There are many techniques that will improve your machine embroidery. Special attention must be paid to the following:
1. Stabilizer
2. Tension
3. Needle
4. Threads
5. Hooping the Fabric
STABILIZERS
There are many types of stabilizers on the market with new ones appearing regularly. To confuse the issue even more, many are available in both light and heavy weights. Different stabilizers work better with different combinations of fabrics and threads. All machine embroidery must be stabilized. Stabilizers are categorized as follows:
1. Cut away
2. Tear away (plain or iron-on)
3. Adhesive
4. Water soluable (film or spray)
5. Heat soluable
6. Iron on fabric
The object is to hoop the fabric in such a manner so that the fabric will not move during the computerized machine embroidery. The correct stabilizer is determined by the fabric on which you embroider. To simplify – the more unstable the fabric, the more it needs to be stabilized during the embroidery process.
As a general rule, with woven fabrics I use a non-adhesive tear away stabilizer. Lighter weight fabrics require additional layers or heavier weight stabilizers. If the end result is not satisfactory, one layer of the stabilizer must be hooped with the fabric. If the combination of fabric and stabilizer is too bulky to hoop entirely, cut strips of stabilizer that criss-cross the embroidery area and are long enough to allow the ends of the strips to be hooped with the fabric.
Knit fabrics present other problems. I have had success with iron-on tricot stabilizer on the wrong side of the fabric along with tear away criss-crossed as in the previous paragraph. If the design is very detailed or involves small lettering, or if the fabric has a nap, I add one or two layers of water soluable stabilizer on top of the fabric in the hoop.
TENSION
Most computerized home sewing/embroidery machines have automatic tension settings for the embroidery function. Sometimes the automatic tension setting may be too tight to produce flat embroidery with no gaps. One of my machines with an automatic tension setting (presumed to be around 5) needs to be lowered to between 0 – 1 to produce an acceptable scanner embroidery. If the tension setting is too tight, there is too little stabilizer and the bobbin thread is too stretchy, you may embroider a little ruffled clamshell. If you can override the automatic tension setting, try lowering the tension in small increments and embroider a few samples. A minor adjustment can effect a change. Keep these samples in your embroidery notebook.
NEEDLES
There are marvelous task specific needles available today. These needles make specialty thread handling a breeze. The Schmetz Machine Embroidery and Metallica needles and Sullivans Metifil needle are especially designed for use with delicate exotic fiber and metallic threads. Specialty needles have larger coated eyes and deeper scarfs to handle the thread more easily.
Pick the needle type to accommodate the thread. Pick the needle size to accommodate the fabric. It is not always the best choice to use a larger universal needle to avoid thread fraying and breakage. The larger needle may produce unsightly holes in the fabric or cut the fabric causing gaps between the embroidery areas in a specific design. Remember to always start a new project with a new needle.
THREAD
Always use high quality machine embroidery threads. These threads are designed to produce professional quality embroidery results, and they come in unlimited colors and fibers. They are designed to provide coverage. Your embroidery is only limited by your own imagination.
Specific results are obtained by taking advantage of thread weight. Machine embroidery threads come in many weights from 30-weight rayon to 120-weight cotton. All produce desirable results in specific cases. For instance, if your digitized design is not as densely stitched in 40-weight rayon as you prefer, try it in 30-weight rayon. Different thread fibers, like cotton and rayon, may be different thickness in the same weight. For instance, 30-weight cotton may appear thicker than 30-weight rayon. Different thread types may “bloom” better providing better coverage. Thread thickness vs. weight and bloom quality may also vary from brand to brand and from fiber to fiber. For better coverage, try two threads through the needle. This may be a case where you use a slightly larger needle or thinner threads. Just make sure the needle isn’t large enough to damage the fabric. This technique provides great coverage and endless color possibilities.
Bobbin thread should be as fine as possible. The fine thread allows less build up on the back of the embroidery and allows the machine to proceed more easily. It is less likely the bobbin threads will slow down or stall the embroidery process. There are several lightweight bobbin threads specifically designed for machine embroidery. Most of the bobbin threads are man made fibers like polyester. I think these threads may be too stretchy causing too much tension in the stitching. I do not recommend monofiliment thread in the bobbin for machine embroidery. I find it produces too much tension, because it is stretchy and tends to wind so tightly on the bobbin. I prefer 60-weight cotton machine embroidery thread in the bobbin. The drawback of using cotton thread is that it makes a lot of fuzz in the bobbin area. You do need to clean the machine frequently. I clean my machine every day I sew. If I am sewing every day, I clean the machine every day.
HOOPING THE FABRIC
Proper fabric hooping is critical to the end result. This is especially true for stretchy knit fabrics and woven fabrics with a lot of bias stretch. Although the fabric must be taut in the hoop, it cannot be stretched out of shape or distorted. It must lie naturally. Test difficult fabrics with the stabilizers in advance. You may need to adjust the combination.
KEEPING A NOTEBOOK
Please keep your own machine embroidery reference notebook. It
is invaluable to refer to past successes and mistakes before starting a
new project. Always embroider a test sample duplicating the
exact fabric type, threads, needles, tension settings and stabilizers you
intend to use on the actual project. Don’t be tempted to substitute
regular sewing thread for embroidery thread thinking it is cheaper.
The resulting embroidery will be different. When you go to the actual
project using machine embroidery threads, your may not be pleased.
Remember every change in the equation may produce a different result.
Keep all these samples along with written notes describing tension settings,
top and bobbin thread brands, types and sizes, needle information and anything
else pertinent to the embroidery in your notebook. Did you know that
the machine and materials might react differently on a rainy day than a
dry, sunny day? Soon you will be able to identify the correct combination
of materials the first time.