Don’t you just love getting creative with fun products and techniques?
Water soluble stabilizer is one of my very favorite products and I love to use it in lots of different ways to create interesting thread and fiber effects such as
Soft edges on quilts
Lace windows
Tassels
This is one of those products that produce seemingly magical results with very little effort.
Water soluble stabilizer comes in two types – hot and cold – but cold water soluble stabilizer is by far the easiest to work with and my personal favorite.
Cold water soluble stabilizer also comes in two types
- clear or see-through such as Sulky Solvy which looks like a piece of plastic and comes in various thicknesses
- fibrous such as Sulky Fabri-Solvy, which looks like a fabric mesh
Generally with the thinner type of clear water soluble stabilizer such as Standard Sulky Solvy, you would need to use an embroidery hoop to stop the stabilizer from distorting as you stitch.
However with the fabric type as well as the very thick Sulky Super Solvy (clear type), you don’t need to use a hoop. The stabilizer is thick enough to support a heavy load of stitching.
My personal favorite water soluble stabilizer is the fabric type which tends to be a little more supportive of a heavy stitch load and you generally need only one layer to work with. Plus I’ve found that this type also washes away more easily than the clear type.
Try It!
Go grab some water soluble stabilizer and try it out for yourself with these creative tutorials.
How to make lace using decorative machine stitches
How to make fiber doodles
Machine Embroidery Tutorial: I Heart You
