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Help with bubbles all over design area after first wash

1149 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  YippySkippy, 
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I have been trying to embroidery a design on a Gildan Ultra t shirt. If I use a fusible mesh there are bubbles all over the design after the first wash. How can I fix this?

Also I have used Floriani medium cut away. There are by far fewer wrinkles and bubbles. Almost acceptable. Can be made acceptable by pressing. How can I improve this?

Also, unless I use very high heat the "soft" cover over the stitching does not stay on through a single wash. High heat causes more bubbles in the design area.

Can anyone help a rookie?
Thanks!!
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do you mean the embroidery waves in areas? like it doesn't lay flat? Are you over stretching when hooping the material? T-shirt material isn't the best for embroidery. It's light, stretchy and will shrink when washed but the embroidery wont shrink with it leaving a wavy look. A stronger backing works but it does depend on the embroidery. Does it have open areas? and does it have the proper underlay? I would try embroidering on a different material then wash it. If it doesn't bubble or wave then you know its the material not the design.
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waderain said:
do you mean the embroidery waves in areas? like it doesn't lay flat? Are you over stretching when hooping the material? T-shirt material isn't the best for embroidery. It's light, stretchy and will shrink when washed but the embroidery wont shrink with it leaving a wavy look. A stronger backing works but it does depend on the embroidery. Does it have open areas? and does it have the proper underlay? I would try embroidering on a different material then wash it. If it doesn't bubble or wave then you know its the material not the design.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. Attached are 2 images of the shirt. The problem and the stabilizer. It is a Floriani stabilizer. I tried others brands with the same result. The design is 10,600 stitches. The Gildan t shirt was pre washed. The sew out was beautiful. The issue came when it was washed after the embroidery.

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MadeDesigns
try a water soluble stabilizer on top. Or use a thicker cut away stabilizer on the bottom.

Looks to me like it just needs to be ironed. Maybe use polyester thread.

I only tinkered with embroidery my main thing is printing.
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Industryps
I know this may be a dumb question, but did you turn the shirt inside out and wash on delicate setting? I've always been under the impression that you can't just throw a heavily embroidered item into the wash like a screenprinted tee. The design was beautifully done, btw..
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Beautiful work! You need a different stabilizer for t-shirt material. Agree with above - water soluble for t-shirts.
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T
I've never used this type of stabilizer before. To save this particular shirt you might try cutting the stabilizer between the text and design to give it some room and then press it. It is very pretty embroidery. :)

For tshirts we use two pieces of webelon to avoid puckering or bunching. We try to keep the stitch count low and only embroider monograms.
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thelettergarden said:
I've never used this type of stabilizer before. To save this particular shirt you might try cutting the stabilizer between the text and design to give it some room and then press it. It is very pretty embroidery. :)

For tshirts we use two pieces of webelon to avoid puckering or bunching. We try to keep the stitch count low and only embroider monograms.
Click to expand...
I did solve the issue for this order by cutting the stabilizer as you have suggested. I cut to a quarter inch of all stitching that was possible to cut. It took 1 out per shirt.

Thanks for your reply.
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Industryps said:
I know this may be a dumb question, but did you turn the shirt inside out and wash on delicate setting? I've always been under the impression that you can't just throw a heavily embroidered item into the wash like a screenprinted tee. The design was beautifully done, btw..
Click to expand...
Yes. I did turn inside out. With each wash/dry it gets worse.
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Industryps said:
I know this may be a dumb question, but did you turn the shirt inside out and wash on delicate setting? I've always been under the impression that you can't just throw a heavily embroidered item into the wash like a screenprinted tee. The design was beautifully done, btw..
Click to expand...
Yes. With each wash it gets worse. Ironing does not get rid of it.
Thanks for your reply.
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thelettergarden said:
I've never used this type of stabilizer before. To save this particular shirt you might try cutting the stabilizer between the text and design to give it some room and then press it. It is very pretty embroidery. :)

For tshirts we use two pieces of webelon to avoid puckering or bunching. We try to keep the stitch count low and only embroider monograms.
Click to expand...
Thanks I will give this a test for use on next order.
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Thanks for all or your replies. I will repost once I try some of your ideas.
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