Knit Beanies

[Cindy]

I have read all of the posts I could find regarding beanies, but I am still having trouble.

My design was professionally done and their sewout looks great with all of the detail. It is not a dense design, but even using solvy on top, the stitching gets lost in the beanie. I used the slimline clamp system with two tear away underneath and solvy on top. There are two layers to the beanie itself, so I don't think the adhesive backing would work, besides I get thread breaks every time I use the adhesive stuff. I have it set to 2 or 3 clicks from the top. I am also getting tons of thread breaks. Using a 75/11 BP needle and 40 weight thread.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Ballyhoo]

On thick knits or polar fleece or terry, I always put down a light fill with one underlay first. It will pack down the material and give a relatively smooth surface to sew the design. I set the stitch length to 30pts and the density to 10 on both the top stitching and underlay with the underlay at 90 degrees to the top stitching (default). Then, solvy should not be needed. This layer should be the same color as the item. It takes a little more time to sew, but there is no solvy to hoop or remove and it usually looks much better.

[Cindy]

I'd rather not try to change the design. Shouldn't it sew out correctly, since the digitizers did? I'm assuming it's something I'm doing hooping.

[Juli in Kona]

Was it specifically digitized for a knit beanie? Probably not.

Juli in Kona

[Cindy]

Yes, it was digitzed for a knit beanie and the test sew out that they sent a picture of was sewn on knit and it looks great.

[Juli in Kona]

Go back and ask them how they got it to look so good. What kind of backing (I wouldn't use tear-away, needle, etc. They should be happy to help you. Obviously you are not doing what they did or yours would look good too.

[Five Point Emb]

I use a cutaway on beanies and stocking caps. Don't use solvy. I do like the underlay idea if you're having problems with the design sinking in.

Darlene Duseberg
Five Point Embroidery
formerly of Perrysburg, OH,
now of Lexington, SC

[flebow]

If it's a thick beanie We have had success referring people to use a fibrous washaway AKA vilene- on knit beanies - THe fibers all become easily emtangled leading to good registratiomn and no stabiler reamains to be seen

If you e-mail me direct we will send samples

Sincerely
Fred

[Big Dog]

This may be a little late to be of much help, but anytime you you have two layers on the hoop you have potential for the layers to shift while stitching. To prevent that you need to make sure both layers are firmly attached to each other before hooping. I spread the item as flat as I can and either pin baste or hand stitch the two layers together outside of the design area, but inside of the hoop area. As previously mentioned an extra layer of underlay will also help hold the layers together.