Is it a Design Problem?

Digitizing perfectly placed outlines that will work well every time no matter the fabric, the stabilizer, the hooping technique, the machine, or the thread tensions is impossible. What works well and gets perfect placement when tested by the digitizer may not work well for you. If you have a scanned image of an actual sewout with well-placed outlines, then there’s probably something going wrong on the embroidery side, not the digitizer’s.

If you have a rendered image of the design in software and the outlines are perfect, then it probably is a design problem. Check the design first in your software. If running stitch outlines are spot-on along the edges of a design as they should look when sewing, don’t even sew it out. The digitizer has not compensated for the distortions of sewing and you will definitely have registration issues. (See my article on Understanding Compensation.)

6 Causes of Misplaced Outlines

If you’ve sewn a well-digitized design and you’re having problems here is a list of things to check.

1. Are You Being Too Perfectionistic?
   We embroiderers often expect every stitch to be perfectly placed. Running stitch outlines should exactly match up around the perimeter of the design with every single stitch in place. Quality embroidery is certainly achievable; perfect embroidery is not. If you are a perfectionist, you need to adjust your reality a bit. If you sew out a design from top notch digitizers ten times under the same high quality circumstances: thread, fabric, stabilizer,machine, etc. you will have slight variations on each. (See my free report on Common Embroidery Myths.)
2. Are Your Machine Tensions Properly Set?
   If the needle and/or bobbin threads are too tightly tensioned, stitches will be pulled more tightly. When this happens fills will “shrink” and when the outlines sew where they are supposed to, the rest of the design is not where it’s supposed to be and there is a gap.
3. Is Your Stabilizer Stabilizing?
   If your stabilizer is inadequate or breaks down before the outline sews, then you have the same problem as overly tight tensions: the outline sews in place but the fabric has shifted. Try switching from a tearaway to a cutaway and using a temporary embroidery spray adhesive to hold the fabric in place during embroidery.
4. Is the Fabric Hooped Properly?
   Fabric needs to be hooped at neutral tension, neither stretched nor slack. For wovens, this if you push your finger across the surface, you won’t have a little wave of fabric surfing ahead of your finger. To prevent this from occurring with knits, use a fusible backing or temporary spray adhesive to adhere the stabilizer to the fabric. Be sure to hoop the stabilizer with the fabric between the rings of  the hoop. If the fabric slips in the hoop during the embroidery process the outline won’t match up.
5. Did You Use the Right Size Hoop?
   For optimum fabric control, you want a hoop that is slightly larger than the design. Using a larger hoop than necessary may allow the fabric to distort more during the sewing process
6. Did You Color Sort?
   If you combine multiple designs in a larger hoop and then color sort the design to reduce the number of thread changes, you have just increased the chances of outlines not aligning. Even if you didn’t combine designs, color sorting is not a wise decision. Experienced digitizers will optimize a design first for precise placement and second for color change efficiency. The embroidery will last the lifetime of the garment. Why not spend a few extra minutes changing thread to get the best result?

Distortions occur as a result of push and pull (see Embroidery Basics: Understanding Compensation). Stitches push out on their open ends and pull in along the sides where stitch direction reverses.

Causes of Fabric Distortion

Factors that impact distortion include:

1. The design. The more stitch intensive the design, the more distortion it contributes. Appropriate underlay and digitizing techniques can reduce excessive push and pull.
2. The fabric. The less stable the fabric the more it will distort—which is why we use stabilizers.
3. The stabilizer. An appropriate stabilizer can support the design on the selected fabric without negatively affecting the hand or drape of the fabric.
4. Machine speed. The faster a machine sews the more distortion it imparts.
5. Machine tensions. The tighter the needle and/or bobbin thread, the more the stitching will be distorted.
6. Hoop tensions. Most fabrics should be at a neutral tension, not stretched, when hooped. Exceptions include fabrics that are worn stretched on the body.

Embroider Before or After Cutting Fabric?

If you are embroidering on fabric that will be made into a garment or quilt, I recommend embroidering first and then cutting out the fabric pattern or piece. Not only will you be able to combat any shrinkage, you will also be able to fine-tune your placement.

Other Notes on Shrinkage

There are a other things to keep in mind about fabric shrinkage. Actual fabric shrinkage can occur during laundering. Ever buy a knit with a large or dense design on it? It looked great until you washed and dried it—then it resembled a roller coaster with dips and hills. Stabilizers will not prevent this kind of shrinkage. The best prevention in this case is pre-washing and drying.

While not that big a deal for home embroiderers, washing and drying garments can turn into a major effort for production work. If you think it will provide the best result, let your customer know why you think so (samples help!) and let them know what the extra charge will be.

Common Causes of Birdnests

Improperly inserted or threaded bobbin or no bobbin. While the absence of a bobbin is not technically a classic birdnest, it creates similar problems.

• Incorrectly threaded upper thread. Check all thread guides; a common cause of birdnests on home embroidery machines is the thread jumping out of the take up lever, which severely reduces the tension on the thread causing it to be easily pulled to the bottom of the hoop. An unthreaded take-up lever will result in a birdnest every time.
• A tight bobbin tension coupled with very loose needle thread tension can cause a birdnest.
• Flagging, which is the hoop bouncing up and down during sewing. This can happen if the fabric is hooped too loosely, the fabric slips or stretches in the hoop, or if the fabric doesn’t release from the needle and is instead pulled up with the needle on it’s upstroke. The latter can happen when sewing through adhesives that build up on the needle.
• On commercial machines, trimming malfunctions and hook timing or hook positioning are also frequently sited as causes of birdnests.

How to Repair

If you did incur some minor damage to your garment, such as a small hole, try repairing it with a lightweight fusible cut-away or a small piece of organza.

Before continuing with the embroidery, back up to a few stitches just before the last sewn stitches in the design and make sure that the pantograph is properly aligned to successively complete the design. If not, correct the problem by adjust the hoop postion or the needle position through your machine control panel.

I have rehooped several items successfully. This is not an easy task; you will need to hoop at the exact place and fabric tension as before. If the fabric had distorted or stretched during sewing, a successful final result will depend a lot on the design being sewn.

An Ounce of Prevention…

Obviously it is better to avoid birdnests than to recover from them. The best way to that is

• Pay attention to machine threading and tensions
• Correct any flagging issues
• Watch the sewing process and be alert to any changes in sewing quality or machine sound in order to stop the machine immediately to avoid damage
• Pay attention to “thread break” messages. Instead of a thread break it may be an early warning of a birdnest.

While you may not be able to avoid all birdnests, with a little attention to detail and the sewing process, you can certainly reduce their incidence and severity.

What is a Birdnest?

The term birdnest is commonly used to refer to the wad of needle thread that forms on the underside of the embroidery. A friend of mine calls it “thread vomit” and that’s a pretty accurate description. If the machine is not stopped in time, this thread cluster can ruin the garment by pulling it partially through the needle hole in the throat plate. If that happens, then it will prevent the item form sliding freely as the pantograph moves. And when this happens, the garment can pop out of the hoop leaving an unhooped, partially embroidered item. And it is probably trapped in the throat plate to the point that it may need to be cut to be liberated.

Avoiding birdnests and the problems they cause is a very good reason to monitor your embroidery and not leave it to sew by itself. And the faster your machine sews, the faster an item can be damaged beyond repair. By listening to your machine, you will be clued in to any potential problems by an uncharacteristic sound. Until you learn what your machine is trying to tell you, you should stop the machine and investigate the cause. If your machine stops for no apparent reason, you should check into the cause before simply restarting the machine. What should you look for? Look to see if thread is shredding and that the thread is properly threaded through the machine. Gently lift the hoop slightly and take peek under the sewing area to make sure there is no excess buildup of needle thread collecting there. Make sure no fabric is gathering in the needle hole.

If you are attentive, you can stop the machine before too much unrecoverable damage is done. If you are lucky, you will only have to cut away a large blob of thread. However, there are several hazards involved in freeing your garment without further damage to it or your machine.

The first step is to free the garment without cutting a hole in it or further loosening its tension in the hoop. Machines with drop-in bobbins present greater difficulties than those with front-loading bobbin cases. With front-loading bobbin systems, you can often cut the bobbin thread and remove it to allow access to the underside of the embroidery. If the birdnest is in the early stages, simple removing the bobbin case can release the thread wad.

If the “tumor” is more advanced, you have a better chance of salvaging your garment by working from the lower thread path in the bobbin area, using an X-Acto knife or a surgical blade seam ripper. Take a deep breath and gather your patience then begin carefully cutting the thread without cutting your garment.

For top loading bobbins, you will need to slide a long, flat blade, such as a sharp steak knife (or longer knife if the hoop is large), under the hoop and try to cut away the birdnest.

In either case, take precautions not to cut the fabric or nick or scratch the throat plate, rotary hook, or other machine parts. When the garment is cut free, remove the hoop from the machine to clear out the rest of the birdnest from the machine and the back of the embroidery.

If you were able to recover from the birdnest without unhooping your garment, cutting a hole, or distorting the tension, you can finish the design. But before reinserting your hoop, identify and correct the cause of the birdnest and make sure all thread pieces are cleaned out the of the machine.

In the next post, we’ll look at common causes of  birdnests, how to avoid them and how to repair damage from a birdnest.

Have you tried sewing or embroidering with metallic threads only to have them snap and shred? If so, you may find yourself avoiding using these beautiful eye-catching fibers as embellishments in your projects. By implementing these 9 proven tips, you can improve your results quickly and easily!

1. Use the right thread: a high quality, well-cared for metallic thread. Cheap, old, dried out or bruised thread of any kind breaks more easily. Run the thread through your fingers to see how smooth it is.
2. Use the right needle: the correct size for your metallic, in excellent condition, and make mine an embroidery needle, not metallic. Depending your metallic thread, it may be slightly thicker than standard 40 weight thread so you might try going up one needle size.
3. Use the right design: You will get better results in a design that was specifically digitized for metallic thread. Also, see if the design recommends a particular brand; this often means the design was tested using that thread.
4. Increase the thread path: Metallic thread loops and kinks more than rayon or poly, and when a kink hits a thread guide, it causes extra tension on the thread which can induce shredding and snapping. Using a thread stand specifically designed to smooth out metallic thread—as is the Echidna Control-A-Twist Thread Stand—can dramatically improve sewing quality.
5. Slow the machine down: The faster a machine sews, the more tension there is on the thread. High tensions cause fragile threads to break more easily.
6. Optimize thread tensions: Make sure your machine tensions are not too tight. You may find that loosening them slightly will dramatically reduce not only thread breaks, but puckering when working with polyester threads.
7. Create a smooth path: Start with the spool and make sue there are no rough edges that can snag the thread. If you’ve had a lot of needle breaks, check the throat plate for nicks and burrs that might shred thread.
8. Avoid sticky backings: Adhesives can build up on the needle, on the thread, and can be drag—literally—to sew through, none of which is conducive to smooth sewing.
9. Fabric and stabilizer: Tightly woven, stiff, and/or abrasive fabrics and stabilizers are not metallic friendly and can strip the metallic wrapping.