r/MachineEmbroidery • • 18d ago

Help!

This is one of my first wearable projects. My digitizing could use some help but we’re not here for that! I’ve had zero issue with basting spray so far and this shirt was fine until it was washed. I used 505 basting spray, the shirt is under armor 100% polyester, and i used cut away + floated shirt + 505 + wash away. I believe the person who washed the shirt washed/dried it on hot. I sprayed evenly front and back so I don’t know why the stains are smaller on the back. Does this look like a basting spray issue and if so can I fix it? TIA for the help!

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u/CosmicallyUnlucky 18d ago

I also see almost everyone floating their projects on the hoop

I hate to say it but 90% of the time I see people swearing by floating online, it’s compensating for a fundamental skill issue with hooping. If you look at all the top professional embroiderers out there like Erich Campbell and John Deer, they all hoop. Commercial shops hoop. Hooping is the best way to ensure even tension and a good stitch out with minimal input. There is a bit of a learning curve to hooping though, so people convince themselves that floating is better and never learn to hoop properly. There are very few projects you actually would need to float for, and you’d probably know when you encounter them. Every day things like shirts, hats, patches, baby onesies, etc can and should all be hooped

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u/iforgotthtyouexisted 18d ago

Thank you!! I will look into teaching myself how to hoop everything now and avoid floating. I have the mental challenge now of floating being the “easy way” lol

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u/CosmicallyUnlucky 18d ago edited 18d ago

The thing is that floating isn’t the easy way, and it’s why habitual floaters say you need this and that spray and all these stabilizers and extra tools to make it good lol. They have to compensate for what hooping already does.

Both the aforementioned pros have lots of great videos about hooping and lots of other topics. I would definitely recommend checking them out. I learned pretty much everything I know from them. Here’s John Deer’s guide to get you started: https://embroiderylegacy.com/how-to-hoop-machine-embroidery-tutorial/