stella63

I'm new to machine embroidery, I want to embroider some panels for a quilt and know nothing about stabiliser apart from they come in tear, soluble and leave on! What do u use ? (my embroidery machine is a BERNINA 830)

qwkslver

I'm pretty new to embroidery myself but I have tried all three and so far I like the tear away best (it comes in rolls). The leave in makes it stiff and you have to cut it out or leave the whole square in (and I can see it through the fabric). I think the soluable has its place but so far I haven't found it.

QuiltnNan

i prefer the tear away, myself.

Anael

Congrats on your embroidery machine!
Most of the time I use a very thin cut away. IMHO tear away makes it stiff because it's like thick paper.
I use the soluble for free standing lace, embroidering on terry cloth and fabrics like velvet. I also use it for FMQ, draw the design on the soluble, pin it to the quilt and sew.

PaperPrincess

I get my stabilizers from All Stitch. Here is their stabilizer page. At the bottom, there are several links to articles that talk about different stabilizers and how to choose & use them:

http://www.allstitch.net/department/....cfm?killnav=1

Since there are about 7,986 different brands and stabilizer types out there, it can be overwhelming. Read the articles and get small amounts of different stabilizers from different manufacturers and eventually you will come up with favorites. As you collect them make sure that you label them! They will all start to look alike and you won't be able to find the one you need.

As far as embroideries for quilt blocks, it's a balancing act. You have to use a stabilizer that will support the density of the designs you are using, so without knowing what designs you're using it's hard to suggest a stabilizer. the down size is that it may make the blocks stiffer than the rest of the quilt. When I took my first class with my embroidery machine, the instructor told us that the most successful embroideries were ones where the designs matched the weight of the fabric. Best advice ever. Basically, lightweight fabrics, use less dense (sheer, redwork etc.) designs and save those bullet-proof ones for canvas tote bags!

nunnyJo

love tear away but please not on knits

CanoePam

Make sure your Bernina dealer gives you the classes you deserve. I have been doing machine embroidering for more than 20 years, and no one stabilizer will work for everything. Embroidery Library is a good web site for learning about embroidery in general.

I very seldom use a tear away stabilizer. It does work well when you don't have a lot of stitches such as a red work design, but for those I generally use a wash away. For anything with a heavier design, lightweight quilting cottons need support. I have used a very soft polymesh cutaway for heavier designs. It is actually lighter than many foundations used in foundation piecing, and I treat the finished block, stabilizer and all, as one piece of fabric. I did some wonderful appliqué blocks using the polymesh, and they quilted up beautifully.

Pam

Bneighbor

Floriani carries some beautiful stabilizers. I used the sheer cut away when embroidering quilts. You can also "float" a light weight tear away for just a little extra "oomph" I keep my sheer stabilizer in the quilt.
You can go to www.floriani.com and there is a list of all the stabilizers and how to use them. There is also a download reference sheet. If you use another brand, this is still a very good reference sheet, it explains who and why you use a particular style of stabilizer.
when you go to the website go to products, then stabilizers. When you click on a product a page will open to explain the product and it's uses.
you can also to to. www.rnkdistributors.com

linda8450

Re: I think the soluable has its place but so far I haven't found it.
You obviously haven't discovered the wonderful world of free standing lace! Or done towels using water soluable as a topper. Lots of uses when you don't want a leave in at all (even tearaway is trapped under stitches), and you want a clean finished look. Some ITH projects are best done on WS as it leaves a clean finished edge. There is also heat away, shrinking stabilizer gives a wonderful effect, mesh for non-see through on shirts, etc,...the list goes on and as others have stated there is no one stabilizer for every project. Your work will improve with experience, and your stabilzer collection will likely grow as well.

Dolphyngyrl

It depends on the design, if its really dense tearaway will cause puckers because cotton stretches you will need a cutaway like fusible no show mesh(ask me how i know and how much fabic i ruined) but if its light like redwork you can probably get away with a fusible tearaway. Visit http://www.emblibrary.com/el/ELProjects/Default.aspx for lots of tips, this was invaluable when I started 1 1/2 years ago. If the design is super dense I will float an extra layer of tearaway underneath the hoop(unhooped). fusible and basting also make a difference as well I found I got less puckers with fusible