Thursday, February 16, 2012

Reusing Embroidery Tearaway Stabilizer

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I quickly found out when I do small, simple embroidery work on my machine, I'm wasting a lot of tearaway stabilizer.  So, I decided to piece the leftovers and try using it again.  It worked!

I had bought a roll of tearaway stabilizer to back towels & other heavy fabrics.
Using up a little piece out of the center seemed so wasteful.
I cut away larger sections.
Overlap the pieces to make a flat seam.  I first thought I would need a zigzag stitch for reinforcement, but found out a straight stitch works well.

While the embroidery machine is busy, I hop on the old machine and stitch these pieces together according to the size of hoop I'll be using.

I used white thread.  I suppose you could use clear or water soluble thread.



If I'd paid attention, I could have avoided embroidering over this stitch line.

If you do embroidery over stitch lines, you only need to snip the stitch.  This is another reason it's a good idea to use a straight stitch.  The single stitch did not show in the embroidery at all even though it was white thread because this is on the backside of the embroidery.

I was able to use this piece again.

Now do I dare continue piecing? Maybe for my "cuff" hoop?



10 comments:

  1. Oh, Joy, what a joy this tip is - I so hate throwing all that stuff away, especially with small projects! I'm new here - enjoying my visit!

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  2. Thank you Peg you have made my day. enJOY the rest of your day.

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  3. I also hate throwing things away - this is a great tip. I am your newest Linky Follower from TheStuffofSuccess - feel free to stop on by and say hello. Have a terrific week. Athena

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  4. I would never have thought of reusing tear away stabiliser, Joy. Great tip!!!

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  5. I do this too as I'm a frugal sewer/embroiderer! I call it "frankenstein" stitching my stabilizer. I've recently read (but haven't tried it) that some use a glue stick to "frankenstein" their smaller pieces together. Using this method would eliminate the stitching that inevitably gets under the embroidery/applique and has to be cut out.

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    1. Rae, the glue stick sounds like a great idea if it works ok with the machine/needle. This is something I use to do on my old machine machine while an embroidery project was running. However, I had to move that machine out of the room to make more space. A glue stick would solve that problem.

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  6. I live in Lexington, and love UK! Thanks for the tuturial

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  7. Thank you so much. I have a great big box that I've kept mine in for years...I KNEW there was a way. I just had to spend time on the net trying to find out the secret. Now I have lots left before I have to buy it again. I wonder if a large basting stitch would be the easiest.

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  8. Thank you so much. I have a great big box that I've kept mine in for years...I KNEW there was a way. I just had to spend time on the net trying to find out the secret. Now I have lots left before I have to buy it again. I wonder if a large basting stitch would be the easiest.

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