Ann The Gran Community

Hi there would someone kindly help me?

I am a complete beginner and have bought a machine so I can do t shirts, baby clothes, etc etc.  On my first attempt I managed to embroider the front and back of a sleepsuit/onesie together and so ruined it!

 Is there an easy way to avoid doing this? The clothes are so small and I am finding it very hard to hoop up just one layer of the garment and keep the rest out of the way. I have a brother machine with a large and medium hoop.  Would a small hoop make it easier?

I have read somewhere about just sticking the fabric on top of a sticky stabilizer , but even doing that on a tiny baby suit it is virtually impossible to keep the rest of the fabric out of the way and keep the rest of it flat enough to be sewn.

 Am I missing a trick? Can someone please tell me what to do?!

 many thanks

Jem.

Can you get a smaller hoop? I work on baby clothes all the time on my 4x4 hoop and don't have much trouble getting the excess out of the way. 

An alternative besides the sticky stabilizer is to deconstruct the garment. I've done this to embroider a pocket, then sewn it back on.  If you don't want to mess with ripping out seams and the outfit is big enough, I sometimes cut just along the seam, then resew it right at the edge so you don't lose too much of the fit.  That over-lock stitch is a bear to rip out, but cutting it off doesn't take up much space.

The majority of the sewing and embroidering I do is baby clothes.  I prefer to make my own clothes so that I can just embroider on one piece at a time.  This makes it a lot easier to hoop and if I mess-up the embroidery, I only have to replace one piece as opposed to an entire outfit.  But when I do have to embroider pre-made clothing, yes, I normally have to use my smallest hoop.  And the sticky stabilizer is great.  It's all I use.  I use sulky and I get the water soluable, tear-away.  If someone suggests something better or easier, I'd love to hear.  But for now that's what I've come up with.

Jenn

One of the tricks I have used to keep fabric away from the embroidry area is to roll/scrunch it up and clip it with hair clips. They are the plastic ones that are medium to large size and have a spring in the middle.  They work really well to keep fabric out of the way.  Jadene

If you are still seeking answers, I have a few to add to the ones above which, incidently, are excellent!

First:  Test sew out.  Select a fabric similar to what you are working with.  You can find these in your scraps, at a resale/charity shop or at your fabric store.  You only need a small amount to do a sample and that is invaluable.

Second:  Read my Blog on Stabilizers.  Press the link in my signature (below) to check that out.

Third:  Watch for my next Blog on hooping/hoopless embroidery.  It will be full of a lot of info for beginners and experienced ME (machine embroidery) sewers alike.

Pat