How to hand embroider on a T-shirt. Do you need a stabilizer?

T-shirts are made from stretchy fabric. You're going to need stabilizer or interfacing to make sure the stitches won't be deformed after washing.

Stabilisers (affiliate links):

There are two kinds to choose from
- woven ( it has the structure and you should place it exactly as the structure of your t-shirt fabric
- non-woven (it doesn't have a structure)
Also, they can be fusible, water soluble and tear away.

For fusible and tear away stabilizer: put it on the back of your t-shirt and iron it on.
For the water-soluble: put it on the front of your t-shirt
Then you stitch through both layers. And tear away or wash away the stabilizer.

After you embroider your design you won't be able to remove fusible stabilizer.
But you can remove water soluble stabilizer with water and tear away the other kind. It'll stay only under your embroidered design.

Comment if you have questions

Provided to YouTube by Yozik
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[mrs.d]

I hate long how to videos...your demo was EXCELLENT! Short, sweet and to the point!

[chinam]

not to refute the need but the comparison doesn't seem fair as you spent more time and stitches on the first than the second one

[bellabluezz]

Could I just you like a dryer sheet as the stabilizer?
😂😅

[hayley-annvasco]

This was so helpful thank you! I just picked up some tear away stabilizer today

[brittanylewis]

Can you elaborate on the "if you use woven fabric, place it to repeat your fabric structure"? I don't know what this means. Great vid, thanks for showing the ins and outs of this and how easy it is!!

[latinagirl]

Is there like a diy stabalizer? Some household item i can use so i dont have to go and buy one?

[katiedarnell]

This answered all my questions about stabilizers! Great video 🙌🏻

[hannahsamuel]

Such a useful video. Thank you for demonstrating it so well.

[LuckyHearts]

You taught me what others supposedly do in longer videos

[hangooksonya]

I'm planning on embroidering something big on the backside of a sweater but only have small hoops:
1. is it alright to hoop/de-hoop different areas of the stabilizer or will it deform the final image?
2. I was planning to use stem stitch; should I be using smaller stitches because of the size of the image?

Thank you for your helpful video

[lindanguyen]

Is there any reason why you used non woven stabilizer instead of the water soluble one? Also are there different kinds of stabilizer for different materials or can I use one for all materials?

[phanterleo]

Is there something I can put over the stabiliser and stitches to help protect them from coming undone? I always worry that the design will come loose in the washing machine. Thank you 🙏

[FB-gebx]

If you use the water soluble one do you have to put it on the back of the work. Cant you put it on the front and use it to sketch what you want make on it?

[viviand]

This was a very helpful video for me thank you!!!

[lauraobrien]

Can you wash it in the machine or do you have to hand wash it only?

[jamieazalea]

I tried embroidering a filled in heart without a hoop or stabilizer and it came out cray lol

[emeeelleeyeessesseh]

does a dryer sheet work for the stabilizer?

[CelticBearWoman]

I noticed you used a whole piece of stabilizer (the same size as your hoop) for that tiny star. Could you have got by with only enough for the star size, or did you have to cover the entire hooped area (as you did in the video). Thank you. I have never used stabler in any project before.

[daikyuyt]

That looks like a dryer sheet can I just use one of those??

[amandacao]

What can I put on the back of the embroidery to cover it if I didn't stitch with a stabilizer?