I love it when I come up with a new, better way of doing something. Thought I would share, and maybe someone else has had the same problem. I was asked by a friend to embroider some fluffy towels. I have never done this before but I said sure! As they were very fluffy, I had trouble with the stitches burying under the pile. I tried embroidery stabilizer, Aqua Film that is designed to disolve with water, but left a gummy residue. And it was expensive. What a dilema. I had to come up with something! I thought of Glad Press and Seal you know, plastic wrap!!!! Cheap and it works like a charm.

Do you place it on top of the towel , directly under the needle/
this might be a stupid question, but I just got my machine and know very little about what I'm doing! :oops: :oops: :D

What a Great Idea!!! :D :D :D

Floriani and Inspira both make heat soluble toppers for just this type of machine embroidery, and they both work well. No water, and no muck :D I cut a piece a little bigger than the embroidery I'm doing (not the whole hoop size) and pin it in place, keeping the pins out of the way. One roll lasts a very long time for me. These stabilizer 'toppers' are designed to support the embroidery stitches and then melt away - if the iron doesn't get 'em (which it almost always does) then the heat of the dryer will the first time they get washed. I don't know what the Glad wrap that is left under the stitches will do when subjected to the dryer. :cry:

There was a previous thread about the press and seal and some people mentioned it gummed up their machine and others mentioned you may inadvertantly void the manufacturers warrantee if it does mess up the machine. Just thought I would mention it.

I used to have that problem too -- stitches getting buried in the pile. But I have some really, really thin topper that I use that just goes away with a little water spritz.

I did a new embossed embroidery the other day -- have you tried that yet? It's awesome....

Yes, you place it right on top of the towel... under the needle. Hoop it with the towel. It works better than anything I have used before, and so much cheaper. Plus it just rips off, no water or gummy residue.

The water soluable stuff that I use would pull off like the press and seal, it is light weight (though I use other weights for different things like lace) and then when it is washed it washes out of the stitching, it is a starch base and scraps can be used as starch for fabric and such. I find it easier (just did a bunch of towels etc) when doing lettering or where there is small spaces that don't get embroidered, I don't need to pull, Just wet or wash and out it comes.

I don't pay a lot for the light weight stuff, the heavier stuff is more expensive but can also be patched together with a little water. I use as many of the scraps as I can either on smaller projects or put them together to cover the area that I am embroidering, I hoop the big pieces, if I am putting them together, I just dampen down the corners and it sticks to the towel and doesn't need to be in the hoop.