ULTIMATE Guide to Perfect T-Shirt Embroidery

Summary

Embroidery enthusiasts often face challenges when crafting custom t-shirts due to the unique properties of t-shirt fabric. In this video, Lucy from Ballyhoo Creations shares her expert advice on transforming disappointing t-shirt projects into impressive masterpieces. Key tips include starting with stable fabrics, choosing simpler designs, using the right stabilizers, and employing proper hooping and adhesive methods. Lucy also dispenses invaluable advice on handling stretchy fabrics, placement techniques, and needle selections to prevent common issues like puckering and distortion, ultimately empowering viewers to embrace the t-shirt embroidery process confidently.

Highlights

• Don't start with t-shirts; begin with stable fabrics like felt 👚
• Select smaller, lightweight designs to suit the t-shirt material 🌼
• Cutaway stabilizer is essential for t-shirt embroidery success 👍
• Temporary spray adhesives or fusible stabilizers work wonders 💡
• Proper placement of embroidery is key to maintaining wearability 🎯

Key Takeaways

• Start with stable fabrics like felt before moving to t-shirts 🌟
• Choose lightweight designs to avoid sagging stitches on t-shirts 🧵
• Utilize cutaway stabilizer for best results on stretchy fabrics ⚡
• Employ temporary adhesive sprays for secure embroidery 💧
• Place designs strategically to maintain t-shirt's stretchiness 🧐

Overview

Embarking on the journey of embroidery? T-shirts may seem like a tempting first project, but Lucy from Ballyhoo Creations advises against it. Instead, kick off with more forgiving fabrics like felt or woven cotton. Once you’re confident with your machine’s abilities, then transition to t-shirts, keeping in mind the fabric’s unique traits. For sure-fire success, design choice is crucial—avoid heavy designs and opt for smaller, detailed patterns to prevent fabric sagging.

Stabilization is the backbone of effective t-shirt embroidery, especially considering the delicate and stretchy nature of the fabric. Lucy delves into the importance of using a cutaway stabilizer over a tear-away one and advocates for temporary adhesive sprays to keep everything in place. She stresses the necessity of not over-layering stabilizers, as this could lead to additional complications rather than solutions.

For the budding embroidery enthusiast, needle choice, design placement, and proper hooping technique are paramount. Lucy shares insider tips such as using a temporary fabric stiffener and opting for a water-soluble topper to achieve clear stitch lines. With patience and practice, these techniques aid in creating beautifully embroidered t-shirts, leaving room for creative experimentation and breaking the customary rules once you've mastered the basics.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to T-shirt Embroidery The introduction to T-shirt embroidery focuses on the common journey of acquiring an embroidery machine with the aspiration to create custom clothing, particularly T-shirts. The chapter addresses the common disappointment beginners face when their initial projects do not turn out as expected. Lucy from Balo Creations, who has extensive experience in digitizing and embroidery, shares valuable tips to help users improve their T-shirt embroidery skills and enjoy the process rather than become frustrated. She emphasizes her expertise gained through experience and learning from past mistakes.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Challenges of Embroidering T-shirts The chapter discusses the challenges of machine embroidering T-shirts, especially for beginners. It advises starting with more stable fabrics such as felt or woven cotton before progressing to T-shirts. The main difficulty with T-shirts is their stretchy and lightweight fabric, which doesn't handle as many stitches well compared to more stable materials like sweatshirts.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Design Choices and Stabilizing Fabric The chapter discusses key considerations when embroidering on t-shirts, focusing on the importance of design choices and fabric stabilization. It emphasizes that for flimsy t-shirt fabrics, proper hooping and stabilizing are crucial. The chapter suggests avoiding large, heavy designs because the fabric cannot support them. It also hints at knowing rules to eventually break them effectively.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Cutaway Stabilizer and Adhesives Chapter titled 'Cutaway Stabilizer and Adhesives' discusses tips for choosing the right design size for embroidery on fabric. It suggests using smaller designs, particularly those that fit in a 4x4 hoop, or opting for larger applique or open designs with fewer stitches to prevent fabric distortion. The chapter also highlights potential issues with larger lettering designs that could sag and distort due to the weight of the thread on less supportive fabrics like t-shirts.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Stabilizers and Alternative Methods This chapter discusses the importance of using the correct stabilizers in stitching, particularly for t-shirts. It warns against using tear away stabilizers, as they can tear during stitching and potentially ruin the garment by getting caught in the bobbin case. The chapter recommends using cutaway stabilizers instead to avoid these issues.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Hooping and Placement Tips This chapter focuses on the nuances of selecting stabilizers for embroidery, particularly emphasizing the use of tear-away stabilizers for non-stretchy fabrics. It advises against using multiple layers of stabilizers as it might lead to problems rather than solutions. For t-shirts, especially lighter colored or sheer fabrics, it recommends sticking with a light to medium-weight cutaway stabilizer to avoid the stabilizer's shadow showing through the fabric.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Needle Selection and Final Tips In this chapter, the focus is on needle selection and final tips for embroidery, specifically when working with stretch knits like t-shirts. The chapter underscores the significance of using a cutaway stabilizer when embroidering these materials. It addresses common issues such as stretching or shifting of the fabric despite using the correct stabilizer. To counter these problems, it recommends using adhesive techniques to ensure that the shirt adheres to the stabilizer. Temporary spray adhesives are suggested, with an emphasis on their removability upon washing. The chapter author shares a personal preference for the Oda 505 adhesive, while acknowledging the availability of other equally effective brands.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Experimentation and Conclusion The chapter 'Experimentation and Conclusion' offers practical tips and advice on materials and techniques for sewing and crafting. The narrator warns against using fabric glue, even humorously mentioning a question from a viewer about its appropriateness, and suggests using a cheaper and more effective glue stick as an alternative, though cautioning against overuse.

ULTIMATE Guide to Perfect T-Shirt Embroidery Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 most people get an embroidery machine with dreams of creating Custom Clothes Like t-shirts and a t-shirt is often the first project that you try only to be disappointed in how awful it looks I've got several tips in this video that can turn you into a t-shirt embroidering Guru hey folks I'm Lucy at Balo Creations where I digitize in The Hoot projects like the ones you see back there and I teach people like you how to enjoy your embroidery machine instead of despising it I've been doing this a long time and I've made all the mistakes so I know what I'm talking about when I tell
• 00:30 - 01:00 you t-shirts are not the easiest thing to machine embroider if you're brand new to machine embroidery you should start on more stable Fabrics like felt or woven cotton until you get a feel for proper hooping and learning how your machine works but once you get the hang of how to use your machine then you're ready for t-shirts the thing that makes the T-shirt challenging is the fabric it's not only stretchy but it's also lightweight so it can't hold as many stitches layered on top like something like a sweatshirt could to get
• 01:00 - 01:30 beautifully embroidered t-shirt we have to consider a few extra things like your choice of design proper hooping and stabilizing the fabric is super important with these flimsy t-shirt Fabrics but before I show you all the stuff I will say that once you know the rules you can break them properly and I'll talk more about that towards the end of this video design choice is a big deal you can't put large heavy DSE designs on t-shirts the fabric is not strong enough
• 01:30 - 02:00 to support all that extra thread so choose a smaller design usually ones that fit in 4x4 Hoops or a larger design could be things like an applique or an open design where there are fewer stitches and they don't cover that whole big area even with designs that have space between the objects such as lettering you can still have problems because a t-shirt is not strong enough to support the weight of all that thread you piled on top so it might sag and distort designs that have a lot of
• 02:00 - 02:30 outlines can also be problematic too but you can use those if you stabilize properly and we're going to get to that right now only use cutaway stabilizer I can't tell you how many times I see someone asking for help on their t-shirt Stitch out and they're using a tear away stabilizer do not use tear away it can tear while you're stitching and your shirt will get poked down into the bobin case and ruined it's different for woven
• 02:30 - 03:00 fabrics use your tear away there not for your stretchy stuff no- show mesh is also okay for smaller designs that so that the shadow of stabilizer doesn't show through your shirt t-shirts are typically thin and kind of see-through so especially the lighter color ones try to stick with the light to a mediumweight cutaway type of stabilizer on t-shirts I am not a fan of using multiple layers of stabilizer you can cause more problems than you fix so if you do everything else properly you don't need to use two or three layers of your cut cut away mesh whatever just be
• 03:00 - 03:30 sure it's a cutaway stabilizer when embroidering stretch knits like t-shirts even with the right stabilizer you can still run into problems when the shirt stretches or shifts the absolute best way to fix that problem is to use an adhesive so your shirt is stuck to the stabilizer a lot of people use a temporary spray adhesive for this be sure it's temporary so it will wash out later I use the Oda 505 it's what I've been using for a while but there are other brands and they work just the same
• 03:30 - 04:00 don't use fabric glue I know that sounds silly to some of you but last week someone asked me if that was okay and it's not but a cheap glue stick does work in a pinch just don't overdo it I personally don't like using sprays because my lungs are kind of sensitive so I look for the Alternatives you can also use a stabilizer that's fusible and iron that onto the wrong side of your shirt that makes it easier to hoop and Stitch so I'll link to some fusible mesh in the video description that's really great for newbies Secret weapon here
• 04:00 - 04:30 terel magic or best press these will stiffen the fabric and keep it from stretching during the Stitch out so your design Will Come Out cleaner I'm not even affiliate for teral magic but I've been using it for years and it makes tricky Fabrics super easy to stitch but you do have to wash it out so your shirt goes back to being soft again and you also have to spray it on and iron it just as the prep so it does take a little longer but it's totally worth it if you're struggling with your flimsy Fabrics or t-shirts try this stuff another trick is to use a water soluble
• 04:30 - 05:00 topper or a heat soluble melway topper these films can also stabilize the fabric better and give a crisper Stitch out on knit Fabrics I use a lot of t-shirt knit Fabrics when making art dolls and I also use a film topper to make the tiny facial featur stand out better and it works for t-shirts too especially for a really small text like in logos try a Topper you don't need to use all of these things in fact I think it's Overkill to use a stiffener and a topper and an adhesive choose one or two
• 05:00 - 05:30 things that you have available and your shirts will Stitch better you can use regular or magnetic Hoops for shirts but don't float unless your fabric is adhered to the stabilizer and the stabilizer is tightly hooped if floating is working for you then keep doing it but if you can't get a good t-shirt and you're trying to float it then try actually hooping it it should go better for you and when I say tightly hooped I mean the hoop is tight around
• 05:30 - 06:00 the fabric and stabilizer around the edges I don't mean the fabric is tight in the embroidery area which is another tip do not stretch the fabric when you hoop it some people take that drum tight advice way too far and stretch the shirt in the hoop and that's going to create a design that's inside a bowl of your Fabric and you don't want that nobody wants that placement you can put your design anywhere on your shirt a logo OR a small
• 06:00 - 06:30 design on the left chest is great you can put something larger across the chest as long as there are not too many stitches in the design and you can do things like embroider the neckline or you can do your sleeves maybe even a bottom hem just remember your embroidery may change the stretch of the shirt which could make it harder to put on and take off if you cover too much area figure out where you want your design and you can use chalk a fabric marker or placement stickers to Mark the center of your design I like to attach my stable ier to the back of the shirt using
• 06:30 - 07:00 either spray adhesive or a fusible stabilizer and make sure the stabilizer is bigger than your hoop because if you have a part of the hoop that's just the T-shirt without stabilizer that's going to stretch during stitching and it could distort Your Design then you Center the inner ring of your hoop and tape it in a few places so when you line up the outer ring that's inside the shirt your placement won't move around if you don't get it perfect the first time you can make adjustments on your machine or un hoop and start over don't feel bad if it
• 07:00 - 07:30 takes a few tries this is fussy work if you want to spend some money a laser like the vivilux or a hooping station like hoop Master does make it much easier and if you're on a flatbed machine like most single needle machines you'll need to gather the fabric into a bowl shape so it doesn't get underneath the hoop I find it best to roll up the fabric and roll it away from the hoop so it's less likely to fall in there you can use Clips pins or tape to hold that fabric out of the way and no you don't
• 07:30 - 08:00 need all three I'm just showing you all the options on a free arm machine you can hoop it so the free arm fits inside the neck or the bottom of the shirt or you can even have the hoop arms come out of the arms of the shirt just find the hoop orientation that works best for your situation a regular 7511 embroidery needle should work fine for most cotton or polyester or rayon t-shirts you may hear that you need a ball point or a special needle for knits and that is true for sewing machines but I've never
• 08:00 - 08:30 needed it for embroidery machines embroidery needles are designed to work with both woven and knit Fabrics but if your shirt has spandex or is super stretchy you might need a ballpoint needle if you're getting skip stitches I shouldn't need to say it but don't use an old dull needle on your shirt if you're using all my previous tips and you still get puckering or if your fabric is getting snags in it change your needle and quit being so stingy with your money those needles they don't last for ever you got to change them
• 08:30 - 09:00 from time to time about every eight hours of stitching is what's recommended you'd be surprised how many people use dull needles and can't figure out what's wrong it happens a lot for the rest of it you just put it on your machine and hit start and the Machine will do the rest of the work just change your colors keep an eye on it there you go and that my dear folks is how you embroider a t-shirt them's all the rules and once you know all these rules then you can break them properly for example
• 09:00 - 09:30 I can use a water activated sticky stabilizer on t-shirts and it's tear away I know it's crazy but it works because the fabric is stuck to the stabilizer and because I know what designs to choose and also how to hoop it properly so once you learn the rules and get greatl looking shirts then you can experiment and see what else could work for you and now you know how to embroider a t-shirt to ensure success instead of stress choose your designs wisely use a cutaway stabilizer and make
• 09:30 - 10:00 sure the the shirt fabric can't shift around on the stabilizer either by hooping it correctly or using adhesive or a fabric stiffener you can position designs anywhere on your shirt you want them and as always keep an eye on your machine while it's stitching to make sure that you catch any problems quickly I hope you found this video helpful there's links down in the description box to the stuff that I've been talking about if you want more info and I will see you later folks
• 10:00 - 10:30 okay so I just did half of it with no audio so let's do this all over again I love video video is Fun making videos is fun technology is amazing