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    Testing water soluble film replacement materials

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 5 comments, 4,349 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    A lot of people on the Web say that you may use plastic food bags instead of water soluble film, which is quite expensive. What's interesting is that not only my fellow compatriots write about it, but our western colleagues as well. Those who do not know how to use the water soluble film, are very welcome to read this article. 
    The question is quite an interesting one, especially if we look at it from the standpoint of an embroiderer who tries to save the consumables.
    Therefore, I decided to test all the potential replacement materials in order to make sure that this method works. 
    So, I'll try to replace thin (10 microns) water soluble film with the following materials: 

    Plastic food wrap (comes in rolls).  Plastic bags used for food freezing. I want to point out that the bad I have here is quite thick.  I created a small monogram for embroidery on terry cloth. And made 3 copies of it right in the editor, without changing the parameters. This was necessary, because I wanted to see the difference between the test pieces. 

    I embroidered the first monogram on the leftovers of the water soluble film: 

    The second monogram was embroidered on a food bag: 

    And the third one — on the food wrap: 

    After having embroidered all 3 test pieces, I decided to embroider just one letter. I changed the design so it looked like this: first came the understitching, then the machine made a stop, and after that all the finishing stitches were embroidered. 
    Why would I need to do it this way? The answer is simple: so that to remove the film after having embroidered the underlay and before the finishing stitches. I've seen this several times. In my opinion, the necessity of creating the design in a highly unusual way it a great disadvantage of this method, for you have to draw the underlay by hand. But I wanted to see if there were differences between the standard way of digitizing and this one. 
    This time instead of water soluble film I used the food bag. I used it only to embroider the underlay: 

    Having stopped the machine, I tore the bag off: 

    After that I embroidered all the finishing satins without any topping: 


    Now all three tests were completed. All that's left was taking them off the machine, and thoroughly remove the film and the bag. I haven't managed to get rid of all the leftovers: 

    The process of removing the film or stabilizer from an item is the dullest and extremely wearisome part of the embroidery on terry cloth for me.
    Especially on terry cloth, where there is always a possibility of catching the loop and pulling it out. And what's the most remarkable, it is always hard to remove all the ones that stick out, though it seems so easy. Besides, the cleaning process is rather long if you do not use some additional means, but just pluck the film from under the embroidery. Those of you who have done that, will understand. 
    Then I did the pressing. I decided not to take a risk of pressing the item it as it was, but used the stabilizer leftovers for protection. Just in case: 

    Now can you can see the results: 

    Water soluble film (the first monogram counting from the top) is good as always. Though the film does not come off after steaming, you can remove it using the wet cloth.  Embroidery on a food bag is just as good. And besides, all the leftover pieces disappeared after the steaming, leaving no trace.  The embroidery on the food wrap is the worst of three — I mean the smoothness of the stitches. The leftovers did not disappear after the steaming. It seems impossible to remove them by hand, because the wrap is extremely stretchy.  Stopping the machine in the middle of the embroidery I now consider an over caution, for it only complicates both digitizing and embroidery processes. 
    Summary: an ordinary plastic food bag can be a perfect water soluble film replacement. At least, with terry cloth, where is works very well. I think that even washing won't change the look of the embroidery. As for embroidery on velvet, the matter is still in question. 
    P.S. I would not recommend using the polythene bag for complex designs with small details, for it would be hard to remove, and steaming will cause it to roll up and to create rather hard 'ribs' along the perimeter. 
     

    Flat knot that goes through needle's eye

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 6,178 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    Perhaps, everybody knows how tiresome it is to change thread color on multi-head embroidery machines. As for single needle embroidery machines, inserting the thread into the needle's eye every time when you need to change color is quite a wearisome task, too. Therefore, every embroiderer could use the skill of joining the ends of two threads into a flat self-tightening knot that passes through the needle's eye. It is especially true if you insert a very thick thread (like acrylic) into the needle's eye. 
    I will not go into details of how one can do it, but instead show you the picture, which served as a guide for myself when I was learning to knit amigurumi toys. Even now the ability to tie two threads together makes the job much easier: 

    P.S. Polyester threads, in my opinion, should be tied in a tighter knot than rayon ones, for they have a tendency to slip out of it. In order to avoid it you may also leave the longer thread ends. 
    P.P.S. Imagine my disappointment when the trick didn't work out on my home embroidery machine. 
     

    Removing stabilizer from the wrong side

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 4,282 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    Every one of us has encountered a dense tearaway or a cutaway stabilizer, which does not tear easily. But nevertheless we need to remove it from the wrong side, in order for the item to look neat. And no matter how you slice it, it is the part of the machine embroidery routine, so you have to do it anyway. 
    Methods of removing the stabilizer include either simply tearing the it away or trimming it along the perimeter of the embroidery; which way to choose, depends on the type of the stabilizer used. Here are the most common mistakes: 
    Distortion of the ready embroidery, which is the result of pulling the stabilizer too much in order to tear it away as quickly as possible.  Cutting the stabilizer in such a way that it leads to a «small» inconvenience of cutting the fabric with it. I've been there, and I know how disastrous it is. 
    To cut a long story short, even simple actions like that will tolerate no haste or shoddy work. 
    To avoid distortion of the design when tearing away the stabilizer, one should hold the embroidery close to the tearaway line. If you have used several layers of stabilizer, tear them away layer after layer. 
    As for trimming the stabilizer you should just follow these steps: 
    Use scissors with short sharp blades and round edges order not to catch the fabric.  When cutting hold not to the fabric, but to the stabilizer instead, so that the fabric (item) is hanging down from it. 
    Always have the fabric in sight so that you could be sure the scissors are not cutting it.  Remove the stabilizer by gliding the scissors through it, moving them along the perimeter of the embroidery, about 3-5 mm from the edges.  In order for the item not to fall on the floor and get dirty, trim you stabilizer above the table.  That's it all.

    Seeking for stabilizer replacement

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 4 comments, 7,628 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    I have long been practicing in searching for a 3D Puff replacement — read here and here. Now I'm in the middle of testing my new embroidery machine, and I decided to find a new kind stabilizer. Moreover, I have a lot of materials at my country house, which at the first glance seem to make a suitable embroidery stabilizer. 
    I chose 4 materials for comparison: 

    I'll name them from left to right: 
    a very dense perforated cutaway stabilizer from Gunold. I don't remember how many g/m2 are in it. It stretches good in one direction, and practically not at all in the other.  some non-woven insulation material used in building; it, too, is perforated, but has lower density compared to the real stabilizer. It is similar to the stabilizer by its characteristics.  covering spunbond (for garden) — a non-woven material, soft, agreeable to the touch, perforated, resembles spunbond used in embroidery. But this material is flexible — it stretches in all directions.  ordinary printing paper. I've read a lot about using it as a stabilizer on the internet. Only now I've decided to give it a try. The paper is very stable and does not stretch at all.  I chose a plain calico fabric. I turned the hoop screw once, and hooped all the stabilizing materials in a similar way — together with the fabric. I had only one design for all materials. The result surprise me a little. 
    The design I'd created contained a large number of stitches (about 21 thousand), and the first material I chose to embroider it on was a real stabilizer: 

    This is what I got: 

    Not bad altogether. The lines on the bushes shifted downward — they didn't hit the grooves intended for them and went beyond the fill area. The rest is quite acceptable. In one place between the dark bear's head and the bush there is a gap. Indeed, not so bad a result for such a big design. 
    Then I proceeded to embroider on the building spunbond: 

    This is what I got this time: 

    The lines on the bushes shifted slightly more down, and there are gaps in the strips on the bear's shirt here and there. The fabric was visibly more pulled, but nothing too critical. 
    I made the third embroidery on the covering spunbond: 

    Here the result was most pulled of all, the lines on the bushes shifted the most, and the gaps on the shirt were the widest: 

    As for the bears' eyes, I haven't even manage to finish them because of the sad occurrence of the 'birds nest'. I used to think that only on commercial embroidery machines it was such of problem to remove a knot like that without consequences. There you can at least get to it from the throat plate side. It turned out that on a home embroidery machine it was practically impossible. Here it is:
     
    To remove it I had to unhoop the fabric and take off the throat plate — there was no other way I could reach it: 

    Then I decided to embroider on 2 layers of printing paper: 

    The embroidery on it was the best of all four, which was not at all what I have expected: 

    What do you know, you win some, lose some. The result was good even despite the fact that the paper was perforated and almost detached from along the perimeter. 
    And the paper is the most accessible stabilizer of all. This means that even in the hardest times we'll have something to work with. 
    It turns out that you have to try everything once, in order to understand what is what. 

    Removing a fresh stain from an embroidered item

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 4,247 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    Several days ago I happened to read an article by H.H. Momsen in the Printwear magazine on different ways of removing stains from the embroidered items. My own experience of staining the embroidery instantly jumped to my mind. I shudder every time I remember it. After all, stains are a part of an embroider's life, too. 

    I have probably seen all kinds of stains, from machine oil mixed with dust and grease to blood. Mistakes in marking of the item before embroidery fall into this category, too. Sometimes the marking was hard to remove — there were traces of pencil, soap, chalk, and also air and water erasable markers. Every time I had to struggle to remove them from the fabric, and not always the result was successful. 
    Here are the tips by this knowing lady on the subject of removing the stains and preventing their appearance. I will add a bit from my own experience: 
    After having lubricated your machine, you'd better start with the dark-colored items.  After having lubricated your machine, you should use water soluble topping (film) when embroidering the first item, to protect the item from the drops of oil.  Too bad if the shuttle was oiled too much, because the bobbin thread might get soaked in oil and might splatter item from there. That's why it is better to remove the excessive oil with an ordinary cotton swab. 
    In case the stain has appeared anyway, you can try to remove it using gasoline or a mixture of turpentine and sal ammoniac in the ratio of 1 to 1. Sometimes I've managed to get rid of a fresh oil stain by simply washing the item in a warm water with soap.  Air and water erasable markers leave traces on cotton fabrics. Traces made by a Madeira disappearing marking pen cannot be removed by air or water or even with the special erasing pen, which should simply wipe it off. As for the less expensive Aurora markers, they do not give cause for criticism. You can test all these markers on a piece of fabric first.  Ball pen traces can be treated with glycerin and then with oil solvent.  Blood stain should be washed in warm water and rinsed with cold water after that. Repeat until all the stains will be gone. Now you can try removing the stain with hydrogen peroxide.  Coffee and tea stains can be treated with glycerin, an then oil solvent to get rid of the traces. Or you can dub the stain with a mixture of 1 teaspoon of sal ammoniac and 4 teaspoons of glycerin.  Vaseline removes machine oil stains.  Vegetable oil and animal fat stains might come off any type of fabric if you use gasoline, acetone or turpentine.  You may succeed in getting rid of fresh greasy stains powdering them with chalk, talc or starch and leaving them for a while.  But I've never managed to get rid of the pencil traces as yet. Therefore, I recommend using it only where it couldn't be seen — on the wrong side, for example. 
    These tips aren't, of course, ultimate and you should test every time, not forgetting to remember the type of the fabric that was stained. 
    There are times even in machine embroidery when one should use their gumption and knowledge of housekeeping. And also to keep various stain removers and cleaning substances, solvents, tissues etc. After all, our experience has proven that neither of them is ready to hand when they are needed. 

    The stitch length and its visual effect

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 2 comments, 5,354 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    I have once already mentioned in passing that the stitch length greatly influences the overall visual effect the embroidery creates. I thought of it because I recently embroidered an eyelet for a towel. So, after much digitizing and trying various textures and fill stitch lengths to get a softer embroidery, I got two different results from the same embroidery pattern, but with different settings: 

    On the left you see the embroidery with the fill stitches 5.5 mm long, and on the right — the fill stitches 3-3.5 mm long. The embroidery on the left is softer than the one on the right, and it is only natural because of the greater stitch length. 
    Of course, the fill texture is also of great importance. Only now I've come to understand why a lot of professionals recommend to make a sample of every texture available in the embroidery software, at a different stitch length. Making these samples requires some labor inputs, but they will vividly illustrate the information a design creator needs and which he or she will knowingly use in their work in future: 
    The understanding of what the particular texture will look like in reality and not on screen. 
    How changing the stitch length will affect its look, and how and where one can use it. 
    The difference in stitch count for the same texture in case the stitch length is increased or reduced. 
    I'll give you a simple guide of how to create such a sample sheet. I embroidered just 9 squares and got a ton of information as a result: 
    The upper row consists of the satin columns with the stitch length increasing from 2 to 12 mm. The two lower rows consist of fills, also with the stitch length starting at 2 mm and gradually increasing in value. All the squares are of equal size, the only thing that differs the look of the outer layer of the embroidery. Here is the stitch count (each cell corresponds to one embroidered square): 
    814
     
    560
     
    321
     
    1094
     
    757
     
    594
     
    1101
     
    765
     
    598
     
    The advice to make such samples turned out to be rather a sound one. Sure, it is next to impossible to embroider all the textures that can be found in embroidery software, but if you do at least half of them, you'll get a perfect sample sheet which will make life for both you and your client much easier. 

    Testing an unconventional bobbin thread in order to get a neat wrong side

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 3,189 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    Today I'll continue with the topic of keeping the wrong side of the embroidery neat. This time I'm interested whether it is possible to use a metallic thread both on the right and wrong sides of lace instead of inserting a polyester thread of a matching color into a bobbin. With polyester thread on the wrong side various snowflakes, medallions and other 3D Christmas decorations do not come out beautiful enough. 
    To maintain the experimental integrity and put the things right, I decided to embroider a design with a monofilament thread in the bobbin, to see what the result will be. 
    I have a standard monofilament thread made in China, only it is black. It is 0.12 mm in diameter: 

    I used a standard black polyester thread on the right side. It's a pity that there was no transparent fishing line, so I had to use the one that was available. 
    For the right side of the second sample I wound up a golden thread onto a spool: 

    So I hooped a water soluble film and tried to embroider with a monofilament thread in the bobbin. I was disappointed right away — the first loop was very badly formed, only on the very lower speed and in manual mode (about 120 rpm). But this a trifling matter compared to the fact that on the speeds above 400-450 rpm the upper thread keeps being cut by the fishing line in the bobbin every 5 or 10 stitches, so you cannot embroider at all. In the end, after several thread breaks and restarts, after several attempts of finding the right speed, I was bound to embroider on 400 rpm: 

    The worst thing was that my machine did not like the trimming part — the knife just could not cut the fishing line, and the machine began to utter strange noises, which I didn't like at all. In the end, I had to trim the fishing line by scissors. But the wrong side looks impeccable: 

    Golden thread + golden thread was a much better option: the loop formed effortlessly, there were no speed problems, neither upper nor underthread didn't break, and the trimming went as usual. The only thing that was different from the embroidery with the ordinary bobbin thread was that I had quite a job adjusting the underthread tension. This is what the front looks like: 

    This is the neat wrong side of the second embroidery sample: 

    Summary: I vote against monofilament thread in a bobbin, because I feel sorry for the machine. As for the golden thread, even a cheap one made in China, like the one I had, can be used on the wrong side without hesitation, and I will definitely do that in future. 

    Design alignment on home embroidery machines

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 6,433 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    Today I decided to practice design alignment on my home embroidery machine. With that in mind I created a very simple border, which I'll now try to embroider along the specified line. And try to understand the difference in the alignment processes on commercial and home embroidery machines. And also to figure out how to create a design for future alignment. 
    Here is my design, consisting of 2 rapport orders, which I will attempt to repeat along the straight line: 

    My border is not wide — just 3.4 cm. Theoretically, a design like this one wouldn't be hard to align, for it has only one alignment point. The thickness of the elements doesn't matter for this type of border, because it is embroidered from top to bottom, and each of the already embroidered parts (marked green) will overlap with the next ones (marked red). 

    To help joining the parts I draw the alignment stitches — the special placement marks specially designed for alignment. One of them is located near end of the pattern and on the photo looks like a funny protruding stick – it is used for matching of the embroidery pieces together: 

    The second alignment stitch is located at the very beginning of the pattern hidden under the upper stitch layer. Here it is marked blue under the red satin columns: 

    The main goal for the red and blue lines is to coincide when rehooping. Usually this is enough to embroider a big design part-by-part on a single-head commercial embroidery machine. 
    Well, all that is now left is to try and align the design on my home embroidery machine using my usual technique. 
    My embroidery base is plain calico + a tearaway stabilizer. I did the marking — one long line with several perpendicular cross-lines (just in case). You can see the horizontal line on the photo below — this is the main guideline, along which the border will lie, — and also the vertical ones: 

    The I started the embroidery. The first hooping and the embroidery process are simple, the main thing here is to do the hooping properly: 

    You don't even need to align — there is no use in it yet: 

    But it was only after having embroidered the first part of my future border that I realized that design alignment on a home embroidery machine is anything but the habitual process of doing the same thing on a single-head commercial one. The whole thing is a bit more complicated and resembles the design alignment on a multi-head embroidery machine, where the design is confided within the boundaries indicated by the marks which work as the embroidery starting points. Because of this it was impossible to start the embroidery wherever I wanted in order to regulate the quality of the hooping. Now I understand where all this marking lines (plus signs, check marks, bars) outside of the embroidery area come from. 
    To solve this problem I had to add one more stitch into the pattern, which would be embroidered last, after the embroidery was completed, and which would be ripped off afterward. Here it is (marked blue): 

    This stitch has the following functions: 
    It helps hooping. I will continue to hoop the fabric in accordance with the long line, along which the border will lie. But this new cross-line will be the starting point of the embroidery. And I will make it the embroidery starting point after rehooping. I'm doing it because the fabric will be invariably pulled during the embroidery or, what is even more sad, may turned out having been improperly hooped. And then all these cross-lines, however well-placed they can be, will move so that the next part of the design will be misaligned. The design will either will not reach the lines or there will be overlapping. Therefore, I will position my design in accordance with the long straight line and the new cross-line. Only they are relevant.  It helps to check the quality of hooping — I'll stitch this line in the beginning, to make sure that the fabric has been hooped correctly. Only after that I'll embroider a little alignment mark in order to make sure that my border will indeed be seamless after alignment.  Thus, my modified embroidery pattern will look like this: 

    I copy the blue stitch and place it at the beginning of the design. This green guideline should coincide with the blue one from the previous hooping. Of course, one should bear in mind that the idea with an additional stitch will not be work on any kind of fabric. There will be perforations left on delicate fabrics even after ripping off the threads. But judging from my experience, it is good for many types of fabrics. 
    Now I'll show you what have I got out of all that. 
    As I have already embroidered the beginning of the design, I drew a line approximately where the green alignment line should be, as showed on the photo above, so I will use it — there is nothing else to align to. 

    Then I rehoop the fabric and continue the embroidery: 

    It seemed to me that it was not easy to hoop this thing properly on my Brother. But I mastered the skill in the end. I should definitely make some arrangement for easier hooping. Particularly because one can find a lot of these home-made things on the web. 
    Then I load the modified machine design into the machine and start the embroidery. I do not iron the fabric with the partly embroidered design, in order to avoid shrinkage. If the fabric shrinks, it will be unclear what parts to align and where — the overall size of the embroidery will change. 
    The most important thing is that starting point for the embroidery of the next part would be located on the crossing of the main line and the supporting one (in my case — the one I drew), which is now located on top of the hoop. I place the needle into the fabric to check if will get where intended: 

    Then I start the embroidery. First I embroider the horizontal alignment line, and in this case it is hard for me to predict the outcome. Another alignment line follows, the one to which I will align my embroidery. It will be splendid if in coincides with the one that already exists. 
    In order to do so, you need to move the hoop, and rehoop in case the two lines do no coincide at all. This time the new stitch was slightly lower than the one in the previous part, about 1-1.5 mm. On my commercial machine I would shift the hoop in the required direction right away, in order for the two stitches to match, and I wouldn't get a gap between the parts of the border. 
    But to my profound disappointment it turned out that on the home embroidery machine it was impossible to move the hoop while embroidery was running. Well, I will embroider as it is and see where it will get me. Though, you can do one thing to fix that — to go back and shift the starting point in a pattern, which is what I did. 
    So this is what I got aligning the first and the second parts — the gap between them is a bit wide, but it does not stand out: 

    It turns out that I mispositioned the line — it is located too far from the previous part of the embroidery, but there is no gap in between. 
    I rehoop once again. This time the cross-line is already there: 

    I place the needle into the point where the main line and the supporting line cross: 

    The first check was perfect: 

    The second check almost matched the embroidered line, running just beside it, which was acceptable: 

    The result: 

    Well, you can go further from here; the more meters you have to embroider, the more times you will have to rehoop. Of course, not everything will go smooth right from the start, but it is possible to work with it. 
    Here is the photo of what I got, before cleaning of the embroidery: 

    The photo of a border: 

    This is the conclusion I've come to: you can embroider a design part-by-part and align it on a home embroidery machine, like the one I own.
    There always is a way out. But on the whole the method is neither very reliable nor accurate, there are many cons. 
    So I arrived at the conclusion that my cross-line should have looked like this, and not the way it does on the photo above: 

    As you can see, the horizontal lines here assumed T-shape, in order to make it easier to set the embroidery starting point. They would have formed a cross in case the alignment went well. 

    Preventing the cheap metallic thread twist on the commercial embroidery machine

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 3 comments, 4,445 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    Perhaps, everyone who had used a cheap metallic thread (made in China, Taiwan etc.) knows that they have one huge disadvantage — they are much more coarse, just like wire, that any thread made by the big brands. And because of their coarseness they often cause a 'small' problem leading to the thread breakage. 
    This is how the problem looks like in my case: the thread,coming off the spool — even before it comes into first hole in its path — forms a big loop that twists, becoming even more coarse. This loop is very flexible, because the thread constantly goes around the spool. And while making one of these rounds the loop begins to catch the threads from the neighboring spools that go upwards. This loop not only touches these neighboring threads, but intertwines with them and drags them along. Hence the thread breakage. I still don't have the thread nets that can straighten the loops up, therefore, I have to find my own key to this situation. 
    This is how the newly formed loop looks like: 

    I have lots of such cheap metallic threads; I bought them to see if they were quality enough and whether it was at all possible to use them in embroidery. An average price of a three-five thousand meters is not high — about 90-150 RUR. What is good in these threads beside their price that there is a vast array of colors. And despite such a nuisance as thread twisting, I embroider with them quite successfully, because they don't break often on my embroidery machine, therefore, it is possible for me to use them. The only thing that I don't like is the quality of the outer layer of the embroidery. But it is quite sufficient for experiments and test runs. 
    The most interesting thing is that all of the guiding holes, plates and discs in my machine, through which the thread goes on its way to the needle's eye, are not enough for straightening up all of the loops formed on the way. Even in the commercial embroidery machines they are not enough! And I was under the illusion that such problems only existed in home embroidery machines. Last summer I encountered a twisting problem there, and successfully solved it. 
    As for my commercial embroidery machine, I had to wreck my brains a few days ago, to find a way of preventing the appearance of the annoying loops. I've tried a whole bunch of options, but the most successful one on my machine was the use of supplementary materials described below. 
    I took an ordinary plastic straw that go with the cartons of juice for kids (I have plenty of them anyway): 

    Inserted it into the first hole in a thread path, shortening its way from the spool to this hole. It is only 17 or 18 cm long, but this is enough for a loop to appear: 

    This is how my guideway for metallic threads looks like now: 

    Further in the thread path I inserted a piece of a soft foam material, which I once tried to adapt for 3D embroidery. I placed it right after the first tension knob and ran the thread through in order for it to straighten out even the smallest loops: 

    As usual, it turned out that one should not cast off the tricky threads right away, because you can work with them, too. It just requires some additional effort sometimes. 

    Embroidering on a T-shirt. My first attempt

    By Irina, in Machine embroidery materials and technology, , 0 comments, 3,309 views
    Original text by: Marina Belova 
    Several days ago I was embroidering my first full-blown design on a T-shirt as a present. Previously, after several unsuccessful attempts, I wouldn't have touched the T-shirts with a ten-foot pole. I needed to embroider a text on the back which said: "Лёша я или не Лёша?". For this I chose not just a plain thread, but the one that glows in the dark. I bought the blue Glowy by Gunold. Although these cost quite a lot (slightly more than 1000 RUR for 1000 m), I was eager to work with them and see the result. 
    This is what the embroidered T-shirt looks like in the daylight: 

    I didn't manage to capture the glow of the inscription with my low-powered camera. Perhaps, I did not expose the thread to light long enough. I really cannot say: 

    But it looks good — everybody who had seen it, liked it. It makes a nice present. 
    The thread that glows in the dark is 100% polyester. Let the professional tell that embroidering on knitwear with a polyester thread is harder than with a rayon one — I decided to do it nevertheless, despite my recent result of the embroidery with polyester thread on knitwear being a huge disappointment for me 
    So, I'll tell you a bit about this thread, because there is very little information available. But there is nothing so hard about embroidering with it. 
    According to the brochure, this thread begins to lose its qualities approximately after 50 washes. In order for it to glow in the dark you should expose it to the strong (lamp) light for 15-20 minutes. 
    Any design created for the ordinary #40 thread will be good. But I saw the Gunold promo embroidery samples and noticed that their fill density was very low — you could see the fabric through the stitches. Therefore, I immediately decided to lower stitch density, too. So as to save the stitches and the threads. 
    The ordinary 75/11 SES needles can be used for the embroidery. 
    As well as the standard bobbin thread. 
    Now that I had an idea of what I wanted to embroider, and I had created a design and a pattern, when I'd got the T-shirt and threads, the only thing that left was to choose the right kind of stabilizer. I wouldn't want to ruin all that. 
    Everybody knows that the best embroidery stabilizer is a dense cutaway, that will tolerate everything. But I am wary of embroidering quite a big design on the back of a T-shirt using a cutaway stabilizer. It would impossible to wear. So I decided to be in trend and try to embroider on spunbond. 
    The funniest thing is that to find this much-lauded spunbond was not an easy thing to do. There was simply no such thing on the market — and nobody knew if and when there was going to be one. Therefore, I was sitting at the stabilizers manufacturer, searching for a replacement, and thumbing through a wonderful Gunold stabilizer layout. 
    The layout is a sort of a book that contains stabilizer samples. The most remarkable part of this book are the recommendations written in English and German languages on its margins, which tell how and where each type of the stabilizer should be used. That's when it dawned upon me: every manufacturer always gives very clear instructions for customers, which can be used for choosing the right product. And you need no courses to master the technology — everything is there: what to use, with what to use it, how, when and where. 
    So, I've studied the Gunold layout, and visited their website after that, and then the Madeira website, in search for the type of a stabilizer that would the best for embroidering on a T-shirt. I came to the following conclusion (which, actually, came to my mind before, when I was embroidering on knitwear pique): you should use an adhesive stabilizer on knitwear, which will secure the fabric right away and won't allow to pull it while hooping. All you have left is to choose the right density of the stabilizer. 
    I had the thinnest adhesive — circa 25 g/m2. It was the one recommended for T-shirts. During the test run the first word of the inscription showed that the fabric was not stabilized enough — the embroidery was pulled and the shapes became distorted, because the stabilizer was perforated and began to tear off along the perimeter while the embroidery was still running. Therefore, I put a piece an ordinary tearaway stabilizer right under the hoop. Now everything has fallen into place. I had an idea to use 2 layers of the stabilizer: a thin adhesive layer + a tearaway one (40 g), which were to be hooped together with the T-shirt. 
    It turned out that for me the hardest part of embroidering on a T-shirt was hooping it. Various appliances for making positioning and hooping easier instantly popped into my mind. Hooping a T-shirt in a standard way on a flat surface is not an easy task if you lack the habit. To create a pattern, to get it right, to choose the right kind of stabilizer — those are the mere trifles. 
    I did a test run with the standard polyester #40 threads — for costs reasons, naturally: 

    I set only the standard embroidery parameters: and lowered the density of satin columns by 20-25%. also lowered the fill density by 25-30%. I split the stitches that were longer that 5 mm so as not to pull the fabric. Pull compensation was 0.4 mm in each case. I used the edge run + zigzag stitch for the underlay, and only edge run under the narrow satin columns. And the grid with stitch length no more than 3.5 mm and density no more that 2 mm under the fills. All of this works rather fine on knitwear. The embroidery doesn't warp or become too dense, the pliability of the fabric does not change. 
    What was my surprise when I unpacked the spool of luminous thread and set it to embroider the T-shirt. Despite the manufacturer's claims these threads are visibly thicker that the ordinary rayon and polyester threads, the twist is not so tight. This means that the fill density could be lowered even more, allowing to save even greater amount thread. You could easily spot the difference between the design embroidered with an ordinary polyester thread and the one that glows in the dark. 
    There was also another trouble with the glowing thread during the embroidery process — it turned out that to find a proper tension for them was not at all an easy task. And this despite the fact that I had used this very needle with polyester before. I had to make the tension substantially higher, or there were distinctive loops. It is possible that I, trying to do the best, chose the needle thinner (#70) than the one recommended by the manufacturer. And I got to face the music, according to the logic of choosing the right needle. 

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