JustAbitCrazy

Is there a way to not waste all the tear away stabilizer once I have holes down the center from using a motif three times down the center of a sheet in the hoop? Can I glue stick a piece over the holes and use it, or glue stick several like sheets together to be able to use the sides? I'm going through this stuff like water here.

quilts4charity

I don't see why not, just make sure the glue is completely dry before stitching....I have stitched pieces together and used them again.

quiltingcandy

You sound like me when I first started. Yes you can use a glue stick to put them together to make a larger piece. Just don't get too many layers in one spot. I have a plastic box that is my collection of scraps. One thing I have done, is if I am using a roll of stabilizer I don't trim it off the roll until after the embroidery is done. Instead of stick gluing I use the spray adhesive Sulky KK2000. It is a bit pricey but it releases ofter 20 minutes or so. And more importantly it does not stain like another one I used to use did. So if I don't have a large piece that may or may not be caught in the hoop, I spray the stabilizer and have the machine do a "fix" which holds it in place the rest of the time.
When using the water soluble I just wet my finger and run it along the edge of the left over and it adheres to the other piece.
Pieces of stabilizer will multiply just like fabric scraps - the more I use them there seems to be more. (The closet where I store them is dark so who knows what happens when the door is closed.)

JustAbitCrazy

Thanks for your help. I think I need to buy some different sized hoops, too. My machine only came with one hoop, which is about 5" x 7", I believe, and the motif I am appliqueing would fit in a 4" square, so a smaller hoop would waste less stabilizer.

notmorecraft

I sometimes use 505 and only put the stabiliser on the fabric enough for the embroidery instead of the whole hoop.

Sandygirl

You should have a "trace" option too. You can trace the area that the machine will be stitching the image in. Then adjust the size of the tear away needed. The trace opting sends the needle around the perimeter of the design space. I use it all of the time. What machine do you have?

sandy

QuiltMom2

If you become well and truly addicted to machine embroidery, get stabilizers by the BIG roll (20"x 100 yds) on sale at ThreadArt. I do a lot of FSL (first year about 200 angels, next year 400, then 500 plus 20 bright red poinsettia pins for the choir/readers at Christmas). Looking back, I wasted more stabilizer in the beginning because I was still learning the machine and hadn't figured out what designs worked well. Those big bulky rolls remain in their plastic wrap until needed under my cutting table. They're about the only thing in my sewing space that is neatly tucked away!

mermaid

I have 2 methods..I sew the scraps together with wash-a-way thread, and I seldom hoop stabilizer. Instead I hoop the item to be embroidered and slide a scrap of stabilizer under the hoop where the design will be. The sales person instructed me to do this many yrs ago when I bought my 1st machine.

JustAbitCrazy

[QUOTE=Sandygirl;7851762]You should have a "trace" option too. You can trace the area that the machine will be stitching the image in. Then adjust the size of the tear away needed. The trace opting sends the needle around the perimeter of the design space. I use it all of the time. What machine do you have?

I have a Brother PE-770 I bought new. It does have the trace feature, but I am hooping the stabilizer. Are you not hooping the stabilizer?

romanojg

There are a few things you can do. I keep a tote bin for my different used stabilizers. There are times when you may need to double up on stabilizers, you can hoop a whole sheet and then I use spray (like 505) except that I use the one from Walmarts and I add it to the full sheet, as many layers as I need. There are times where you'll need it on top of a design, like on a towel or even doing fonts, they stand up so much nicer if you float a piece on top of the fabric along with the one in the hoop. I also make garments and sometimes when either sewing or serger I'll need a small amount of stabilizer to hold the edge when doing special hem finishes and this is a great place to use leftovers. The water stab. can also be used to soak FSL in to make it stiffer when you need it to stand up. As you embroider more you'll find a way to cut cost and it won't take you long to figure out areas to use those odds and end pieces. Just like when I'm doing FSL in a project for the kids and I want it to hold up longer and knowing the kids are going to play with I'm not spending a fortune in thread, I up my needle size, slow down my machine, float several pieces of water sol to make it stronger and I use serger thread. It turns out great and I love variegated thread and there are so many varieties in color. There are a lot of ways to save money, I hate to throw away things if I can avoid it, little pieces of fabric that I used to throw away, I now save for emb when It also includes applique.