Letterman's Jacket Help!

[Carolyn]

Ok everyone, i have the wooden hoop, stabilizer needles and jacket. Did I say i was scared to death. Could someone recommend some settings that I should use to help me feel more comfortable with doing this. Oh, I have a design that I would like to use on the back of the jacket but it is only a 5x7 size can someone tell me how to resize this our have it redigitized. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Dorothy Compton]

I do well over 200 jackets a year....they are very easy as the fabric is extremely stable (I never use any backing). The hooping is most important. If you have a jacket with a hidden zipper you can use it to only have to stitch through the top layer but if not that's ok. Loosen your hoop so you can hoop the back pretty easily. I use a small kitchen/microwave table I bought at IKEA just for this (thanks to Jan!). It's just the right size and I can use my whole body to hold the bottom of the hoop down as I finish hooping the top. After the initial hooping, I flip the jacket over and slightly unhoop so I can pull the lining taut; first on one side then the other; flip the whole thing over again and pull the outside a tad to make sure it's still taut. Then I tighten the heck out of it. You do NOT want the hoop to pop out and it won't if you follow this method.

I usually chalk mark the jacket and have the hoops marked as well to help with getting the hoop both staight and center (I use the laser beam for final adjustments).

For stitch settings (for lined), I set my lower thread limit at 8 and use auto. The lower limit may need increasing if the design uses a lot of stitching on top of stitching.

As for the design, it's possible to enlarge but it made need some editing. You're welcome to send it to me to take a look at it. What size are you looking to enlarge it to (fitting which wood hoop)? You can give me a call either at home tonight or on my cell phone this afternoon.

Hope this helps. Good Luck

Dorothy Compton, Owner
Bee Embroidered
www.BeeEmbroidered.com
(916) 635-7467 (h)
(916) 204-9938 (c)

[Carolyn]

Thanks for your help, I need the design resize to fit in the 43x43 rectangle double height wooden hoop. That will include the letters arched at the top and bottom. The letters will be about 3" high or less. Debbie will call.

Carolyn

[KMichelle]

I am having trouble hooping school varsity jackets. They ae very thick and the hoop has a tendency to pop off.
Any ideas?

[Carolyn]

I am by no means an expert at this but there are others here who are and have given alot of tips on doing this. I use the clamps that you get at the office supply store the big ones and they work great for me just make sure they are out of the way of your machine while it is stitching. Someone else will come along hopefully soon and offer you some more advice. Hope this helps.

[Carolyn]

Oh forgot to ask what type of hoop are you using? The wooden ones seem to work better for this type of project.

[Dorothy Compton]

KMichelle....

I can help; call me (916) 635-7467. I'm in California (PDT).

Dorothy Compton, Owner
Bee Embroidered
www.BeeEmbroidered.com
(916)635-7467