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How can I fix that hole in my embroidery design?
By Serena Smith | July 25, 2007
This is the fourth lesson in our series – Common Embroidery Flops, Causes & Solutions!
You are watching your machine as it is stitching the design. The design looks fantastic and it is almost finished! You turn your head away and then suddenly hear a strange sound! As your head whips around, you stare in disbelief at the design that now has a hole right in the middle of it. Why does this happen? How can a hole in your design appear in just a few seconds? Just because a hole appears does not mean your design is destined for the trash! Read on to see what causes this, how to fix it and ways to prevent it in the future.
Cause: Most of the time a hole in the fabric and/or design is caused by a broken needle that keeps stitching. The blunt tip of the needle keeps penetrating the fabric, creating a hole. Even though the broken thread sensor on your machine will in most cases go off and stop the machine, the machine will still take 4-6 stitches before the sensor is alerted and beeps to alert you. If the upper thread beeper is turned off, the machine will continue to stitch until you stop it. You can just imagine what your fabric will look like if the machine is stitching a design with a broken needle.
If you are stitching a dense design on a lightweight fabric, the fabric may not hold the stitches and can create a tear in the fabric. Don’t try to stitch designs loaded with stitches on a lightweight fabric. An example is a design with 40,000 stitches on chiffon. The fabric is not tightly woven enough or does not have the thread count to hold the stitches. This will commonly happen with sheer fabric such as chiffon and organza.
Solution: If the design is covered with holes, that may be a sign that there is no hope for repair and it’s time to start over. But don’t despair, most of the time a little hole can be repaired very easily using one of several methods. If you just noticed the hole starting to form, stop the machine as soon as you discover it. If the hole is small and you haven’t stitched far, you may be able to repair it with the fabric still in the machine.
Place a small piece of the same fabric on which you are stitching, on the hole, on top of the design. It needs to be slightly larger than the hole. Take the hoop off the machine, spray a scrap of stabilizer with 505 and stick it to the bottom of the hoop on the area that has the hole. This will help to add stability as the design is stitched again. Go back in the design and stitch over the fabric covering the tear. After the design is finished, carefully trim away the excess fabric from the top of the design. This may not work for all kinds of holes. If a hole is created while stitching the final outline, it won’t work because the extra fabric laid on top will show after the design is finished. The hole needs to be in an area where it will be covered with stitches.
If the fabric added will not cover the hole, fuse on a small piece of interfacing and mend the hole with a small mending stitch on your machine after the design is finished. This will also work when you are unable to see the hole until you take the fabric out of the hoop and then you are unable to fix it by stitching over it with the design.
Some holes can be covered up with different embellishments such as crystals or buttons. Or even 3D lace or other embroidery designs. If you do not want to try covering up the hole with fabric and more stitches, then add a little decoration after the design is complete. Another idea would be to embroider a small design over the area with the hole. For example, if there is a hole in the bear’s paw, embroider a small butterfly over his paw to make it look like he’s reaching for it. Not only can this add to the design, but it also covers the mistake!
If worse comes to worse and there are multiple holes or you can’t find anything to cover up the hole(s), it may be time to throw it away. But before you do, try to be creative and see if there is some way to selvage it!
Prevention: You will have this happen at one time or another, so don’t panic. Sometime things happen and there is no way to prevent it, no matter how careful you are. But there are a few things you can keep in mind that may help from preventing too many holes in your design.
Keep an eye on your machine as it is stitching. This doesn’t mean that you have to sit and watch every stitch, but be aware and listen as it is stitching. Some designs may need babysitting, but most will allow you to be doing something else between thread colors. If you need to wander out of the room, out of ear distance, consider using a baby monitor. That way you can wander farther away and still be alert when your machine is ready for a new color, hear the beep when the thread breaks or hear any noises that don’t sound normal. It will be an obvious different sound when the needle breaks and the blunt end is penetrating the fabric; you will hear the difference and know something is wrong.
We are all guilty of not changing our needles when we should. When the needle breaks is not the only time to change it. Titanium needles should be replaced every 10-12 hours of stitching or approximately 400,000 stitches. If you see the needle causing thread breakage or thread pulls in the fabric, change it before something worse happens like a broken needle and a hole in your fabric. With changing your needle frequently, you will be able to prevent some needle breakage, among many other problems.
Make sure the needle will not hit any buttons on garments or straight pins stuck in the fabric. It is easy to be stitching a design and think that the needle is clear of an object and then all of a sudden hear a clunk! Don’t panic the next time you discover a hole in your design; just imagine how many possible ways it can be fixed!
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