All About Machine Embroidery Stabilizers II

Today is a carry-over from yesterday’s topic of Tear-Away stabilizers.

The topic today is Cut-Away stabilizers. As the name suggests, this stabilizer is removed by cutting it away.

Today’s Question: Why do I need Cut-Away stabilizer; wouldn’t Tear-Away work?

Well, yes and no. Cut-Away stabilizer is permanent and designed to remain in the fabric with the design. It is primarily used when embroidering on knits.

Why can’t you just use the Tear-Away on knits? Well, Tear-Away will eventually disappear after a few washings. If you were to embroider a design on something like a t-shirt, when the t-shirt was washed all of the stabilizer would be removed and the design would crumple.

Another reason is the nature of knits. If the stabilizer does not remain, then stitching out the design would cause small holes in the knit fabric.

Not a pretty site.

You hoop your stabilizer and fabric just like when using a Tear-away. However, when you layout your item to be embroidered, you can actually pin it to the Cut-Away stabilizer.

This is ideal for smaller items like kid’s onesies and t-shirts that don’t fit well into a hoop.

Just like Tear-Away, Cut-Away comes in a sticky-backed stabilizer. This type of stabilizer is intended for really hard to hoop fabrics.

I.always.use.this.for.knits!

One thing to remember with sticky-backed stabilizers, your needle can get gummed up from the ‘sticky’ stuff on the stabilizer.

This can cause your thread and/or needle to break. To avoid this, I keep packages of alcohol swabs next to my machine.

When I see the needle start to have trouble I just run the alcohol swab around it to get off any sticky residue. This works every time.

When cutting away the stabilizer after you’ve embroidered, it is a good idea to have it flat on a table. Take.your.time because you don’t want to get too close and accidentally cut the fabric instead of the stabilizer.

While Tear-Away may be be an all-purpose stabilizer; Cut-Away always leaves you with a stable design that will hold up under a variety of circumstances.