Let’s Talk Embroidery Stabilizers and When to Use Them

Hi, friends!

Earlier this week, I provided some inspiration for integrating practical embroidery into your life. One suggestion was to stitch on your clothes–shirts, pants, hats, shoes, tote bags. All of these things have something in common: they require a stabilizer. So, what are they and what do they do?

What is a stabilizer?

Embroidery stabilizer is a material that you use during the embroidery process to reinforce your fabric. You can apply it to either the front or back of your design, and it acts as a foundation for you to stitch. It will help to reduce puckering of your fabric, and will help your design maintain its structural integrity even after you’ve completed your design. 

Which kind should I use?

There are lots of different stabilizers that you can use: tear away, cut away, heat away, wash away (a lot of “aways,” but you get the point). Each one serves a different purpose. Depending on which type you used, the removal process will look different. 

My favorite brand to use for all stabilizers is Sulky. This company makes all kinds of stabilizers in addition to providing useful tools and resources that you can buy (a great place for beginners to gather supplies). 

Tear Away

Great for: machine embroidery, quilting, dense materials, satin stitch and monogramming. 

A quick and easy method for removing your stabilizer, tear away is normally applied to the back of your design and can be torn off when done. Anything that isn’t held down by your stitches will tear off pretty easily. 

Be sure to not be too aggressive when ripping away excess stabilizer. If your stitches or fabric are delicate, tearing too aggressively could rip those as well and we don’t want that. I recommend laying your design on a flat surface and gently tearing away your stabilizer, using one hand to apply pressure to your design to hold it in place. 

Sulky Tear Away Stabilizers

Cut Away

Great for: lightweight fabrics, delicate fabrics, shirts/clothes that touch your skin. 

Similar to tear away in that it is also applied to the back of designs. The main difference being that you need to cut away that material rather than tear. Additionally, whatever is held down by the embroidery will remain so, this type of stabilizer tends to be soft so that it doesn’t irritate skin. 

Sulky Cut Away Stabilizers

Heat Away

Great for: lace, appliques, 3D embroidery

This type of stabilizer is applied to the top of a design and is stitched over. Be sure to only use this on fabrics that can withstand heat (e.g., cotton would be good, but silk would not). Once completed, you will use a dry iron to apply heat to your design. The excess stabilizer will flake off and you’ll be left with just your design on the fabric. 

Do not use the stem feature when ironing and do not use permanent markers on the stabilizer to draw your design. Doing so will cause major problems when attempting to remove the excess stabilizer. 

Sulky Heat Away Stabilizers

Wash Away 

Great for: hand embroidery, quilting, edges, applique, 3D embroidery. 

My personal recommendation is to use a wash away stabilizer because it is versatile and easy to work with. Similar to the heat-away, water soluble stabilizer is applied topically to your fabric and is embroidered over. The beauty of wash away stabilizer is that it completely dissolves when you rinse it with warm water. Additionally, it often comes in an adhesive paper format that allows you to print directly onto it and then stitch it to your fabric, which makes transferring your design super easy. 

Since you are going to be washing your embroidery work, here are some suggestions to make working with wash-away stabilizer easier: 

• Use colorfast embroidery floss so that your thread does not bleed into your fabric. 
• If you choose to print directly onto the paper, be sure to minimize the amount of ink you’re using. If you print in full color or at a “print” quality, the ink will be too saturated and will run when you add the water to remove the stabilizer. This can ruin your embroidery that you worked so hard for. Try printing with a “draft” ink quality. This will use less ink and will prevent bleeding. 
• Use short, tight stitches on your embroidery. If your stitches are too long, they will get droopy and wonky when you add water. 
• You can use a hairdryer to expedite the drying process, but airdrying will always be best. I might even suggest weighing down the corners of your fabric to straighten it out so that it dries flat. 

Sulky Wash Away Stabilizers

Before you start stitching on your clothes, think about what your needs are for the project. Do you need something sturdier and that provides long-term support? Perhaps try a tear or cut away stabilizer. Need something that’s more temporary and completely removes itself? Then, maybe a heat or wash away stabilizer would work best. 

Keep this in mind for your next embroidery project!