Images Magazine Digital Edition July 2018

TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.images-magazine.com 32 images JULY 2018 Dive into designs Taking into account some basic truths about tees – ie that they are incredibly stretchy, particularly in the horizontal aspect of the garment, that the jersey knit structure that defines them has a vertical rib that lends a grain to the fabric, and that the material in most tees is light and pliable – it’s easy to see that certain designs are more likely to cause trouble than others. Fully filled, multi-layered designs and those with fine vertical lines or vertical fills will overly distort the fabric and interact with the grain, losing details or showing too much of the ground through the fills. Whenever possible, use light, airy designs, reduce densities by using structural underlay to lift up top These fills both share the same low, half-coverage density. It’s plain to see that the horizontal fill is loftier, looks more solid and has cleaner edges than its vertical counterpart, which is sinking into the garment’s grain. The effect is exaggerated by omitting underlay in these pieces, but the difference is still clear [Below] This T-shirt design utilises light, painterly fills and a loosely-stitched central motif to avoid distortion. Due to the light nature of the design, an entirely water-soluble backing was used leaving no stabiliser whatsoever in the finished piece. Tension could have been kept a little tighter, though, as it can be seen in this angled shot that the stitches were just a little on the loose side in the light fills once their stabiliser was washed away. The full life- cycle of the pre- and post-wash must be taken into account when embroidering tees Even on this lightweight and fine-ribbed tee, the difference between the vertical and horizontal stitches is marked. The edges of the top and centre bar of the capital ‘E’ are more jagged by far than the spine, all due to the ‘grain’ present in jersey knits. Careful underlay and stitch placement can help stitching, and avoid vertical fills and lines that can ‘fall’ into the grain. The lighter the tee selected, the lighter the design should be, resulting in a garment with less distortion and a good hand. Stabilise and conquer The soft, light tee with its defining stretch requires a dimensionally stable backing for any moderately dense stitching. Sadly, even a medium cut- away stabiliser can often show through a thinner tee, or the cut edge of the stabiliser will be revealed through the pliable material. Using a no-show poly mesh stabiliser can greatly reduce this show-through while maintaining the necessary resistance to stretching. Tear-aways can be tempting, but the thin material of most tees is prone to tearing itself and can rarely take the stress of tearing away excess stabiliser unless one uses extreme care; moreover most designs benefit from the continued reinforcement of permanent stabiliser that won’t degrade with wash and wear. Hoop with care Tees are prone to pucker and ripple: though this would seem to be from loose hooping, it can also occur when a tee hooped with its material over- stretched rebounds after being released