Category: General BFC

Rebecca’s Search for the Perfect Stabilizer

WHAT STABILIZER SHOULD I USE?

I get this question a lot and I see it being asked on many groups.  If you are doing Free Standing Lace the answer is pretty easy – use water soluble.  Designs with few stitches are also pretty easy – I always recommend a medium tear away.  But the most difficult is what to use for the large designs with many stitches and you want ot be able to stitch it without it feeling like a steel plate when y ou’re done J

For several years I have been using a medium tear away sticky stabilizer.  I got mine from World Weidner and was very pleased.  But I noticed it seemed to be going down in quality ust about the time Rebecca asked me what to use on my large designs.  I told her the kind and brand I used but she had very bad luck with it!  And she is great to have documented to me how she found a perfect alternative.  I’ve tried it and I agree with her totally!  The follow are from emails and she gave me permission to pass them along.  I apologize if things are repeated. J

> Hi, Suz:

>> I was hoping that you could help with this. I have stitched out hundreds of tee shirts for myself, friends and family. My secret formula has always been a layer of Vilene against the shirt and a layer of tear away wash away under that. It has been pretty foolproof until I get to more dense designs. Then, I usually float another layer of tear away wash away underneath and WSS on top.

>> When I was stitching out a tee shirt yesterday, I was panicking because the shirt was “bubbling up”. This has happened before and the shirt turned out okay. I’m just wondering if I used your recommended Weidner sticky stabilizer, that it might work better. I tried this first but it was impossible wrestling the shirt over it to hoop it. I use Mighty Hoops (LOVE THEM!!) and the hooping station. Is there such a thing as turning the shirt inside out, sticking on the sterilizer and then hooping?

I am so glad that I asked you about the stabilizer that you use. After getting my replacement for the World Wiedner stuff (two rolls that were too sticky and the adhesive was not coming off, even some after washing), I have the new rolls and it works so well. I like it better than the Madeira since it’s a little thicker and costs about ⅓.

This design has 68,842 stitches. I stuck one piece to the front inside of the shirt, hooped it and floated a thin piece of tear away under it.

Pretty pucker less…

 

Just wanted to tell you that changing to the World Weidner sticky stabilizer has been a game changer for me. It works so well, one layer for shirts even up to 52,000 stitches. On the downside, the adhesivep part has been sticking to the back of the shirt and it doesn’t even come off entirely after washing. I contacted the company and apparently, they had trouble with a batch that was too sticky. They are replacing the one partial and one unopened rolls that I have.

I also tried Madeira Cotton Fix based on something I read where Royal Present uses it. It works just as well and pulls off easier with NO residue.

Thank you so much for spending the time with me. I am so happy with this “new process”.

Hi, Suz:

My luck with the Weidner stuff has been abysmal. Even after they replaced the “bad” stuff, it’s pretty much the same – very hard to get off even after washing. I tried the HBI stuff on Amazon and it’s perfect. I liked the Madeira Cotton Fix stuff but it’s pricey and only 12”. HBI comes in 12 and 15 inches wide. It tears off beautifully.

 

H.B.I. Products Self Adhesive Tear Away Embroidery Stabilizer 15″ x 10 Yd for Machine Embroidery – Peel & Stick – Sticky Tear Away for Textured Fabric & Hoop Less Embroidery

amazon.com

My  luck with the Weidner stuff has been abysmal. Even after they replaced the “bad” stuff, it’s pretty much the same – very hard to get off even after washing. I tried the HBI stuff on Amazon and it’s perfect. I liked the Madeira Cotton Fix stuff but it’s pricey and only 12”. HBI comes in 12 and 15 inches wide. It tears off beautifully.

Yes, on the stabilizer. That Weidner stuff is horrible. The HBI product comes off so well – most of the bits come off in the laundry. I have embroidered up to 48,000 stitches with one piece. If it’s more than that, I just slip a 1.5 oz tear away wash away under it. Madeira Cotton Fix is even easier to tear off but it’s thinner and more expensive so I’ve been sticking with the HBI product. I have been using the HBI Sticky Wash Away (in addition to the tear away) for bows on the sides of embroidered shirts for my sister-in-law. I’ll attach a picture of one.

Just finished stitching this out with one layer of HBI sticky tear away. It was 53,080 stitches and I used one layer. If I were to make it on a tee shirt, I would have slipped a layer of thinner tear away wash away under it. I haven’t washed it yet and that always removes all the topper, excess stuff on the back and tames it down although it’s not puckered at all.

 

Kittie’s Comment

Dear Suz,  Thank you so much  for the beautiful pattern. It’s like I am able to make real ART now.  Also thank you for sending the thread. I like it!  It seem that there is more glittering than other thread. I wish I could buy that thread here in the Netherlands.  Wish you all the best.  Kittie

I’m posting this message from Kittie because it embodies what I have attempted with our designs since 2003 when we started.  Embroidery of any kind is a lot of work, whether it’s done on a machine or by hand.  I feel that anyone that uses our designs deserves to feel they are creating art because that is how we went about making the design:)

Thank you so much Kittie!!!

Suz

HELP ON HOW TO SEARCH IN BFC WEBSITE

I get a weekly report on the phrases most searched for with  results and those searched for with no results.  I also can go in any time to see the day’s searches, plus over time for many days.  There are patterns that I think I can help with to make your searches more productive.

The successful searches tend to be one or two words at the most.  They also contain a lot of numerical part of our item numbers.  You see our item numbers everywhere – the name of designs, the documentation, etc.  So this is a great thing to use to search.  Type the item number with no additional text – 1905 (a design set) or 2170 a color number.  You might have the tendency to add more info, but search really doesn’t care.  LOL And too much text usually results in a failed search.

  1. 3148 PALEST Lime  × 2  This failed because the name is PLST lime.  All that was needed is the 3148!

The next two have the same problem.  When we switched to our new website, I wanted the item numbers to be as uniform as possible (I create the reports  LOL)  Our first designs from 101 to 999 were missing a chracter compared to 1000-1950,  So I added a 0 before each design number that only had 3 characters.  My reports are easy and look good, but to search properly you need to add a 0 before the numbers.

  1. 529 Ancient Russian Floral  × 2  Should be 0529
  2. 583 -Christmas Stocking I  × 2  Should be 0583
  1. BFC 487 Seed Packets – Veggies and Seed Packets Veggie Pack -all this needed was the 0 – or 0487.  Adding so much text to a serach is more than likely going to prevent the program from finding anything.

This one is painful – so lcose!

BFC0527-06  × 2   The 0527 i perfect, but the -06 which represents the individual design nubmer doesn’t not register withour serach. 

Tzu’s version of Kentucky Triptych (with great hint)

From Tzu:

I’m happy to say I’m finished and even with my boo boo’s I absolutely love it ! my learning curve has taught me several things for my next one . Oh and while Im no where near y’alls level 2 things that greatly helped me and I quickly figured out was 1 while sewing panels of all embroidery together was to use quilting gloves the grip you get is fantastic and it never hurts the embroidery at all making feeding it to your machine a breeze , # 2 while my feed dogs and foot worked together the grip of my foot seemed to ever so slightly mis-align my pieces from bottom panel well a teflon foot ( I know supposed to be for leather lol ) stopped all the misalignment hope this helps someone 😉 . Here is my version of Kentucky Triptych

Tzu has not only come up with a beautiful version of this design but also given us a great hint for all designs that require stitching together.  Fantastic!  I’m going to use this next time – I always have at least one seam that no matter how hard I try gets a little bit *off*.

BFC1285 Kentucky Stained Glass Triptych

 

New BFC Facebook Group

When Yahoo went away, it was hard to know what to replace it with.  I knew a lot of people used Facebook, but i never cared for it.  IO groups looked more similar to Yahoo, so I went with them.  We never had much conversation going on in IO and I have really been disappointed with it.

Always on the lookout for ways to market, I noticed one of the groups I belonged to was going to have an Embroidery HOP.  I remembered HOPS from way back but hadn’t seen any.. So I asked how to get involved.  I had to have a Facebook group!  I guess it was in the stars, so I finally gave in.  I started a group and it’s actually been a lot of fun!  We are just getting started, but I wanted to let you know if you want to join us:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bfccreationsembroideryinspirations

 

 

HAS THE PANDEMIC CHANGED HOW YOU CRAFT?

I think last year all of us kept thinking that by 2021 things would be back to normal.  Things seem to slowly getting back to normal and I would love to hear from you how the past months have changed your approach to your crafts.  Are you doing more or less?  Are your choices of project or materials changed?  You  can comment to this page to let us know,

SAVE YOUR DESIGNS!!!!!!

A customer wrote to me today with a heartbreaking story. I will let her tell you:

Dear Suz, I just finished re-downloading ALL my orders since #521. I had a severe power surge here in August that caused me to lose my stove, refrig., furnace, air, PC, water softener and elec. fireplace. I thought I had everything backed up on CDs and memory sticks, BUT Murphys Law was in total control and I had NOTHING. I am SO GLAD that I could salvage my favorite designs and can only say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU that I could. I remain FOREVER a loyal customer,

Suz, feel free to  use  my tale of woe. I thought I  had taken the proper precautions but I  never checked to make sure. I just  assumed that I  had copied everything.  NEVER ASSUME anything.  That’s  my  new motto. I should have known better.  Since the love of my life (husband of 55 years) died of cancer in 2014 it seems like Murphy’s Law has been hanging over me big time. Thank God my 4 daughters have been here to keep me going.  Thanks again for your kindness.

_________________________

Designs represent not only a big monetary investment, but many of us are very attached to our purchased designs  – we plan for them, think about them, and we expect them to be there when we want them.  But unless we take some precautions we can’t be sure this will be the case.  PLEASE make sure all your design are backed up and that the sites you deal with maintain your purchases so you can re-download them.  If you have a lot of designs from many places you might want to consider a cloud service that will back up the files you want them to every night.  I have been doing this for years and I have had to use the backup files often enough to feel the service has been a bargain.

Two Bugs in a Rug

Over the years I have bought many cat toys that are stored up in the closet while the boys play with the boxes.  I looked at these beds for quite awhile before I finally succomed to what I thought sure was more waste.  But!!!!  It took them about 15 minutes to stick a paw in – like they were testing water.  In an hour Duma was curled up in one and on his way to la-la land.  It took Bronk another hour to try the other one.  The next day they found they could stuff both of them in one bed = one very full bed.  LOL  Since then hey hjave either both been in one or taking a break and each having their own bed.  These beds are worth the money -= they seem to enjoy them, so much!  They are machine washable (if you can get them out of them).

No connection just a very happy cat owner!  Who for once didn’t waste her money. LOL

.

 

Carolyn’s Experience with Thread

Carolyn sent me this message yesterday.  I was very pleased and interested in her  in her results!  Thank you Carolyn!

Good afternoon, Suz…I have to tell someone and you are the only person who would know what I am talking about. I recently signed up for a class at my local shop to make the OESD Christmas Village. The first class was Monday and not much was going well. My machine wouldn’t accept the designs, the bobbins weren’t winding well (had to use same thread top and bottom). I was using a Brother NV1600 embroidery only machine, certainly not top of the line but more than sufficient to take to class. So here is where you come in. When I got home, things got worse…I did all the usual…checked the bobbin case, wound the bobbins on a separate device (which I could regulate speed and tension), changed the needle, slowed the stitching speed, checked the plate, etc. After the machine ate the project 2/3 way through 32000 stitches, I went looking for different thread. I found a cone of Admelody that was almost the same color. I ditched the first attempt and started all over this morning. Now, you know how old that thread has to be, but GUESS WHAT!!! Not a hiccup, bump, or pause…only when the bobbin ran low. The designs are stitching beautifully,  my blood pressure has returned to normal and the air has cleared. I am so excited and now looking forward to completing the project. Thank you for having such quality products as well as your designs. You have made my day. The color I am using is 226 and it looks like BFC 2168 is the right one to get, as I am sure I will need more that I have. Thanks again, Carolyn Kenngott Have a great day!!!