tighten it in the frame don't pull the fabric too tightly, that can too cause puckering.

There are about as many different things that can cause that as there are designs.

Don't worry mine will be next to yours on some days!

No problem glad to help

Good discussion on stabilizers and the things that can go wrong!

Remember that 'tear-away' stabilizers are made from compressed chunks of the fabric the manufacturer used.  That makes it easy to tear; and the other side of that coin is, that makes it easy to 'tear' under the needle puncturers.  You might have found that the stabilizers tore off with little or no effort because of the manufacturing process.  Therefore, may not have been stabilized as well as you thought it was.

Consider using a cut away because they are definately stronger.

Judy's suggestion of using the adhesive water soluble stabilizer is right on the mark, adhesive is the best way to anchor your fabric with the least slippage.  When you have to wash your project to get rid of the stabilizer, you may feel uncomfortable having to wash something that will be a gift.  One suggestion is to add a note to your card that says something like "This item and its embroidery was selected especially for you.  Due to the embroidery process, it had to be laundered to complete the project.  Rest assured that it was made with love and I hope you enjoy it for years to come."  Most people won't be offended by your care and instructions.

No matter what level you are in your machine embroidery (ME) craft, ask lots of questions, read (especially here at AnnTheGran -ATG) and post projects with and without issues.  We all enjoy seeing what you are doing, and we all are learning and sharing too.

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

Thanks Judy. I have used the hoopless method before and it is so easy to do. How do you know when to use the hoopless method? I do have the water soluable adhesive. All the books say to hoop when at all possible. So that is what I have been trying to do.

Thanks Pat. I will use the cutaway from now on. When would you use a tear away?

To hoop or not to hoop, that is the question!!  Did you get a chance to read my Hoop Blog?

The books are right, hoop when possible.  I have gotten out of the habit of hooping.  When I don't hoop, I use the 'frames' which are on most machines.  I encircle my design with a simple square or circle frame to hold down the fabric.  Puckering and movement of fabric is addressed by either hooping or framing or both.

Thickness and/or delicacy of the fabric determines if you want to hoop.  Silk can be damaged by hooping and towels don't hoop well, especially if they are really thick.  These are some of the reasons for the 'test sew out.'  If you are not doing one, you will potentially ruin a project.

Use of tear-away stabilizers are for items like denim which requires less stability.  A overly simple rule for stabilizing would be the less stable the fabric, the more stable the stabilizer must be and vice versa.  I do feel that it is difficult to overstabilize.  It is common to understabilize.  You can float a piece of stabilizer under your hoop as well.  That piece would not be attached to the frame at all, but still stabilizes.

Practice and experience will help you a great deal.  Read as much as you can, right here at ATG.  ATG is the premiere site for quality products and designs, learning and wonderful friendships.  Other sites try to emulate ATG, but ATG is still the best and most innovative.   And, they listen to the site users. . .  What a concept!

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

Thanks Pat. If I understand you right on the stabilizer you hoop one piece of stabilizer and one you have the hoop attached to your machine you put another piece of stabilizer under the hoop so it is lying basically on the sewing machine. I am trying to visualize this.

classykitty - you are visualizing it correctly! 

Also a note about doing test sewouts.  I test everything first.  If it turns out well I can use it as a sample to show my work.  Sometimes I cut it out and file it for reference later.  I try to keep good notes so I can replicate it later.  I have towels, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other things that I test on.  Unless I want to keep something, I use every square inch of it to test/practice on.  After it is full, I cut out what I want to keep for reference.  This is a good place for me to test things I have digitized to see how they sew, or to test difference fabric/stabilizer or color combinations.     I can "play" without worryng about ruining something!  So have fun while you are learning!  Before long you'll be surprised at how much you've learned!  Happy stitching - Pat

Yes, Classykitty, that is accurate.  That is another way to handle your problem.  I use this method if I have started my design and see a small amount of puckering starting to show up.  I slip a piece about the size of the design under the hoop and that almost always fixes it. 

As Judy noted, there are multiple reasons for the problem, this is a way to stop the puckering once you have begun.

I also encourage you to look at Embroidery Magazines and take a good look at the finished designs.  You will see some puckering on many of the designs.  There are a couple of reasons for that.  One common issue is that the camera will pick up the slightest shadow creating the appearance of puckering where it may be only very slight.  The other issue is that, it is puckered.

Be sure you are not being overly critical of your work.  We all work to achieve the best results, but knowing that your work will be appreciated by someone who may never notice the puckering reveals that we are too judgemental of ourselves.   I personally would rather have something done by loving hands and perhaps may be imperfect than I would have something from the department store.

Do you know that many people spend a lot of time seeking just the right card to add to a gift, but may have just picked up the first item that would 'do?'

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer