1 Webinar Q&A: Embroidery Stabilizers The Hidden Hero of Designs Q: With a thick cardigan, would you use Cut Away backing and 1 or 2 pieces of Aqua on top? A: Yes, a medium to heavy weight Cut Away backing would be recommended. Depending on the intricacies of the design itself, you could use either one or two pieces of E-Zee Aqua Supreme Topping. Q: What about for a baby blanket that you really don't want all that backing on the final product? I use Tear Away, is that okay? A: When the fabric and design are able to support the design and withstand the pressure of tearing away the backing, a Tear Away backing will work well. If the design is delicate, you may want to consider the E-Zee Cut Washaway stabilizers. Q: Can you talk about the proper way to use Badgemaster? A: Badgemaster can be used for stand alone lace or for creating embroidered badges and emblems completely out of thread. The trick is in the digitizing so that the end product is capable of holding itself together once the Badgemaster is washed away. Click Here for more information. Q: Do you ever combine a Tear Away backing with a Cut Away backing? A: Embroiderers often combine a Cut Away and a Tear Away backing for most of their embroidery. When using both together, be sure to place the Cut Away next to the garment with the Tear Away on the bottom. This allows you to cleanly remove the Tear Away first, before trimming the Cut Away backing. While using both may or may not be needed for the end product, the addition of the Tear Away aids in the hooping and stability during the embroidery process itself. Q: Why even use Tear Away if Cut Away is the better choice? A: Tear Away backings are recommended for use on heavy, stable fabrics that can maintain the stability of the design once the garment has been laundered. Tear Away is often used for the ease of being able to tear it away. It is most important to know that once a garment is washed, the Tear Away backing will eventually break down, supplying minimal stability to the fabric and design. Q: What do you do if the stabilizer is irritating to the skin of the person but it needs Cut Away? A: Backing finishers or stabilizers called Cover-All are available to cover the underside of finished embroidery. Often seen on the back of baby garments, these products have a soft smooth feel against the skin. Click Here for more information on these products. Q: Can you use Cut Away on woven fabrics also? I tend to use Cut Away for all of my left chest embroidery designs, regardless of the fabric type. A: That is a great practice! For most instances, you can not go wrong with a Cut Away stabilizer. Keep the information below available to help you determine which type to use: Cut Away Stabilizers Use on Knits and Lightly Woven Fabrics Tear Away Stabilizers Use on Tightly Woven Fabrics (such as denim, canvas, duck cloth, etc.) Q: Which is better: 2.5 or 3.0 ounce Cut Away? A: The design elements will determine the best weight for which stabilizer to use. Remember to keep in mind that a quality 2.5 oz. stabilizer may provide the same quality as an economical 3.0 oz. stabilizer!
2 Q: On the Washaway should you remove the paper it is attached to before embroidering? A: When using E-Zee s Cut Washaway Plus with a pressure sensitive adhesive, yes, you do remove the release paper to expose the adhesive first. Click Here for more information. Q: What was the website for easy backing info again? A: If you want to browse E-Zee Backing & Topping stabilizers: Click Here If you want to view our Backing Basics webinar: Click Here Q: What is best used on the fishing shirts? A: Since fishing shirts can be lightweight woven and/or thin slippery performance fabric, the low profile E-Zee Weblon No Show and E-Zee Cut Performance stabilizers are a great choice for designs with 7,000 to 10,000 stitches. Q: What is the best backing for fleece, like for a throw? A: With the underside of the embroidery being visible from time to time, a Tear Away stabilizer can be used if it can be torn away cleanly. Q: What weight of stabilizer for the flour cloth stitching? A: For a lightly woven fabric, using a Cut Away Washaway stabilizer would give the ultimate end result after it has been laundered. If you use a lightweight Tear Away, be sure that the design can withstand the tearing away process. Q: How important is the size of the hoop in relation to the design? Does a smaller hoop offer any more (stability) to a smaller design or does it not matter? A: Very important! It is best to always use the smallest hoop you can for the design. This not only allows for easy hooping it keeps movement of the fabric to a minimum to provide the best stitch-out. Q: Do you have future webinars planned? A: We currently produce six webinars each year. We are in the planning stages of our next webinar at this time. It will be on June 14 and is about combining threads and colors for unique effects. Our guest speaker is Erich Campbell. The first invitation will be going out soon! Q: Is there a print out of this webinar? A: Yes, all promised links can be viewed: Click Here. Q: I am confused by whether to use Weblon No Show or E-Zee Cut Performance? A: It is really a matter of preference. They both perform equally well when used on thin, stretchy polyester and other thin fabrics. E-Zee Weblon No Show is a non-woven stabilizer. E-Zee Cut Performance is a woven stabilizer. Q: I am having problems with "folding" after washing on left chest logos on performance ware. I have not had pucker problems, just the folding after. A: Generally speaking, if your design is folding or waving or curling, the stabilizer is not adequate for supporting the design and fabric. You can try going to a heavier stabilizer or adjust the digitizing to lighten up on the larger fill areas. For example, try adding more underlay stitches and lighten up (lessen) the density.
3 Q: I did a large vine monogram on the back of one of those Columbia fishing shirts. It was light and thin and I had quite a bit of puckering. I didn't want to use Cut Away for the obvious reason: the line of your backing showing through. What should I have used? A: You need to use a Cut Away to avoid the puckering on these lightweight woven garments. With these low profile (thin) stabilizers, you should be able to trim closely to the designs. Q: I have problems with left chest sew outs on 100% poly. A: We call these performance wear or the new term, Athleisure fabrics. Click Here to view our Think Light webinar that talks about the challenges and solutions to embroidering on this stretchy fabric. Q: What do you mean by "low profile" backing? A: Many Cut Away backings have a loft to them, meaning that they are thick, like a thin felt. A new trend in stabilizers are the thinner, no show styles. We call them low profile because they are thin and do not add bulk to the back of an embroidered design. Q: When embroidering on performance wear and using the non-woven stabilizer, how do you know when to use two pieces or one? A: E-Zee Weblon No Show, the non-woven stabilizer, can support 7,000 to 8,000 stitches. Depending upon the characteristics of the design itself, up to 10,000 stitches can still be supported. Since this is a low profile, or thin, stabilizer you can use two pieces if more stabilizer is needed to support a larger design. Keep in mind that the fabric itself also needs to be able to support the design. Q: Would you double layer the No Show or use a Tear Away with it? A: So long as the fabric can support the design, you can use a lightweight Tear Away stabilizer underneath the E-Zee Weblon No Show in order to help with hooping and holding the fabric still during the embroidery process. Q: Can you use Polymesh on the performance wear? A: E-Zee Weblon No Show and E-Zee Cut Performance are the best stabilizers to use. E-Zee Polymesh is a slippery, lightweight woven stabilizer and will not provide enough stability for the designs. Please note that some embroidery companies call the Weblon No Show stabilizers Poly Mesh. Q: I've tried the Weblon No Show and my design seemed to pucker more than when I use the regular Cut Away backing. Why? Am I doing something wrong? A: Keep in mind that Weblon No Show can support a limited amount of stitches. For larger designs, using two pieces may do the trick. If you are not embroidering on the lighter weight fabrics, sticking to a basic Cut Away stabilizer may be the best one to use. Q: I am new to embroidery. Is there a certain collection of stabilizers that I should invest in to begin this adventure? A: Great Question! Yes, you will want to have a medium Cut Away (2.5 oz.), a medium Tear Away (1.5 oz.) and Cap stabilizers if you plan to embroider on caps. Adding one of the performance wear backings, either E-Zee Weblon No Show or E-Zee Cut Performance, will provide you with a great arsenal of stabilizers to get you started. Q: Which is the best stabilizer for doing the stand alone lace? A: E-Zee Cut Washaway works great for stand alone lace.
4 Q: I have been asked to embroider sayings on lightweight hankies. What type of backing would you suggest? A: E-Zee Tear Waffle Just Right 1.8 oz. is a great stabilizer to use on handkerchiefs. It is recommended that the designs be lightweight. This stabilizer tears away easily and cleanly, causing no stress to the design. Q: I saw someone with a tee shirt that had a complete fill and then their name in the middle. But the tee shirt curled after washing. I don't want that to happen to me and would like to prevent it from happening! Was it from having too much backing or not enough? A: It is important to keep a fabric s limitations in mind when creating and choosing designs to embroider on them. It sounds as though the design you ve described would work great for, say, a canvas bag, but is too heavy for a tee shirt. Consider lightening up some of the design elements in order to lessen the amount of stitches for these lightweight garments. Q: Is it better to use a heavier weight backing versus a lighter weight to hold the design better? A: If you are finding that you are using too heavy a backing and that it is causing too much bulk on the underside of the embroidery, you may want to look into the digitizing of the design so that the appropriate stabilizer can be used to provide the best look of the garment. Q: Is there a stitch count that determines the number of layers of stabilizer? A: Generally speaking, using a single layer of stabilizer is the best practice. Less layers means less possible movement during the embroidery process. Q: Is there any time you wouldn't use stabilizer, for example, on wool felt? A: The use of a stabilizer ensures free movement of the embroidery hoop that glides over the needle plate during embroidery. Using a lightweight Tear Away stabilizer when no support is needed after the embroidery will ensure that good registration is maintained. Q: Does using Stick-On backing harm your machine? A: Using a quality Stick-On stabilizer like E-Zee Tear Stick-On 1.5 oz. will provide minimal build-up of glue on your needles. Keep in mind that the adhesive can break down over time. Heat and humidity will enhance this process, causing a build-up of glue on the needles. A product called Hook Wash was developed to clean any residue off of your needles. Q: Are you using Tear Away interchangeably with removable backing? A: No. The term removable, used with embroidery stabilizers, tends to refer to heat- or wateractivated toppings. Q: What is the name of the hat training you mentioned on YouTube? A: Meeting the Challenge Head On: Embroidering on Caps. You can find a link to it on www.madeirausa.com. Q: What stabilizer would be best for bath towels? A: For terry cloth bath towels, you can use either a Tear Washaway or Cut Washaway. Most importantly, do not forget to use E-Zee Aqua Supreme, water-soluble topping to keep the stitches from sinking into the terry. Q: How far away from the design should you cut away the Cut Away? A: Holding the Cut Away stabilizer, trim as close as you feel comfortable, no less than 1/8 th to ¼ of an inch. Be sure that you can always see the fabric of the garment as you trim away the stabilizer, to avoid nicks or holes.
5 Q: What is the name of the stand-alone Washaway one that you sell? A: E-Zee Cut Washaway 1.3 oz. Q: Are there some stabilizers that do need to be pre-shrunk? I have not heard of that. A: It is usually not necessary to pre-launder embroidery stabilizers. Q: Do your stabilizers shrink when steam pressed? That's the problem I've had. A: Most embroidery stabilizers are not affected by heat or steam. There are some that are made of Polypropylene or nylon that can be melted with too high a heat setting. It is best to test and always use a press cloth when pressing or ironing embroidered garments. Q: Does Weblon require pre-shrinking? If yes, then how do I pre-shrink it? A: No, it is not necessary to pre-launder this stabilizer. Q: What are the uses for the different weights of backings? A: Choosing a lightweight, medium weight or heavy weight stabilizer is determined by many things, including the design characteristics, the fabric on which you are embroidering and the end product. The bigger the design, the more stitches, with heavy fill areas will require a heavier weight stabilizer. Q: Is the Aqua the same as the Solvy? A: E-Zee Aqua Supreme and Solvy are branded names for water-soluble toppings. E-Zee Aqua Supreme is offered through E-Zee Backing & Topping, a division of Madeira USA. Solvy is available from a different distributor.