We already featured in our previous post the different types of fabrics that embroidery digitizers can be used in their projects. On that post, we categorized fabrics according to applications and type of weave. Woven is part of the major class of fabric and do you know that most embroidery digitizers would be comfortable using such class of fabric in their embroidery digitising job? Yes, that’s true! Digitizers would love to make use of woven fabrics in embroidery digitizing because they are pretty stable compared to non-woven and knitted fabrics. Aside from that, woven fabrics do not stretch a lot at the same time typically have nice and smooth surface. With these good qualities of woven fabrics, it is much easier and faster for the digitizers to produce aesthetically pleasing designs on their embroidery digitising project.
However, there are also a couple of things that embroidery digitizers should watch out for in order to bring the best embroidery designs.
Puckering – Puckering in embroidery simply refers to gathering small wrinkles or folds on the fabric. This is a result of backing due to lack of support, using big sizes of needles on the fabric, using long and/or too many stitches, at the same time applying too much tension to the fabrics during hooping. So how can embroidery digitizers keep the woven material from puckering?
- Make use of right needles for the fabric.
- Use short stitches, especially in the underlay.
- Guide the fabrics evenly through the sewing machine.
- Watch out or the very thin or single layers of fabric.
- Fuse the stabilizer to the fabrics before embroidering.
Hooping - Hooping in embroidery is all about placing the fabric into embroidery sewing machine hoop. Since woven fabrics are thin in nature, this can allow them to move around in the hoop and result to a horrible design. And how can digitizers combat this embroidery digitising problem?
- Keep the fabric in secure hoop as the sewing machine starts to stitch out the design.
- Make sure the material is pretty tight but not stretched.
- Ensure also that the fabric is smooth and flat.
Stabilizing – Stabilizing is also very important in embroidery digitising because it adds rigidity to the fabric while stitching out the design. Keeping the fabric stable is vital during the embroidery process to ensure that the design is in proper position. Common indication that the fabric is not stabilized properly is when the outline does not align with the rest of the design. So how do embroidery digitizers resolve this issue?
- Use the right type of stabilizer for the fabric.
- Slide an extra piece of stabilizer under the hoop if the design has a great deal of satin stitches.
- When stitching a higher density design, make sure to use a stabilizer with accurate density tolerance.