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Embroidery Source originated as part of a world-wide group of companies dedicated to providing top quality products and services to the industrial embroidery industry. Our experience and knowledge base has been gathered during the 60 + years in business.
Here at the Embroidery Source web site we hope to pass on the knowledge which we have gathered during our many years of service to the embroidery industry. So, starting here we begin with some general information about the embroidery process, some of the traps and pitfalls and how you can avoid them and thereby enjoy your embroidery experience.
If you have any specific questions which we have not yet covered, please send us an e-mail at
What would you like to know?
Before you begin
Embroidery can be a very rewarding business or hobby and for most of the time a variety of products can be embroidered quite successfully. There are of course some limitations which if they are understood, can be avoided or perhaps worked around.
Prerequisites
The No.1 prerequisite . . . . . . . . a good quality embroidery machine. Believe me, not all makes and/or models are equal but let's assume that you do have a good machine.
You also need to consider the following:
1. Is the fabric suitable for embroidery
2. Can the fabric be fixed securely in a hoop - if not is there an alternative
3. The correct size and type of needle must be used for the fabric being embroidered.
4. The thread to be used must be suitable for the needle
5. The correct type of backing fabric should be selected to suit the fabric, the design & the method of fixing the fabric.
The fabric to be embroidered
A great variety of fabrics ranging from ladies nylon stockings through to leather . . . . . and would you believe even wood veneer can be embroidered. In most instances we work with fabrics which present few problems for the embroiderer. The following points should be considered before working with any new fabric.
* Is the fabric suitable for embroidery.
Fabric may be either too fine, too course, too tightly woven or even too loosely woven. Very fine fabrics may be damaged by the needle or the thread whereas very course fabrics like heavy webbing will most likely deflect the needle resulting in at best, skipped stitches and at worst, broken needles and possible damage to the needle plate and/or sewing hook. Very tightly woven fabrics can be tricky to embroider as they often show a high degree of puckering after embroidery.
* Some fabrics can be left with shiny hoop marks as a result of pressing the inner hoop into the outer hoop. Hoop marks are most noticeable on dark fabrics and can often be removed or reduced with the aid of steam which relaxes the fibres. Alternative methods of securing the fabric such as soft grip frames, stick down or flop-on may be an alternative.
*Poor quality fabrics
Some are especially prone to needle damage. This may be because they have been made with poor quality yarn or perhaps the fabric may have deteriorated because of inferior dyeing and finishing procedures. When a needle passes through fabric, the yarns should move to either side of the needle making room for the needle and then of course the thread (2 thickness' of thread for every stitch). When poor quality fabrics are embroidered, the fabric yarns resist the passage of the needle and thread. This can result in excessive puckering, pinholes, laddering or needle thread breakage.
*The hoop
There are many shapes, sizes and types of embroidery hoop. The most common being round, oval and rectangular. However there are a growing number of specialised hoops and hooping aids for tricky jobs. The rule of thumb is - use the smallest possible hoop which will hold the fabric securely and allow sufficient space in order to minimise the risk of running the needle into the frame. Some alternatives to standard embroidery hoops include: Cap frames, sock frames, and handkerchief frames. Some alternatives to using the above frames include: Stick down, flop-on and soft grip.
The needle
There are some general rules here
1. Make sure you have the correct type of needle for your machine. Sharp point needles for woven fabric and ball point for knitted fabric
2. Use the smallest size / thickness of needle possible for the fabric to be embroidered. Sixes 9, 10 & 11 are the most commonly used. However, some poor quality T-shirt fabrics may be damaged even by a size 11.
3. Regularly check needles for straightness and for any damage to the point. Rolling the needle on a flat surface will usually show up even a slight bend. To check for damage to the needle point, you can look at the tip of the needle whilst rolling the needle between your fingers. You can also run the tip of your fingernail down the point and off the end several times as you rotate the needle. (Many domestic embroidery machines require a needle which has a flat side - this makes it impossible to roll the needle). If there is damage to the point you feel that your finger nail catches on the burr on the point of the needle. If in doubt, change the needle . . . . they are not expensive!
Tip: Needles should be checked regularly. Incorrect needle size and/or failure to keep needles in good condition are two of the most common problems encountered by embroidery machine service centres.
The thread
The most commonly used machine embroidery threads are Polyester, Rayon, Cotton and Acrylic in 40s or 120s count. Theoretically, type and thickness of thread is determined by the needle size which is itself determined by the fabric. However, it is quite common to find embroiderers who are trying to embroider fine knit fabrics with very thick threads and wonder why they are having problems.
Remember: The needle is selected to suit the fabric and the thread is selected to suit the needle. If the needle is too large it can damage the fabric and if the thread is too thick for the needle it can cause skipped stitches, thread breaks, tension problems and thread jams in the needle hole.
Tip: There are good threads and there are bad threads. You might run a cheap rayon thread on a single head machine once and be pleased with the result - but run over a period of time and you will probably notice much higher threads breakage and worse still potential dye fastness problems. The same cheap thread when run on a high speed multi-head embroidery machine could be absolutely disastrous. Don't be Penny wise and Pound Foolish! What you save on buying cheap thread could cost you much, much more in stress, machine down time and potentially costly claims from your customers.
Embroidery Backings (Non-tear and tear-away types)
As a general guide to backing, I always recommend starting with, and sticking with (if possible) a good quality non-tear backing. Later on you may decide to experiment with lighter weights and tear-aways but do so with caution. The danger is that over a period of time you can begin to suffer minor deteriorations in finished embroidery quality which in themselves don't seem to amount to much but collectively they can make a significant difference.
There are some design/fabric combinations which will work well with a tear-away but be careful. There is a growing tendency to use tear-away backing for every job that comes along because it is so easy to remove but unfortunately the resulting poor quality embroidery is often only too obvious.
Backing weight / thickness
Light - Medium - Heavy (Non-tear and tear away) depending upon the fabric and the design to be embroidered.
Examples: Small stitch count designs on stretch fabrics may run well with a light to medium weight non-tear backing. Small stitch count designs on medium to heavy weight woven fabrics require minimal backing fabric and you may find that a medium weight tear-away backing produces good results. Embroidered badges on woven fabric would usually require a medium to heavy tear away, fusible backing.
Non fusible backings - are most commonly used. The fabric to be embroidered is secured to the backing fabric by underlay/tacking stitches.
Fusible backings - have a very fine coating of adhesive on one side. They can be secured to the top fabric by heat which melts the glue and thereby fixes the fabric very securely to the backing.
Underlay stitching
This is most often the first task required to be completed before beginning the covering stitch of most embroidery designs. Underlay stitching is not really a stitch type but is a combination of stitch types used to stabilise a piece of fabric so that it will not move or distort during the embroidery process.
Manual stitch
This type of stitch is commonly used for very small detail or for minor editing of designs. This is the most basic and time consuming type of stitch to use. A stitch is created each time the digitizer moves the mouse or cursor and clicks the input button to create a stitch. The length and direction of the stitch are both controlled by the digitizer. If the digitize has both the time and patience, then even the most complex of designs can be created using manual stitch. However, this would be a very slow and costly method of digitizing. It is a little like painting a large surface with a single brush hair as compared to a spray gun - the end result may look much the same, but the time taken would be massively higher. Another downside of using manual stitch is that it is very difficult to edit designs which have been produced with manual stitch. If the length or density of stitching needs to be changed, then every single stitch must be repositioned individually.
Run stitch
This stitch is used mostly for travel stitching (to get from one block of stitches to the next without trimming the thread) outlines, details and shading. Run stitch is a much faster method of inputting the information required to produce a line of stitches. Run stitch follows a line which runs end-to-end very much like that produced by a regular lock stitch sewing machine. A straight line of stitches requires only that the desired length of stitch be entered followed by the start and end points of the line. The software automatically generates a perfectly straight line of stitches which are all the same length.
Note: when a predetermined length of line cannot be filled exactly with the length of stitch which was input, then the program will automatically shorten the last stitch so as to make sure that a stitch falls at the end of the line.
Bean stitch / triple run
The input method for this stitch is the same as for run stitch however the method of stitching is different. The Bean stitch runs like this: forward 2, back 1, forward 2, back 1, Etc.. Three stitches are produced on top of one another which tend to bulge in the middle (like a bean) creating a bolder line than run stitch. Some software such as Barudan Punchant allows both the length of stitch and the number of repeats to be set between 3 and 15.
Zig zag
This is most often used as an underlay stitch or for stitching the edges of a piece of appliqué fabric down. A zig-zag stitch looks much like the apex formed by the roof of a house where neither stitch is at right angles to the edge of the fabric and where the embroidery frame moves the same distance between each stitch. E stitch Satin stitch Fill / Tatami - Seeding stitch.
E-stitch
E-stitch is used mostly as either a decorative edge stitch or as a method for stitch on appliqué fabric. The stitch moves on to the fabric at right angles to the edge then along parallel to the edge and finally off at right angles to the edge again. The next stitch moves back onto the fabric exactly on top of the last exit stitch, then along and then off again.
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