ABCOLN FASHIONS
ABCOLN FASHIONS
After some advice from my local dealer, I tried the shirt again. The hoop used is 300 mm X 200 mm. I have three layers of 3 oz. cut away under it. The design is simply letters (two rows of names) Now the part that didn't seem to make sense. My dealer recommended trimming the cut away around each individual letter so that when washed, the stabilizer wouldn't be the cause of the shirt pucker. Isn't the lack of sufficient stabilizer the problem with shirt pucker? Well, the shirt is stitched and now I need to decide how to trim the stabilizer (just leaving three sheets of 400 mm X 400 mm isn't acceptable!). It's a 100% cotton polo. Any recommendations?
In my opinion you are using too much backing. 3 oz cutaway is heavy and your using 9 oz. Maybe you have the wrong kind of backing. Some we have used in the past shrink after washing. Maybe try washing the polo and checking out how it looks.
EmbroideryMore.com
Dec 11, 2016
In my experience with large designs, I have decided that the culprit for puckering is often the stabilizer shrinking up and not the shirt or embroidery when you have sufficient stabilizer. So, I regularly trim around each letter of extra-large monograms to prevent puckering. It also looks better and has a better hand, I think. For one of my projects, I steam press or wet in hot water and dry the stabilizer to shrink it more. Some stabilizers are better than others. Testing is the best way to find what works for you.
I would never use 3 layers of 3 oz cut away on a polo shirt. I would use one layer of 3 oz cut away (next to the shirt) and one layer of crisp tear away (on the outer layer). The combination gives the right amount of structure. I'd trim as much as possible. On things like waffle weave shower curtains with large monograms, I may use 2 layers of crisp tear away or one layer of no-show and the tear away. Then, steam press from the back on a nice thick towel if the article will tolerate it. I only steam the waffle weave.
ItTakesAStitch.com
Dec 11, 2016
In spite of my error, it came out. One shirt done.
However, I'd like some more information on that "crisp tear away" on the outer layer. I'm going to keep practicing until I get this right. I have tear away, but don't know its weight.
I pre-wash the shirts, but pre-washing the stabilizer never occurred to me - what a great idea!
Don
Dec 11, 2016
You prewash shirts!? I would never have time to do that and then get them back to looking new.
I only do the preshrinking of stabilizer on quilt labels that I make for one customer.
The crisp tear away is the Tear Away Plus 1.8 oz from Madeira, but there are others. Usually, I only use this on the outer layer combined with a "no-show" lightweight stabilizer which isn't sturdy enough to hold the stitches. As long as tear away stabilizer is combined with adequate underlay stitches, it can be used for many applications that might "normally" use a cut-away.
Experiment, do a wash test and evaluate your results.
Roy
Dec 11, 2016
