Stitching Tips

There are many steps that contribute to producing an embroidered design suitable for your special project. To ensure the best results many key steps must be followed. These steps include: assure design quality, selecting your stabilizer, hooping technique, thread tension, trimming your threads, and producing a test stitch out. When any of these steps are done incorrectly the result could often be disappointing. Your success is our success, so we offer the following tips to help you achieve the best results possible.

Assuring Design Quality We have invested countless hours to digitize and test all of our designs to ensure that our customers do not experience any problems that would be a direct result of the design itself. All of our designs are tested multiple times in several different formats. When stitching a design if you experience outlines not lining up properly it is most like the result of poor hooping.

Selecting Your Stabilizer Proper selection and use of stabilizer is one of the most important ingredients needed to achieve your desired results. When a design is stitched out, it will cause distortion in the fabric on which the design is being stitched out. This distortion if not minimized, will results in misalignment of the design outline as well as other features. If you are having trouble with misaligned features or gaps in between fills the problem is most likely a result of improper selection and use of stabilizer or hooping technique.

The main reason for using stabilizer is to try to minimize fabric distortion that occurs as the design is being stitched out. The type of stabilizer used as well as method used to attach the fabric to the stabilizer has a big impact on the quality of the finished work. As a general rule the denser the stabilizer used the less the design will distort while sewing it out. It is also important to note that the more securely you attach the fabric to the stabilizer the less it will tend to move while the design is being stitched out. All of our designs include underlay stitching which helps to attach the fabric to the stabilizer. This bond between the fabric and stabilizer can often be further enhanced by using either adhesive sprays or stabilizers such as hydro-stick which include some form of adhesive.

Hooping Technique The method used to hoop your stabilizer and fabric will determine how much the fabric is able to move while the design is being stitched out, and additionally, how well the outlines and other features align. Ideally, you want to fix the fabric and stabilizer in the hoop as securely as possible. Once placed in the hoop the fabric and stabilizer should be taut like the surface of a drum. If there are any wrinkles in the fabric or the stabilizer, it will move while the design is being stitched out and the features of the design will not align. You should also keep in mind that different fabrics may require different stabilizers and hooping techniques to achieve the best results. While testing the design, if you experience alignment problems, you may want to try a different stabilizer or hooping method.

Thread Tension Adjustment Excessive tension can lead to thread breaks and distortion in the design. While not enough tension can result in the bobbin thread pulling through to the top of the design or loose loops of thread in the fill areas. One of the easiest ways to determine if the thread tension is properly adjusted is look at the back of the finished design. You should notice that the top colored thread is pulled through to the back of the design along the boarders of the fill areas. The amount that the top thread is pulled through to the back of the design should be somewhere between 1/16th and 1/8th of an inch. If the top thread is not being pulled through at all or only slightly being pulled through it is a sign that the bobbin tension may need to be tightened. Conversely, if you observe that the top thread is pulling through by more than 1/8th of an inch or that loose loops of threads are present in the fill areas, the top thread tension may need to be tightened.

Thread Trimming It is our recommendation that you clip thread jumps in between color changes. Although this may seem tedious, this habit will produce a better result. Waiting until the design is completed could cause many of the jump stitches, if not trimmed, to be partly stitched over.

Test Sewing We cannot stress enough the necessity of performing a test stitch out of your design before stitching on your final project. You will want to use a scrap piece of fabric/material that is the same type that you intend to use for your project. This is especially true if you are stitching a design on a ready made piece of clothing. By doing this you will be able to make adjustments with stabilizing, hooping, thread tension, etc. before stitching on your project.

We hope you like our designs and the quality of our digitizing. A quality design at a reasonable price is the number one mission of Nellybeans. We would love to see examples of any projects that you have completed using our designs. If you have any project that you wish to share with us then please email us a picture of it at krista@nellybeans.com or denise@nellybeans.com. We would be happy to share your project in our Project Gallery.