Sulky Education
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Advice to Sewists in 2015
Have you noticed this picture making it’s rounds on the internet lately? Since this was the advice given to women who had just purchased a sewing machine in 1949, I wondered what advice we would give today. So a few weeks ago, I asked my eNewsletter readers to send in the advice that they would give to a person who had just purchased a brand new sewing machine. I received over 100 responses! After combing through all the advice: some gave the same advice, some gave funny advice and yet others had conflicting advice! I have sorted through them all, consolidated it and here is what Sulky fans came up with: If…
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The Stabilizer Series – Sulky Tender Touch
We are well into this series now and have gone through the basics of stabilizers and their uses, now lets get to some other uses! If you missed the start of this series, here are the links: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and the Infographic! Today I want to tell you about Sulky® Tender Touch™. Tender Touch originated as a “cover-a-stitch” backing that is used when you do embroidery on clothes for babies or small children. That is still the primary use of this product, but there is sew much more you can do with it! For me personally, Tender Touch has saved the day on many occasions. My…
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For #TBT: Fred and Joyce Drexler are in the Hall of Fame!
Back in 2012, the founders of Sulky of America Fred and Joyce Drexler were inducted into the Vacuum & Sewing Trade Association Hall of Fame! Back then, we didn’t have a blog to tout this great honor so I am sharing it with you today for #TBT (Throwback Thursday). NOTE: Don’t miss the cute pictures at the end of the blog 🙂 This is what the induction plaque says: For the last 25 years, the Drexlers have been insistent about maintaining the very highest quality in all of the products that bear the Sulky label. Fred’s favorite story is about the thread manufacturer from Mexico who was trying to get…
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The Stabilizer Basics – How do I get started?
When I first started doing machine embroidery I did it all wrong. I used the wrong stabilizer, I used the wrong size hoop, and I used the wrong needle! The only thing I did right was use Sulky Rayon Thread. I ruined a great deal of fabric and spent a lot of time spinning my wheels. I didn’t want to call and ask my friends who did embroidery every time I wanted to put a silly letter on something (letters were all I did for the first year or so!). Does this sound like you? You have the machine, and you may have even taken a class on how to…
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The Stabilizer Basics – Water Solubles and Heat-Away
The Stabilizer Basics Water Solubles and Heat-Away In today’s Stabilizer Basics I am going to chat with you about Water Soluble (Solvy’s) and Heat- Away™ stabilizers. These are both temporary stabilizers that started out with a couple simple applications, but, because you guys are so creative, you have discovered a million really cool uses for these amazing stabilizers! Water Soluble Stabilizers Water Soluble Stabilizers are just that, they dissolve in water. The number 1 use for the lightest weight Solvy is as a topper on napped fabrics, like towels, to keep the loops or pile from poking through the stitching; to prevent stitches from getting lost in the fabric; and/or…
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The Stabilizer Series – More Questions Answered
I mentioned that you guys sent in a ton of great questions, right? Well here is the second installment of the Q and A. I have learned so much from finding the answers to these questions! I have also learned that there is not one right way. The things that I suggest in these answers may not be your go-to way to solve an embroidery problem. If you would do it differently, please let us know by putting it in the comments below. The best way to learn is when we all share what works for us. I used a sticky stabilizer once and it was too hard to get off.…
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The Stabilizer Series – Your Questions Answered
I am so excited about the response we have gotten to this series! I was going to wait and do Q and A at the end of it, but we have had so many questions already, I thought I would do a couple posts in the middle of this series with answers to your specific questions. (If you want to catch up, you can read the first post here and the second post in the series here) So here are your questions and answers: Tell me what stabilizers to use for Terry Bath Towels, please. This is a huge challenge to me! Most often for bath towels, I use 1…
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The Stabilizer Basics – Cut Away and Tear Away Stabilizers
Note: This is the second in a series about stabilizers. You can read the first installment here. When I started doing research for this series, the more I uncovered, and the more I realized there was to learn! One of my first questions was “How many stabilizers are there?!?!” It can feel like there are 4 million different kinds and they all seemed to have a very specific use. There are basically four different types of stabilizer: Cut-Away, Tear-Away, Wash-Away and Heat-Away. All of our stabilizers are color-coded, too. In this post, I will give you the basics and primary (most common) uses for Cut-Away (purple packaging) and Tear-Away (green packaging) stabilizers.…
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The Stabilizer Basics – Series
I have a confession to make. Although I have been sewing since I was a child, I am very very new to machine embroidery. The truth is, when I started this job with Sulky the most complex thing I could do on an embroidery machine is use the alphabet that is built in the machine in order to put a name or letter onto a towel. Don’t get me wrong, I owned all the right stuff. I had all the stabilizers, I had books, I even had friends who knew what they were doing and they were willing to answer any question that I had. The problem is, I had no idea…
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Free-Motion Quilting With Sulky Metallic Threads – Practice Makes Perfect
The question I get asked the very most is how I am able to sew and quilt, especially free-motion, with Sulky Metallic Threads so easily. Since I have learned how to use metallic threads, I use them in almost every project that I do. I have always been a girl who loves bling, so really, this is not a surprise! One of the things I love about Sulky Metallic Thread is it isn’t rough or stiff, so I am able to use it on just about anything and not worry that it will make my project too stiff. There is a secret to using metallic threads. Do you want to…