mountainwoman

I purchased a ddelightful collection of floral Redwork embroidery designs (for machine), and made a practice square, embroidering it on good quality muslin. It turned out perfectly, But I used tear-away stabilizer, and the stabilizer could not be removed from the very small interior parts of the flower. (I am a beginner at machine embroidery, which I plan on using to enhance my quilts, so bear with me when I ask what are probably stupid questions, please!) My question is this: What type of stabilizer should I have used? Perhaps a water-soluable one such as Wet n' Gone, or perhaps some kind of mesh-type stabilizer? I welcome any advice in this matter! I decided -so I must get on it Now- to make a simple quilted wall-hanging made up of 8 different redwork flower(I think) blocks, (8 1/2" blocks), 3X3 layout; the center block will not be redwork; it will be a fully embroidered cardinal with a bit of holly and a couple of berries at its feet. In a layout in Word, I copied and pasted the chosen designs, and it is lovely in its simplicity, which is why I am so taken with redwork, and the fully embroidered cardinal adds depth.

I have not decided if I want to use sashing or not, so I welcome any advice there, as well. Also, I suppose I should make a sleeve to hang it, but I honestly think it would be more interesting (rustic? old-fashioned?) if I had an exposed hanger -creates an exposed inverted "V"" when hung on a nail or Command hook. I was considering maybe making a short macramé strip (made up of square and half-knots) attached to a ring; I'm not sure how I would attach the two ends of the strip to the quilt, but there is surely a way.

This is a gift for a friend; she loves flowers and birds, and it is for the get-away cabin she and her husband recently bought in the mountains, so you can see why I am going for simplicity and a sense of the rustic.

Thanks for any advice on any part of this post!

Cari-in-Oly

Those little tiny bits are on the back side so no worries as long as they don't show on the front of the piece. Personally I don't care for tear away stabilizer so don't use it very often but if it worked for you in this instance then go ahead and use it for the red work. I wouldn't recommend it for the center piece however, you'll need more stabilization than tear away can give for a filled design. For 90% of my embroidery I use cut away stabilizers or Vilene. Sometimes I'll use two layers of Vilene and just treat it as a cut away. I have different weights of cut aways as small designs can use lighter weight and larger denser designs or a heavy weight fabric can call for a heavier weight stabilizer. For light weight fabrics sometimes I'll iron a light weight fusible interfacing to the back. It can be a steep(and expensive) learning curve to figure out what works for YOU. There aren't many hard and fast rules as what works for me might not work for you. The best thing to do is get several types of stabilizer and practice, practice, practice, keeping notes so you know what works for you and what doesn't. Keep your practice pieces so you can refer back to them.
One way to help keep costs down is not to buy the little packages of branded stabilizers. I buy stabilizer on bolts or rolls. It costs more initially but lasts much longer than a small package so is a big saving overall. For instance, you can buy Pellon stabilizers at JoAnns and Walmart on bolts by the yard and cut it yourself. A bolt of tear away for $20 lasts me for over a year, sometimes 2 years. I buy my cut aways on large rolls from Allstitch and it lasts a long time.
There are charts for figuring out what stabilizer to use on many major embroidery sites.

Cari

Pennyhal

Cari's advice is really good.

I do a lot of machine embroidery and matching the fabric to the right stabilizer without making the fabric too stiff takes time to learn. If you are happy with the outcome of your practice square, I'd stick with that as you don't have enough time to do some test squares with all the different combinations possible. If this is just for a wall hanging the "feel" of the fabric is not so important so using a tearaway is fine.

I would suggest that you starch your fabric first. I use a spray starch that I get at the grocery store or "Best Press" that I get at quilt stores on thin fabrics like quilting cotton. I like Best Press best. It doesn't burn like regular starch. Starching makes it easier to machine embroider, but you may need to iron it after it comes out of the hoop.

CanoePam

I used a washaway stabilizer plus a really heavy starch when I did redwork for a quilt. Starch until the fabric is really stiff, then put the washaway on back for the embroidery. You don’t need to remove the stabilizer when sewing, though you can trim it if you want. Note this only works if you can wash the finished quilt on warm. I have had inconsistent results with washaway stabilizer and cold water.

mountainwoman

Thank you so much for all y our advice. I think you are absolutely right -I need to work with different types of stabilizes and practice so I can see what does and doesn't work; also, thanks for the heads-up on buying stabilizer on bolts by the yard. I will look for the charts you mentioned on the embroidery sites I have bookmarked. The stabilizer I used with my Redwork worked just great on another "normal" embroidery pattern, but not with the Redwork. I think it is too heavy -it is medium weight. Lots to learn, but fortunately for me, I love LEARNING! Thanks so much!

mountainwoman

Oh, my! Starching would NEVER have occurred to me! Now, I have to ask you, and anyone else following this thread: Do you prewash your fabric? Since this is a wall-hanging, I didn't think I would need to pre-wash, much less starch. I will be purchasing different types of stabilizers and the starch you recommend! Thank you for your advice.

mountainwoman

Okay, I will try as you suggest -heavy starching, but can I not put the individual squares, as they are completed, in warm water to remove the washaway stabilizer? I had not intended to wash this particular piece, a wall-hanging.

Cari-in-Oly

When I'm embroidering on cotton whether it's for a quilt, wall hanging or clothing, I usually pre wash it to get the shrinkage done before I embroider. I don't want any puckering up after it's washed, especially when my embroidery happens to turn out exceptionally good. I use Magic Sizing instead of starch or best Press. I just like it better and not to sound like a broken record but it's cheap, only 97 cents a can at Walmart. Another thing you can try is using a temporary adhesive spray. I use 505 spray. I often use it to stick my fabric to the stabilizer, especially if I'm floating the project instead of hooping it. Sometimes I'll pin the item to the stabilizer instead of using the spray. There's just so many ways of doing everything in machine embroidery.

Cari

Gay

I know it's not the recommended thing, but I only use copy paper for stabilizing, as what won't tear off will come out when I soak the pieces in warm water. I cut my fabrics a bit larger & spray starch, and sometimes soak overnight - even lightly use a brush on the back if I want all the bits out. Have never had the threads break or shred, and the paper is a lot cheaper than the washaway, though I do use that at times. You do need to cut the paper out at the corners of the hoop so it all stays put when embroidering.