for the sparse embroidery - you really are stuck having to knot off more than you would otherwise like. If it is possible. try to embroider through a double thickness of fabric - that makes it harder for the embroidery to come undone, particularly if the top fabric is fairly fine.
The other basic guidelines do not change with the thread - the smaller and more detailed you want your embroidery, the finer weight thread you must use for embroidery.
If you are stitching on a knit fabric, either stabilize it with an iron-on interfacing to keep it from stretching or make sure you pick an embroidery design that can flex in multiple directions - lazy daisy and french knots will move with the fabric well, but satin stitching will not stretch.
The best thing to do is make some doodle cloths using your surface fabric and a variety of under fabrics or interfacings and experiment to see what you like best - if you are going to be washing the final garment, wash the doodle cloths to see how they change (and if your thread will bleed)
Hi Lise,
Thanks very much for your advice. This is really helpful! I see what you mean about using a backing fabric, and I'll be sure to give that a try.
Referring to your last paragraph: when you say "bleed", do you mean that the colour could bleed from the thread, or is this a sewing term that I'm unfamiliar with?
{Side note. For anyone who is interested, I have posted the same question in the Knitting Daily forums (because the project which I've embroidered is a knit garment), and this has also generated some great feedback. So if you're like me and need all the information that you can get, feel free to check it out.}
Bleeding in this case would be the dye in the floss or yarn running.
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