HI Toogie, I always hoop my tees, and use the tear away light weight-or average weight depending on the quality or weight of the tee. Some are thin others are thick so I use accordingly. I have learned by experimenting, and this still works the best for me. I have also used the light weight dissolving stabilizer on the top of the tee fabric, this helps too...one of the stabilizer manufactures recommends this too. Good luck and hope this helps you a bit:>) Hugs, ro

There is a good tutorial on EmbLibrary about emb. on tees. He hoops it. I don't. However I do use an iron on before I even start as knit will stretch, shift, etc. Then I use a good grade of cut away, after a wash or two it's soft. WSS on the top. I baste the shirt in the hoop as I have a hard time hooping things due to arthritis. You can also iron on a backing after you finish it you want it softer, like that fusiable knit stuff. But I'd wait until it's been washed a few times to see if it will soften.

the best stabilizer for T shirts is a fabric called poplin. It is a firm even weave light weight fabric normally used for sewing shirts and dresses etc. Use a pair of pinking shears to cut it off, so that it won't fray.

I too have problems, it seems ok if it not a very dense design, have a look at this link,

http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/SimpleProduct_ELP.aspx?CS_ProductID=PR1334&CS_Catalog=Elprojects

Nice design! Practice on an old t-shirt to find what works for you. You are almost there already. Don't give up.

Toogie - I have sent you a PM. Sarah.

I use an iron on tear-a-way and have had good luck with it. I have not tried this but thought of it, use a small piece of and old T-shirt and perhaps float it under the hoop? Not sure how it would work, but you could cut it close to the stitiches after you finish the embroidery.

Hi Toogie ! In my experience I found out, ( the hard way), to go ahead and use a cut away stabilizer. You can purchase a cut away/wash away if your design is not too dense. If it is dense the plain cut away works fine.
You can purchase an iron on product, cover a stitch, to place over the back of the final product.

Good luck!
Hugs to you, Bonnie

I do LOTS of tee's.... I use a fusible no show mesh a little bigger than the design in the area that will be stitched. I go two pieces (criss-crossed) if it is a dense design - say more than about 14,000 stitches. I hoop a wash-away sticky. Then I stick the shirt with the no show mesh to the sticky. Then I baste it all together (I put a washaway topper down before I baste so it stays in place and the stitches don't sink in). After it is all done and washed I trim the cut-away and then put pellon knit interface on the back. I cut it kinda raggy around the edges because it seems to hide them pretty well that way. Another lady I know cuts it with pinking shears (but I don't have working pinking sheers). Experimenting helps - good luck!

I don't hoop the T. I hoop a light cut away stabilzer , mark lines to find the center + , and set aside. Using an iron on mesh stabilizer, I put a piece on the back of the T, marking lines again. + This makes sure the knit fabric doesn't shift. I then spray the hoop stabilizer with some KK2000, make sure the lines match, and pin outside the design area, just for extra. After stitching, I trim the cutaway close, the mesh will pull away from the fabric, so I cut that, and if I want it to not be scratchy, I iron on some super light weight pellon brand stabilizer (like cloud cover stuff) and that makes it all smooth. The denser the design, you might need more of a cutaway .

when I do a T shirt or something like it, I prefer the soft sticky tear away stabilizer. I make this sticking/ glueing beneith the hope( sticky site up). And press the shirt on the sticky material to embroider the design. When finished I remove the shirt from the hope.Hope with all the answewrs and advices here,you will read a way that works for you too.Hugs Gerry

I hoop my T-s with tear away stabilizer and put WSS on top and never have a problem. I do, however , with large dense designs iron stabilizer and then put the tear away underneath after hooping. Hope this helps.

Toogie, it looks to me, that you have a stretchy T-shirt. Maybe I see wrong sorry if I am, but I only use 100% cotton now. I use sticky backing what I stick behind the shirt and than I than I hoop it all, or you could do as Gerry B suggested, but never ever stretch it. Just let it be naturally as it should be and I have extremely good results doing it that way. Pretty design, Hope it will be better on the next one.

Try some spray starch then iron gently on the back that will fix it lol

I always hoop my T-shirt and use cutaway stablizer. Works fine with me.

Don't feel badly, Toogie, you're not the only one! I originally got my embroidery machine just because I wanted to do t-shirts, and that ended up being the hardest thing for me to do! Hee hee hee. Finally my friend Debbie told me about the sticky cut-away stabilizer, and that worked for me. I must have used enough 505 spray to keep them in business for a year before that, and it still shifted and ended up mis-aligned. Believe me, some of my shirts looked far worse than yours does. I just love that design, by the way, so cute. Best of luck, now that you have a good education from the Cuties who are successful with doing t-shirts. Hugs, Marji

There is a very good Tutorial on Embroidering on Knit type Fabrics on the Floriani Website.
It shows how to stabilize them and what type of stabilizers to use See Link Below.

You can click on the pictures on the right side of the page to see a close up of each picture.

Hope this helps you!
EastWitch2

yes you can!! explain later. Kay

moc pěké

Ha! I've been too scared to do a tshirt all these years! Now I'm getting up the courage with all this info. What type/size needle do you use? Will the needle gum up with all the sticky stabilizers?