When a design has stitches running at many different angles relative to the fabric—particularly if those stitches are fills—the fabric can be pushed and pulled in a variety of directions. Most items we embroider stretch to some degree.
The more a fabric stretches the less stable it is. Stabilizers are products that may be placed behind the fabric backings , over the fabric toppings , or applied to the fabric starch, temporary spray adhesives.
The hoop is a critical part of the stabilizing formula. Additionally, a high distortion design is more likely to cause the fabric to slip in the hoop resulting in an additional problem where areas of the design become misregistered. Unless you are sewing on Lycra or similar fabric that is worn stretched across the body, fabric should be in a neutral position in the hoop. That means the fabric should be smoothly hooped and not stretched or distorted in any way. If you pull on the fabric after hooping, you are stretching it!
After embroidering, the fabric will relax back to its normal state and voila! In the case of Lycra, the goal is to stretch it to the point it will be worn on the body for a smooth embroidered finish. Yes, it will look hideous hanging on the hanger but we really only care how it looks hanging or stretched on the body.
The tighter the needle and bobbin thread tensions on the machine, the more pull there is on the stitches thus resulting in more distortion. And, as your machine speeds up those tensions increase. As tensions increase, thread is stretched and pulled tighter and tighter.
Polyester thread will stretch to a point before it breaks. You can think of this as having a memory of its natural relaxed state. Over the 24 hours after sewing and removing from the hoop, it will attempt to return to that state. The only difference between these two designs is that the one on the left was sewn with rayon thread and the one on the right with polyester.
This sample was sewn on a home machine at the default tensions. Each rose was sewn separately under ideal conditions except for adjusting the tensions. Compare the close-ups of the rose below and notice not only the wrinkles but the how far off the outline is. In my opinion, most home embroidery machines are tensioned too tightly for embroidery.
Also, a lot of commercial embroiderers set their tensions too tightly. Every time the tech comes to service my SWF, I have to readjust the tensions after he leaves to create a softer stitch.
If you have a home machine, your dealer may have sternly warned you about altering the tension screw on the bobbin case. Get a second bobbin case and adjust it as needed, reserving it for embroidery.
There is a way to measure bobbin tension and for that you will need a tension gauge. This is an often over looked reason for puckering. While we talk about embroidery on an item, we are technically embroidering through it.
Each needle penetration except the first and last has two pieces of thread in it—one going in and the second coming back out after the bobbin thread has been picked up. Not Hooping Correctly To achieve the best stabilization of your fabric, you should hoop your garment with the smallest hoop the design will fit in and make sure you are hooping your garment correctly. You want to create a taught tambourine like surface without stretching your garment. If you stretch your fabric when you hoop, you will freeze the fabric in a stretched out state under the stitches.
When this is done your embroidery will look fine while still hooped but when removed from the hoop all the fabric that is not locked under the stitches will relax and cause puckering. Thread Tensions To Tight Overly tight thread and bobbin tension can create too much pull on the stitches causing distortion and puckering. On lighter weight and delicate fabrics, sometimes using rayon thread, due to it's reduced stretchiness and lower required tensions, will produce a better looking pucker free design.
Poor Digitizing Great digitizing is a skill in itself separate from the skill of mastering embroidery. A professional digitizer will create design in a way that can take into account the fabric you are embroidering on and digitize to reduce puckering. Poorly digitized designs and designs using an auto-digitizer can sometimes stitch our poorly despite anything else you do. If they stretch while they are being embroidered or are stretched too much on the hoop, once they are taken off the hoop, there will be puckering.
And finally, another tricky category of fabrics that can easily pucker is very lightweight textile-like broadcloth or linen. Because they are so flimsy and thin, they can bunch up while being embroidered which results in puckering.
The solutions for avoiding puckering with these three types of fabrics are very different because the fabrics themselves are so different. Your strategy in preventing puckering with satins and nylons is to stop the slipping. After you remove the basting stitching, you would likely still see holes. Pinning the nylon windbreaker on floated stabilizer in the hoop is also probably not a good idea for the same reason.
One of the best ways to prevent slippage is to actually hoop and not float the fabric, especially if you are embroidering through two layers, like a lining and a top layer in a windbreaker, where the top layer can move around over the bottom layer.
By hooping both layers with a layer of cutaway stabilizer on the back, you stand a better chance of keeping them all together. Stitching with a new, sharp needle can also improve your pucker-free odds. An old, dull needle can snag and bunch up the fabric making it pucker. In addition, using a water-soluble topper can also help.
You will face additional puckering challenges if you try embroidering on a slippery, satin ribbon. What you can do, though, is adhere it to some hooped stabilizer and tape it down around the sides to secure it in place. Then, when you take it off the hoop, the fabric relaxes and bunches up around the stitching. Instead, you should secure a piece of fusible poly mesh on the wrong side of the fabric underneath the design, then hoop some tear-away stabilizer and float the knit fabric on top of it, adhering the knit to the tear-away using a spray adhesive or by using self-adhesive tear-away stabilizer.
Then, you can secure the knit to the stabilizer even more by pinning around the design area, as knits tend to be more forgiving in not showing pin holes.
Finally, float a piece of water-soluble topper over the design area. A couple additional precautions will improve your overall results. Knits should also be embroidered using a stretch needle. Regular needles break the fabric fibers and needles designed for stretch fabrics, push them out of the way. Hankies and other light materials can be tricky to embroider on because they are so light and flimsy that the stitching can pull it together causing bunches and puckering.
So, the secret to preventing puckering with the lightweight fabric is to temporarily give it some heft. You can do this in a couple of different ways. Spraying it with heavy starch is a good way to start. Then use at least one layer of tear-away stabilizer, although most people recommend two.
Adhere the layers of stabilizer to the cloth using temporary adhesive and hoop it all together. Light cotton broadcloths behave a bit like knits in that they can stretch a bit. Avoid over stretching them in the hoop. Unlike knits though, they are best embroidered with a smaller and very sharp embroidery needle and not a stretch needle. While puckering can occur when stitching out any type of embroidery design, very dense designs and small lettering can be the worst offenders.
Slowing down your embroidery machine can help keep it all together. After all, the quality of any embroidery design depends on how well it was digitized or created. This can cause registration issues and make the design pucker. Click here to download 5 Embroidery Legacy designs free now.
Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to rescue a project if you notice puckering is starting to occur. You can stop the machine and stick a layer of tear-away stabilizer underneath your hooped fabric then resume stitching.
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