Trust me: always use a stabiliser when using your embroidery machine! I did some attempts without and none turned out good (unless you embroider on felt). That’s a waste of material and time and can be disastrous for your machine.
There are various kinds of stabiliser and I would say: read the product information! The local shop has mostly Madeira stabiliser available and I like their products. So far I have used 3 kinds of their stabiliser:
- Tear away
- Cut away
- Water soluble
I will talk a bit about what they are best suited for and what kind of projects I used them in.
Tear away stabiliser
Available in black and white, tear away stabiliser is mostly used for projects with a non-stretch fabric as a base. After you have unhooped your project, you can tear away this stabiliser. It is weaker than the cut away version, but I use this one often for plushies, face masks and embroidery on lighter fabrics. I use this stabiliser most often.
Cut away stabiliser
Also available in white, cut away stabiliser is used for projects with a high stitch density and/or stretch fabrics as tricot. They keep your fabric from shifting while the embroidery machine does its job. After unhooping the excess stabiliser needs to be cut away. (Tearing it is really difficult.) It really works well with stretch fabrics and I use it most often for projects with those kind of fabrics (or plushies, in case I ran out of the tear away stabiliser).
Water soluble stabiliser
A transparent stabiliser that is mostly used on top of the fabric you are embroidering on. I used this one for my own towels that I felt like decorating, but I heard it also helps for making lace with tulle. (That is something I still want to test later.)
I recommend tearing the majority of the unused stabiliser away, before soaking it in water to remove the last bits. Using this as a top layer on fuzzy fabrics like terry cloth prevent the fibers of the fabric to move and get stuck in the embroidery. It guarantees a clean embroidery on those fabrics.
Stabilisers are a necessary product when using your embroidery machine. Don’t skip on them. Really. My White mage outfit wouldn’t look pretty without them.
Good luck with trying a new skill! <3
Amirine