Reader1

I am sorry if this has been asked before. I am going to make a throw quilt for my niece's daughter for a graduation gift. I want to embroider the center block with the logo of the university she will be attending and surround it with blocks of the university's colors. When making the embroidered block would you use a tear away, or cut away stabilizer? Thank you in advance for any help.

Rhonda K

First, I would starch and iron the background fabric. You want to let it shrink if it's going to. Then use a fusible stabilizer and fuse it to the back of the background fabric. There are different brands that will work.

After the background fabric is fused, I like to hoop it with no show mesh as it is lightweight and can be left in the quilt block. Hoop the stabilizer and the background fabric together. You don't want it over-tightened or floppy either. Movement will cause puckers. You can also use a sticky back-tear away instead of no show mesh.

https://www.kreativekiwiembroidery.c...-projects.html

Is the logo dense? or an applique design? I would add a layer of W/S (water-soluable) stabilizer. It can be floated on the top of the background fabric. It will "hold" the stitches and keep them from sinking down into the the design. Use a piece of tape on the four corners to hold in place while the design starts stitching.

You can also float a piece of tear-away on the back of the hoop if the design is dense.The additional products and time to stabilize the project will give you better results-in my honest opinion. I am including a reference that I use for determining the process.

https://rnk-floriani.com/workbooks-guides.php There are 4 different guides for your review. I like the products and use them most of the time.There are also pellon products that can be fused onto the background. Good luck!

sewingpup

My advice is probably outdated with all the newer products that are out there now. Years ago, if it was knit fabric, I just hooped it with cut-away, if it was a woven, I used tear away unless the design was dense which the logo likely is, then I also used cut away. There was also some type of iron-on interfacing that was light weight and flexible, I can remember using some of that too but can not remember what it is called. I thinking it may have been "Polymesh". If you google your question, there sites will come up. If you are using a particular brand of stablizer, I would go to their website as they usually have some sort of a guide for use of their products.

juliasb

On denser designs I use a nice tear away. I use a cut away for other designs that are airy designs.

Reader1

Thank you for your responses. They all sound very good. I am learning more and more about embroidery every day!!

Flipperock

I'm fascinated by your skills in making hand-made quilts. I would definitely not master something like this.

Reader1

Thank you. I have been making quilts for about 3 years and my husband jokingly says it is an addiction even though he is so supportive he purchased this machine for me. I had never embroidered before and I am fascinated by the process and learning. I embroidered several hats, a couple framed items and placemats for Christmas gifts and love it. This is the first time I am putting an emboidered block into a quilt.
Thanks again.

Flipperock

I'm fascinated by your skills in making hand-made quilts. I would definitely not master something like this. But I can share my experience with digital embroidery services. I wanted to make a quilt with pieces of my artwork. matohash.com helped me with everything I needed. they conveyed my digital artwork in the right format and made my custom quilt. The final result was great and now I share my works of art with everyone who visits me but in a very special way. So this is definitely an interesting way of making personalized things. I have definitely enjoyed this experience and I'm ready to repeat it.

Macybaby

I've started using wash away stabilizer, especially if I'm doing a dense design. I use two layers.

Most often I use tear away, but it can be tedious if there are a lot of small areas to pic out.

Pennyhal

It depends on the type of fabric you are using. If you are using quilting cotton, you could use a "leave in" type of stabilzer on the backside. Washing and starching the fabric first would eliminate shrinkage and be stiffer to stitch on.