Is there a special way to hoop stretchy fabric And do you use water soluble stabilizer? It is for a tee shirt. Thank you. You guys or so good to answer all these thing for use.

I hoop a sticky wash-away stabilizer. I use a fusible cut-away no show mesh on the shirt itself (I do about the size of the stitch area as a "patch"). Then I mark the sticky with the placement does from the template and I mark the shirt with the placement dots from the template and I line it up and stick it down. I lay a piece of solvy on the top of it and I then baste all of it together with wash-away thread. I make lots of knit shirts and this works very well for me. PS: If it is a really dense design I will do two pieces of cut-away at different angles ironed on to the back but otherwise the same method.

I use a soft no show mesh that is cut away. Thanks Suzanne

I just did a thin, thin T-shirt and used two layers of soft and sheer cut-away, turned out beautifully.

I stiched out a design on a childs tee shirt and used tear away. It looked wonderful until I tried to remove the tear away. My advice DO NOT use tear away stabilizer, it can ruin the tee shirt :(
Glad it was an old tee shirt I was trying to cover a spot on, I just tossed it in the garbage. It was a heavy weight tee shirt and I had just changed my needle before stitching.
Test on a piece of scrap of the same weight material first so you know how it stitches out and what probelms you night encounter.
Good Luck!

make sure you wash & dry the t-shirt before stitching, in case it shrinks..no matter what stabilizer you use shrinkage will ruin the design!
guess how i know..hehe

I use an iron on mesh backing which I then mark the design center on. I hoop tear away, use spray adhesive (KK2000) and match up the markings on the mesh. Then I use thin wss on top and a ball point needle. If I haven't added a baste stitch, I will pin the t down outside the sewing area.
Jo

I also hoop stabilizer for knit and spray sticky on the stabilizer and put the t´shirt on without streching. And remeber to use ballpoint needle or else you could get small holes in the fabric

I personally hate cutaway. I know that it is supposed to be used for stretch fabric. I hoop tearaway, carefully stick the garment down, without stretching. If the design is dense I 'float' another piece of tearaway underneath. I always use the 'cloud' on the back as it gives a nice finish. When I first started I tried hooping stretch material - it just does not work - for me anyway. Sarah.

Definitely a cut away stabilizer, either sticky back (hoop the stabilizer & stick the shirt to it) or iron on (hoop both). Make sure you have enough stabilizer if the design is dense. If you want to put a clear wash-away or heat'n'gone on top to keep the stitches from sinking in, that's fine, too. Depends on the design and the heaviness of the t-shirt material. Whatever you do, when you attach the stabilizer to the shirt, don't stretch the material. And you'll probably want something like 'cloud cover' to iron on the back over the stitches when it's done, especially for a child, or you'll get complaints about it being "itchy". Grownups mostly don't care about "itchy", hee hee hee, at least I don't. Best of luck, hugs, Marji

I use a cut-a-way stabilizer with a wss on top. I do not hoop my shirt only the cut-a-way stabilizer. I do use a little spray to keep the shirt in place and then I do a fix stitch on my machine. I'm sure another Cutie will give you their special way. I don't do many shirts but this is what has worked for me.

You should use a cutaway stabilizer for stretch fabric. I use 2 layers because the fabric is not stable you need to compensate for that. Also when you hoop make sure it is firm but don't stretch it.
Alice.

1 comment

by vickiannette 14 Aug 2011

good answer Alice

emblibrary has tutorials on embroidering almost anything. Save the water soluble for your fsl