My Outline is Off! WHY? Embroidery Project

Possible Causes

Hooping Technique
If the fabric is not held securely, it is possible that the accumulation of fill stitching in the design has pulled the fabric inward. The outline stitches where the fill should be, had the fabric not drawn in. Fill stitching always draws fabric inward to a certain extent, and this is a normal part of the embroidery process. The softer or more unstable the fabric, the more it will tend to draw in.

It is possible that the design itself is the reason for the gap, yet if the design was professionally digitized, look closely at your hooping technique. If the outline is off on only one side, the hooping or stabilizer is the likely cause. Soft or unstable goods should be hooped in the smallest hoop that will comfortably accommodate the design. This will provide the best tensioning on the fabric. Insert the inner ring of the hoop in at the top with your fingers, and move toward bottom, finishing with your thumbs or the heels of your hand. You should see stabilizer extending from all sides of the hoop when you turn the hooped piece over. Now, press the inner ring of the hoop slightly lower than the outer ring for a snug, secure hooping job, complete with proper fabric tension. Be assured that you have proper fabric tension by doing this simple test: Try to lift the fabric off the stabilizer with your thumb and forefinger – it should be difficult to separate them. Also, run your finger across the fabric surface. The fabric should not bunch up in front of your finger. Your stabilizer should be hooped so that you could embroider it if the fabric were not present. Think of it like this: The fabric is just getting in the way of embroidering my stabilizer. You’ll get great stitching results on all fabric types.

Inappropriate Stabilizer
Knits and soft fabrics require a stable foundation to keep design elements matched up properly. If you have previously stitched a design on a stable woven fabric and have gotten a good result, you should be able to achieve similar quality using the same design on a knit fabric. Choose a cut-away stabilizer for knits such as T-shirts, and soft fabrics such as PolarFleece?. If your outline is off when using a self-adhesive stabilizer, the design may have too many stitches for that stabilizer variety on your selected fabric type. Self-adhesive stabilizers are fine for knits provided that the design isn’t large with a lot of detail and outlining. Remember that almost all self-adhesive stabilizers are lightweight tear-away products. They simply can’t support the fabric properly by the end of the design when the outline is applied, because they have been perforated too much.

Solutions

Use appropriate touch up pen
If the gap is small, a touch-up pen may be a suitable solution. Be sure that you use only permanent pens, and you should generally avoid using this method if the item will be dry-cleaned. Few markers will hold up to dry-cleaning solvents. Some pens, including Fabrico?, contain dye, rather than ink, and are intended especially for fabrics. These pens are perfectly suited to embroidery touch-up, because they are designed to draw artwork permanently on fabric. Each pen has a “brush” tip and a bullet tip and there is a full range of 24 colors, including pastels. Once only available in basic colors, Sharpie? pens do a nice job and now come in a wide range of shades. Micron? pens are more expensive, but also do a nice job. They are available in a good color range. To do the most invisible job of touching up an outline using a pen, follow these guidelines:

• Decide if you have a pen color that closely matches the fill. If the outline is very uniform, it usually looks better to fill in the stitching color that didn’t extend to the outline rather than extending the outline to meet the fill.
• Less is better, so use a light touch, and beware of “wicking”. Wicking occurs when the fibers of the fabric draw the ink into areas that you don’t want it to go.
• Just as heat sets stains, it is a good idea to lightly press your pen repair. Many fabric pens require heat setting to be permanent.

Remove outline and re-stitch by hand or hand-guided on machine
If the gap is large, it would be too obvious to simply color the area in with a pen. For example, on one of the Cherished Teddies? designs, my friend had a large gap, about ¼” between the arm and the outline. This was too large to be colored, and she said she would have to rip out the design. With the number of stitches at about 15,000, that wasn’t a practical solution either. I suggested that she remove the running stitch outline. It was then a simple matter to replace the running stitch outline using a hand sewing needle. The repair area was only a little over an inch long, and the repair was undetectable. In the case of a satin stitch outline, consider removing the outline, and replace it using free-motion embroidery on the machine. With just a little practice, this method can be mastered for invisible repairs. Use the embroidery foot on your sewing machine, drop the feed dogs, and use a scrap to match the stitch width.

Remove errant outline portion and replace it using the programmed design.
To use this method successfully, your garment should remain in the hoop. (It is extremely difficult to re-hoop your fabric at exactly the same angle as it was hooped originally.)

• Estimate the distance and direction that you would need to move the hoop in order for the outline to line up properly. For example, if your outline stitched too far to the right by 3mm, you should move your hoop 3mm to the left for it to match up in the re-stitching.
• Most machines give you the coordinates of your original start point. Just add the amount of the movement to the original start point to “bump” the design to the point where you want to begin re-stitching the outline.
• After removing the outline, use your machine’s electronic functions to advance to the outline portion in the design into the machine. Place an additional piece of stabilizer under the hoop for reinforcement. Start the machine, using a slow speed if your machine speed is variable.
• If it doesn’t line up properly, you now have a more exact idea of how much to move the hoop. And the third time is sure to be the charm!