I have been doing embroidery for a few years now. But every once in a while the stitches come undone from the design. How do I correct this problem? It seems to happen on shirts mostly.

These ladies are better than encyclopedias - you want to know something and lots of helpful answers come straight back!! *4U

Are you trimming the threads on the inside of the shirts?? Sometimes if you trim the little "KNOT HAIRS" too closely it will release your stitches. If you are talking about knit shirts this is what I do, I never trim the back threads and I trim my cutaway very close. Then I put an iron on No Show Mesh on the inside of the shirt over the back of the design. Has worked on all the grandkids shirts and believe me they play hard. Hope you find a solution. *4U

I will usually use fray check at beginning & ending of each color n design but stabalizer plays a big part also from keeping your stitches n tact

relaxsew, I use a product by June Taylor called "FrayBlock" that is wondeful - but not sure that you would think to use it for every design - I beleive that reason that stitches come out in shirts is because of the material that they are made of - you see little holes in them often - without embroidery in them - so if you can imagine putting all that extra thread on top of that material - so your stablizer is really important on shirts, too. *4U Shirlene

3 comments

by relaxsew 13 May 2008

I have changed to cut away instead of tear away. And that does seem to help.

by shirlener88 14 May 2008

Good!

by shirlener88 14 May 2008

Use the Fray Block on those ends, too!

I too have used Fraycheck (or some other brand I can't remember at the moment)... stops fraying instantly.

You can add lock stitches at the points that are unraveling if your software has that capability. Digitizers using commercial software might use different types of lock stitches. Some consist of more stitches than others. If no lock stitches were digitized and the design relies on jump stitch length to know when to lock/trim keep in mind that home embroidery machines do not recognize jump stitch lengths as short as those recogized by commercial embroidery machines. FrayCheck (or other brand) is another way to secure stitches at those points particularly for items that will be machine washed. Children's clothing should then have a soft iron on material added to keep the design from irritating the skin. I will be looking for other suggestions from readers myself.

Marcelle

2 comments

by shirlener88 13 May 2008

Marcelle, I don't remember seeing you post before - so let me welcome you to the 'CUTE' family and please join in often - we are always looking for answers like this. Thank you and *4U

by relaxsew 13 May 2008

I will have to check to see if I have the capablity. Thanks for all the suggestions!

I should add that not all the stitches come undone. Just a few at the begining or end of letters etc.

3 comments

by dstipdonk 13 May 2008

When that happens, I use fraycheck, and that stops any further damage

by relaxsew 13 May 2008

Ok, I will try that. Is there something that I have done to make this happen? So that maybe I can prevent it?

by jrob 14 May 2008

You are probably trimming the thread on the back too much. If it is not for a small child that could get their fingers caught in it, I don't trim it, use fray check and then a product like cover the back or a mesh iron on. Problem solved;)