top of page
Writer's pictureCreate with RNK

Back to the Basics by Kay Brooks

Updated: Jun 12, 2023

If you know Kay Brooks, known as Kayly, she is the "K" in RNK Distributing! Her experience in the sewing and embroidery industry is elite, and her knowledge is immense! Kay wanted to share a little bit of her knowledge on the Floriani Stabilizers! Follow along below!


Learning to stabilizer fabrics properly for embroidery or embellishment can be overwhelming! A poor choice could result in puckers or a ruined project. There are also many factors that go into the decision process: fabric type, design size, design density, thread, etc.

At RNK we have many choices of products to help make your embroidery experience as perfect as possible! I am often asked why we do not make a spray adhesive for any of our brands. If you have ever attended one of my classes or seen my videos you will know I am not a fan. Spray adhesives are very messy, odor/allergy prone and do not “stabilize”.

In the 90’s when the embroidery craze hit the home market, spray adhesive was very popular but we quickly learned it was not the best path to good embroidery. PLUS it made a mess of the machines and hoops, not to mention what gets on your carpet, walls, cabinets, etc. The idea was to spray your stabilizer and then stick it to your fabric and hoop - the problem here is spray adhesive only “spot tacks”, so the embroidery can still push and pull the fibers of the fabric.

The very best way to stabilize your fabric (wovens, cottons or stretch) is to FUSE your stabilizer to the fabric. Our fusible stabilizer has millions of fusible crystals in place that will temporarily bond to your fabric to hold each fiber in place. The embroidery is then under control, it cannot “bully” the fabric! The result is “no stress” on the fabric fibers and perfect embroidery. Once stitching is complete the fusible stabilizer can be pulled back to the design and cut or torn away.

EVEN if you are “sticking” your garment or fabric down to one of our awesome pressure sensitive products (Perfect Stick, Sticky Tearaway, Wet N Gone Tacky), it is important to “prep” your fabric first with one of our fusible stabilizers. I LOVE the results of this! Again, the fusible will hold the fibers in place of the fabric and then the sticky stabilizer only has to hold the piece in place for the embroidery. Double LOVE!!!

For more information on stabilizing techniques and tips, please watch my videos at RNKDistributing.com.

Wishing you perfect outlines,

Kayly

966 views1 comment

Recent Posts

See All

1 Comment


Ella B.
Ella B.
Sep 22, 2021

Thank you for detailed information and for your dedication to quality! It is nice to learn about you Kayly and your role in the RNK Distributing company. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and developing great products!

Like
bottom of page