I'd like to help you with embroidery on terrycloth and techniques for removing topping from terrycloth after sewing. These can be challenging topics for machine embroiderers.
Have you ever machine embroidered a beautiful, plush robe and then washed it? Did the lofty loops and plush, sheared naps become the enemy as they peek through flat fill stitches and wiggle out in the middle of a satin stitched column? Then did you add so much underlay and density that it became thick and bulletproof'? And worse of all, that solution added so many more stitches it became too pricey to move in the store? Well, there is a solution to your dilemma and I'm here to tell you how you can yield a beautiful piece of embroidery that is also economical.
Corporate logos are often requested on golf towels, bathrobes, and headbands, or even bath towels which are almost always made of terrycloth or fabrics with pesky loops. The corporate customer does not want to pay for a new setup of his/her design just to hold down those pesky loops so one alternative is to use a water-soluble topping, which is a good tip for all embroidery on terrycloth, fleece, pique, etc. Water-soluble topping will hold down the loops of the terrycloth making for a cleaner, more professional look. This alone, however, does not solve the problem of the loops peeking out from the flat fill stitches after washing because the topping dissolves in water. I usually add more underlay to the existing design, keeping them perpendicular to the existing underlay.
If the design has small lettering, the letters will most likely get lost in the loops of the fabric. First I try increasing the width of the satin stitches on the letters to make them more legible. If that does not work, I create a loosely stitched field of flat fill in the fabric color (tone on tone) under the area of small lettering only. This light fill will flatten the nap without adding a large number of stitches.
BONUS TIP: When using water-soluble topping, it can be difficult to get all of the topping out of the little letters, like the lower case e, b, etc. Here's what I do: keep your scraps of the topping and ball it together to make a good size ball that fits well in your hand. Mist the area lightly with water and let sit for about 1 minute. Then Use the ball of scrap water-soluble topping, dab the area to be worked on and the moist topping will stick to the ball of scrap. This works great! There's no chance of pulling one of those pesky loops and it really saves time.
So from one embroiderer to another, "Lets put em in stitches!"
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Wonderfully informative article, Joyce. Well-written and easy to understand--or at least by even the most inept of embroiderers. Some great tips to try on for size!
Thanks for sharing--I'm just a beginner and need all the help I can get.
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