Logo crumbles after washes... help?

Fcdtx · June 1st, 2017, 09:35 PM

I have digitized several school logos that have a lot of stitching like a patch. Sometimes in a form of a shield or various designs that have a lot of fill in stitches. What is the trick to having it stay flat over the washes? Is my backing wrong? Or underlay? Or density? Etc...

ayugup · June 1st, 2017, 11:22 PM

Can you post a picture

ltpemb · June 2nd, 2017, 02:35 PM

this is a multi faceted issue. using heavier backing helps but depending on what is being run also changes the factors. polyester fabrics dont shrink while cotton does. Regular cutaway backing is a cotton paper and will shrink. Poly mesh backing on the otherhand is flexable and doesn't. On poly cotton blend fabrics going to 2+ layers of stiffer backing can help. On polyester either 2 layers of mesh plus 1 layer of standard weight backing can help or 1 layer of mesh and 2 layers standard weight can help. The second part is that ironing the logo from the back will help as well. The key to any logo is ballance though. you don't want too much backing or it ruins the feel and the lay of the shirt. you also have to take into account the structure of the stitches building up. You can actually create a more stable flat laying logo by adjusting directionality outline layering and density and a world of other tricks.

digidana · June 2nd, 2017, 03:25 PM

as far as the design goes, you want the density to be just enough for good coverage, but no more. run your stitches at an angle, not left to right or up and down. running with the grain of the fabric will stretch it out. also, consider laying down all of your underlay at once before the design starts, and add a perimeter underlay around it. like this:

you can see there's definitely more than one stitch group in the actual design, but running all the underlay stitches first helps stabilize the whole area instead of stitch group by stitch group.

also, try to avoid using a "turn fill" stitch. it will definitely pucker the fabric. when i say turn fill, i mean a stitch like these snakes are done with:

(I knew this was going on something very stable which is why i could get away with it.)

Robert Young · June 2nd, 2017, 05:20 PM

wow, you last two.. ltpemb and digidana hit quite a few of the learning points!! But being that there really is NO school for this everyone seems to have to reinvent the wheel!? I agree more with what I feel Digidana is saying in that it all starts in the digitizing. But that being said the operator ability, underlayment and machine, especially machine speed, are all just as important. Is a marriage.

not only does too much backing effect the lay.. think of your poor nipples! yikes! Cannot wear the shirt because it HURTS! and I am just coming from a man's perspective.

I think there is another issue here.. which deals with the marriage between digitizer/operator/machine..... how is it we can embroider on toilet paper but we cannot get a shirt to lay flat? that is the issue I think new people could totally have an issue with. Problem is they blame one of the three instead of trying to get all three to work together. For example.. how fast do you run your machine? I know that they can run well over 1000 spm... not for me.. I never go over 650 mainly because my EYES cannot notice a problem faster than that... but that is just me. YES, I slow my 3mm lettering areas down to 200 spm. I WANT the control.. I CONTROL the machine. It has only been 27 years but I do not have these issues because I CONTROL the environment. Marriage... digitizer/ operator/ machine.

DancingBay · June 4th, 2017, 05:13 PM

One more thing that I don't think was mentioned. When sewing your fill stitch, sew from one side to the other and avoid fabric trapping when at all possible. Trapping is where the design sews up for a while, then goes to the top and sews down for a while. I set my fill stitch at a 15 degree angle and very carefully find the starting and ending points of the stitching, which are bottom left 15 degrees off center and top right. I get a lot of moisture management items and like to use the Sew Many Parts answer for Gunold ActionBack. I've also used the Fil-Tec backing for moisture management fabrics, but it will melt if you get an iron close to it, so pressing the back of a design cannot be done with that backing.

ltpemb · June 5th, 2017, 04:34 PM

Except when you shouldn't do that*
Part of why people end up having to reinvent the wheel is that the sheer number of fabrics already out and every year they are coming out with more and more fabrics, more and more knit and weave patterns all with different finishes and materials, All of which change some of the way things move.

digidana · June 5th, 2017, 06:01 PM

only embroiderers/digitizers should be allowed to invent fabrics....and caps!