embroidery designs for quilting
 

Hi, I have a question for those that do embroidery designs. I am doing some from Thequiltery.com.au....the ones called Snow Folk....I used the tear away atabilizer, and also tried the water soluble...the designs pull the faric and stretch it to make the block an add shape. I washed and ironed the ones I have done, and not alot of help with it. I made 10" blocks and the designs are for the 5x7 hoop..I am wondering if the blocks are too small, or if the designs are just bad?....I have never had this happen before from the ones I have bought from Emblibrary...any ideas on why this is happening? I am using the moda muslin, and my tension stays on 3...size 11 needle.
Thanks

Maybe it's the thread you are using...do you have the same in the top and the bobbin? Also, are you using a bobbin for embroidery? I find that I'm actually better off using my regular bobbin instead of the pig tail. Hope this helps you figure it out.

Have you tried spray starch and ironing the material first? Make it really stiff. Starch and iron maybe 3 times. Try that and if it doesn't work double the stablizer. Make sure the mat. is not pulled out of shape in the hoop. Sometimes I have to try different things to get the results I want. Sometimes it's the most simple things that work. Good luck.

are u using regular embroidery designs or the single line quilting designs?

What embroidery machine do you have.... it may be that you will need to adjust the tension for these designs.

Hugs

Caroline

It sounds like the stabilization isn't right. With muslin, I would use a medium weight cut away. You could try 2 layers of tear away but I'm not sure that will work.

Have you tried more stabilizer or a different one, the designs look pretty dense in the picture. is the fabric too loose in the hoop. I am thinking its probably your stabilizer is not supporting the density of the design, maybe a stonger stabilizer in addition to the water soluble

The designs are very cute, however, the number of stitches across the designs are not evenly balanced (artist's vision ;-) ). There are a few areas of dense stitches, while the rest of the design is redwork. In this case I would use 2 layers of stablizer. I would go with the tear away. Sometimes if you hoop the fabric too tightly, it will distort, so I would hoop the stablizer and float the fabric. One other thing you may be able to try is to resize the design (if it will still fit in your hoop) You want to select the option that will retain the same number of stitches as the original. This way the design will be a bit less dense.

I have had great results with using an iron on No Show Mesh stabalizer when using a lighter weight fabric like a muslin. There's also a No Show Mesh cut away. I've attached a picture of an embroidery I used on a quilt. I know it's a less dense than your embroidery design, but it might help. Do you have someone that can test the design for you?

i wasgoing to suggest a mesh or iron on nylon or maybe a waffle weave tear away. Sometimes if it's a single line of stitching, the stabilizer is hard to remove without distorting the design.

this is the site, and the designs are called snowmen....http://thequiltery.com.au/embroidery...embroidery.htm
I use a Janome 300E, I did buy some heavier weight cut away stabilizer yesterday and used it on one of the Christmas Bonnet girls from this site, it wrinkled a bit around the shoes...not sure but I believe it is the designs.....I will try another today, and see what happnes...thanks for all the help. I will try all of it..

Excellent advice from PaperPrincess. My first move would be two layers of stabilizer and float the fabric. If your machine has the option to baste around the design to hold it in place, I would use that as well.

The designs are adorable - when you say that it was an odd shape - are they distorted (by that I mean ruffly so that they no longer lie flat at the edges or middle) or did they just pull in a little? If it just pulled in and is still flat then I would cut the piece you want to embroider a bit larger (I never cut to size before embroidery anyways just for this reason) then trim to size.

It could be tension (you could try reducing the tension on the upper thread) and could be needle size/type (when I have a dense embroidery or use metallic thread - I use a new top stitch needle - usually a size 14 - it has a longer eye and a longer grove for the thread to ride in - less stress on the thread and more protection from the needle). The suggestion of re-sizing ought to help as well. Rule at thumb is usually never resize more than 15% either direction but even 5% may help and not be noticed in the design. Good luck - let us know how you make out!!

It sounds like they may have a really high density for threads. I've never gotten any from that site so I can't say but some are higher density than needed.Have you tried a permanent stabilizer.

Muslin usually is a thin fabric with a low thread count. I use a medium cut away stabilizer, if the design is really dense I use a heavy weight cut away. You can cut really close to the design and still leave enough stabilizer to support the design. You might be hooping the fabric too tight and that would cause it to pull and pucker. Another thing to try is iron on stabilizer to prevent the fabric from stretching and distorting.

At the store where I bought my Janome, the guy told us that one layer of stabilizer should always be adhered to the fabric you are embroidering. You can use the temp. Adhesive spray to do that. Another thing he said is the stabilizer should never be heavier than your fabric. Not sure about that one personally.