Embroidery Problem - Please help

By Sniper on Jul. 24, 2007
Forums: 
Embroidery and Digitizing

Hello, I'm hoping you may be able to help me. I've been having an embroidery problem for some time now. I'm trying to embroider my lightweight Columbia fishing shirt which is 100% nylon. You can see the shirt here: http://www.columbia.com/product.aspx?p=4357&cat=1&top=1

Everything we have tried has failed. After washing the shirt, the fabric around my logo appears permanently wrinkled. I don't think this is what you would describe as "puckering". It appears that the embroidery has shrunk or somehow drawn up during the wash. The shirt itself is not shrinking as it is 100% nylon and has been washed numerous times over the past year.

We have tried "cut-away" stabilizer, "tear-away" stabilizer, and nylon mesh "cut-away" stabilizer. We sent the file back to the digitizer and they increased the pixel size and decreased the thread count. Nothing has worked. I take the shirt home each time and wash it, only to get the same wrinkled effect around the logo. The same thing happens to my embroidered name above the other chest pocket so I don't think it is the logo or the digitizing.

We have only used polyester thread up to this point. At first, I thought maybe the stabilizer was shrinking in the wash causing the wrinkled effect but now I think that the thread may actually be shrinking. However, everything I read says that polyester thread does NOT shrink. Is it possible that polyester thread may shrink or draw up just a little after washing and it is over-exaggerated on such a lightweight nylon shirt? Do you think I would have better results if we tried a rayon or nylon thread? Doesn't it make sense to use a nylon thread on a nylon shirt?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Location: 
United States
hifice's picture
Submitted by hifice on Fri, 08/10/2007 - 04:47

Thread is shrinking, may be when it was embroidered tension is too tight and specially on nylon, material is too thin

Cap, Full back, 3D Puff, tackle twill, water-soluble, sequin, chenille, cut-work, patch/emblem, towel ect.

Submitted by rob21 on Fri, 08/10/2007 - 23:15

Hi Sniper,

I've had problem like this before.

The design was rather large and it went on thin sport shirt. If it was digitized normally, the fabric around it would look wrinkled, as if the logo was shrunk.

The real problem was that everytime the logo was embroidered, it would pull the fabric around it a little bit, so in the end, it looked like the area around the logo is pulled into it and looked wrinkled.

To solve this, we tried to digitize the design differently. We divided it into different parts, so when it was embroidered, each part would be sewn out perfectly before it went to the next part. And it turned out great.

My advice is you should consult this with your digitizer. Yes, decreasing thread density might help but it doesn't solve the problem and it will still look wrinkled. You should try another way to digitize it, because every problem has its own different way out.

If you use 100% nylon and polyester thread and they say it won't shrink, then fabrics shouldn't be a problem.

Good luck!

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johnshamblin's picture
Submitted by johnshamblin on Sun, 08/12/2007 - 13:02

Well, I tried my hand at digitizing several years ago and, using what must be the world's worst digitizing software (Pantograms), I gave up after a couple of very frustrating years.

I now contract out all my embroidery and digitizing to a very capable shop in TN. I just had a 2.5", fairly dense logo embroidered on a lightweight Columbia fishing shirt sleeve and it turned out beautifully. I've washed it a couple of times, and there's still no puckering.

Not only the density of stitches, but the direction that each section sews can cause puckering, especially on light weight fabric like the Columbia shirts. I don't know how our embroiderer did it, but I do know that often the problem starts with poorly designed artwork that just will not sew. I've done a lot of logo design, and embroidery isone of the the criteria that I consider first and foremost. If it can't be sewn well, the problem is either the original artwork, or the digitizer.

Submitted by Sniper on Mon, 08/13/2007 - 14:42

Thanks for the input guys! The digitizer is from Canada and has been in the business for about 20 years. The logo was designed with embroidery in mind.

The same problem happens to my name that is sewn above the other chest pocket. My name was not designed and was not digitized. So, doesn't this point to the thread or the tension as hifice pointed out?

johnshamblin, do you know what type of thread was used for your logo?

Submitted by Redfoxx on Mon, 08/13/2007 - 18:17

sniper,

did you tell your digitizer what you were embroidering.

We have done fishing shirts on, i guess you call them camp shirts, light nylon. we used a heavy grided stabilizer. We also hooped very tight. On some jobs we added a fix stitch or basting stitch around the design.

Submitted by Inxs on Fri, 08/31/2007 - 10:06

I run in to that problem constantly and haven't found a solution for that. I've tried switching angles of the satin stiching, lowering density and no good results.

Although I did run into a very simple way to make it look good. IRONING. I was having the same problem with my polo shirts because my logo has alot of fill. You can't go out and market your business with you OWN embroidery looking like that. So I Ironed it and it stays looking good for the rest of the day. It'll look like it came right out of the production line. Unfortunately that's as fas as I've gotten.

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