by bluerhino 04 Jun 2010

I need to figure out what I am doing wrong! I have been trying to make an applique design onto a tee shirt. I use a shirt that has been washed without fabric softener, tear away stabilizer, spray adhesive to hold the fabric on the shirt and WSS once I start doing the color fill part of design.


The design comes out great but when I wash/dry the shirt the fabric around the appplique and/or wording looks smashed around the design! What can I do to fix this problem I keep having?

-Do I need to stretch the shirt tightly in the hoop? I have been just hooping the area I want to embroider on but I do not stretch out the shirt when I hoop it. Any help is appreciated thank you!

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by lbrow 06 Jun 2010

I always use an iron on stabilizer (pinked around edges with pinking shears, then a cut away stabilizer in hoop. I do not hoop the tee but baste it on the cut away in the hoop with it neatly spread . Mine turn out great. Hope somewhere in all these answers you find a solution for your problem. Best of luck to you *

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by sewmom 06 Jun 2010

I found this great link inside the link that lv2sew gave us. Thank you.

1 comment
bluerhino by bluerhino 06 Jun 2010

Thank you!

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by crousse 05 Jun 2010

Great question and answers....thanks!

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by baydreamer 05 Jun 2010

Note, I like to starch the applique fabric really heavy then iron, for some reason it seems to trim out nicer , this will help in strinking the fabric so you don't have to pre wash it.

1 comment
bluerhino by bluerhino 05 Jun 2010

Thanks for this tip! I will try it too. I just finished washing some applique fabric so if I can skip that step it will help with my time.

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by baydreamer 05 Jun 2010

You just can not use tear away stabilizer. I use it but on top of this I use another stabilizer that will not wash away. I sew this only where I need it under the design then , I like to pin the tshirt then use basting stitches to hold it in place but u can hoop the tshirt.

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by mariahail 05 Jun 2010

spray a little starch and iron from the inside out****

1 comment
bluerhino by bluerhino 05 Jun 2010

Thank you!

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by haydebug 05 Jun 2010

Wonderful question!

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by bluerhino 05 Jun 2010

Thank you for the link

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by lv2sew 05 Jun 2010

This may help..once I read this I had great success with knits. hope this helps..

1 comment
haydebug by haydebug 05 Jun 2010

This is great thanks for the info!

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by lv2sew 05 Jun 2010

do not use tear away..use a cutaway

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by motownmarie 05 Jun 2010

good question and great answers thanx all ofyou!

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by 02kar Moderator 05 Jun 2010

It looks like you have already had plenty of help. And I know these suggestions will work.

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by bluerhino 04 Jun 2010

Thank you for the help. I will try these out and hopefully will have some luck this time.

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by maeeast67 04 Jun 2010

Tee shirts are usually made of knit fabric, so use a cutaway, not a tearaway stabilizer. And as sciencewidow suggests, try a ballpoint embroidery needle.

1 comment
bluerhino by bluerhino 04 Jun 2010

Thank you! I will try this type of stabilizer.

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