I'm monogramming towels , I'm using a good sticky stabilizer and it holds it well but there is lots of little pieces left behind when I tear it off, if I pick at it to get all those pieces it pulls threads in the towels. Will these bits wash out (I hope)?

When I do towels I use wash away stabilizers. The terry cloth of the towers is study enough and you don't need to add too much more stability to it. In the case of towels, what the stabilizer do is to help you fold down the little threads so that after you are done stitching, they don't come back and cover the embroidery. I also use a small plastic sheet on the top for th same reason. The place where you get your stabilizer should carry it. when I am done I can see the embroidery very well.

Maria

I used the sticky because they are too thick to hoop. Does the washaway come in a sticky? I used a washaway on top.

yes, there is also some heavier washable that you dampen to make it sticky and then lay the items on it and it washes out nicely. I don't know that the other will wash out, I guess maybe soak them for a while and then launder to see what happens?

Amma: You are such a source of information!! You helped me so much the other day with my first posting and question. Thank you so very much Bea

I use a tear away/wash away on the backs of my towels. I use basting spray to hold them in place :D

I've never heard of surrond stitch, where do you get it?

What you're looking for is a basting stitch function on your machine or a basting stitch file for your machine format. Check your machine manual to see if it has a basting function for the embroidery mode. On my Viking, for example, pushing the Fix button before beginning the embroidery, the machine will baste all the way around the embroidery design area.

If your machine doesn't have this function, there are some basting stitch files available - essentially an embroidery design of just a basting stitch for different hoop sizes. An internet search for "AAA Basting file" (replace the AAA with the embroidery file extension your machine uses, like pes or jef) should turn up some of those files.

Thanks Roben!!! I'll have to try that :D :D

Loretta, do you have Bernina software -- V6? Please tell me how you accomplish these "surround" stitches :oops:

THANKS! :D