Quick tips for embroidering womenswear

One of the standout trends in the womenswear spring/summer collections is embroidery. Beautiful embroidered flowers and ethnic designs can be seen in abundance adorning all manner of garments from coats and jackets to dresses, blouses and lingerie and it’s not just limited to fine fabrics but also proving popular on accessories such as shoes, bags and belts. The team at Madeira UK explains further.

For embroidery to be successful on such a wide range of fabrics there are some key factors to consider. Fabrics can easily be ruined by not being properly stabilised so choose your stabiliser carefully. Backing fabrics are grouped into four categories:

• Tear-away – used for fabrics that are sturdy with no stretch.

• Cut-away – used for fabrics that are stretchy therefore in need of extra stability.

• Fusible – used for difficult to hoop items such as leather.

• Melt away – backing and topping that can be removed either by heat or water and used when you do not want any visible backing. Choose a heat-away stabiliser such as Termogarza when the fabric is too delicate for a tear-away, too sheer for a cut-away, or isn’t washable.

Quick tips for embroidering into different types of fabrics:

• Denim and leather – leather can easily be damaged during the embroidery process, it’s unforgiving nature means that once a needle hole is made, it will be permanent. If the stitch density of the design is too high, then the embroidery will perforate and cut the leather. Sharp point re-enforced titanium needles are advised for these hardwearing fabrics, with a fusible or stick on peel away backing.

• Fine fabrics – use the smallest needle possible for the weight of thread being used. Reducing the needle size will prevent holes forming around the design. Water soluble or heat dissolvable stabilisers to be totally removed leaving no visible backing are perfect for sheer fabrics.

• When using heat dissolvable backing, choose a good quality product such as Termogarza. Primarily used to stabilise delicate and expensive fabrics like cashmere and silk. Such fabrics can easily be ruined with the wrong choice of backing, when removing a tear away the fabric could become distorted, a cut away may still be visible and water soluble could leave unsightly watermarks. To avoid any of these scenarios use a heat dissolvable product.

• Stretchy fabrics – need extra stability so a cut away backing is the answer. Weblon, a no show backing which offers high stability for fabrics prone to puckering is ideal and has proved extremely popular for stretchy performance wear.

• Ensure your design digitising is altered to suit the fabric and to avoid a bullet proof finish take out any unnecessary small stitches.