Crabby Patty

I use medium weight tear-away stabilizer on my machine embroidery. Then just tear it away from the back. I have some patterns now that have intriquite (sp?) designs and it is hard to pull the stabilizer away in between the stitches. Does anyone know of an easier way to get the stabilizer off the back? Would soaking in water help? Please help. Thank you in advance. :oops:

sewwhat85

there is a water soluble stabilizer that can be rinsed away also one the disappears when ironed

Prism99

I don't do embroidery, so haven't tried this with embroidery designs, but for machine applique (both invisible and satin stitch) I just heavily starch by backing fabric so it doesn't require stabilizer. I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water. The backing fabric comes out with about the stiffness of cardstock. I never had any problems with tunneling or distortion when doing satin stitch applique. I think this would work for intricate embroidery as well. Of course, you have to be willing to wash or rinse the piece to get the starch out afterwards.

Crabby Patty

Prism99
Thank you, I will give this a try. It can't hurt.Patti

CoyoteQuilts

Sorry to say that fabric starch won't make your fabric stiff enough to do machine embroidery. The stabilizer keeps the stitches from pulling the fabric into the design. You will be better off going with one of the other types of stabilizer. Some fabrics need to have a permanent stabilizer so that the design doesn't sag after wash and dry, some you can use the iron or wash away stuff. It just depends on what you want your end results to look like. At times I also use the sewing stabilizer (which is lots cheaper) depending on what I am using it for.

quiltmaker

I only use the washaway stabilizer in mine. Have you tried using tweezers to pick away at the more difficult areas? I haven't tried tearaway so am unsure how well it would work with water but everything is worth a try. You don't need to drown it just apply the water where needed and see if that and tweezers help.

Cherylsea

Wash away or heat away stabilizers will work better though starch does help. You can rip out stitches using tearaway.

scowlkat

Do not use starch as a stabilizer for embroidery! Doesn't work. I like a peel away stabilizer or a water soluble best. Never have cared for the tear away and have never had occasion to use the cut away stabilizer. When I started embroidery, I let the sales person talk me into one of every kind of stabilizer they sold! Some I still have never opened and that was in 2003!

Holice

spray with water and it will come off easier. Use twisers to pull the little ieces out.

jajudd24

Water soluable for difficult areas....Works great...