I was nervous about trying machine embroidery, but I have been lucky to have Pam Olney, good friend and machine embroidery expert, on speed dial. Pam’s expertise was invaluable in writing this article.

“Floating” is a machine embroidery hooping technique that allows you to embroider on fabrics that are too small, might be damaged by the hoop tension (velvet or corduroy are examples) or too bulky to fit between the inner and outer rings of the hoop.

One method is to use a stick-back stabilizer. But when you center machine embroidery with temporary adhesive such as basting spray, you can make almost any stabilizer sticky. Our step-by-step tutorial shows you how to center machine embroidery with temporary adhesive before starting to embroider your project on your machine embroidery machine.

Machine embroidery

Center Machine Embroidery with Temporary Adhesive

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Use a basting spray or other temporary adhesive to center your machine embroidery design in the hoop. Our step-by-step tutorial shows you how.

Materials

Fabric to machine embroider
Machine embroidery design
Machine embroidery thread
Cut-away or tear-away embroidery stabilizer appropriate for your design and cut 4 inches larger than your hoop
Temporary basting adhesive

Tools

Embroidery machine or sewing machine with embroidery unit
Embroidery foot
Needle appropriate for your fabric
Embroidery hoop sized for your design
Gridded cutting mat with strong horizontal and vertical lines.
Curved embroidery scissors

Instructions

Select your fabric to embroider. I chose a lightweight woven cotton.
Cut stabilizer about 4 inches larger than the embroidery hoop.
Loosen the screw to separate the inner and outer hoops.
Lay the stabilizer over the outer hoop.
Center the inner hoop over the outer hoop and stabilizer and press straight down to join them. Tighten the screw just enough to secure the stabilizer.
Lightly spray temporary adhesive on the stabilizer. Take care to avoid getting adhesive on the hoop, using a shield such as junk mail to protect the hoop.
Fold the fabric into quarters. Finger press the folds in place.
Line up the center markings on your hoop with strong horizontal and vertical lines on your mat. Where the center lines intersect. carefully place the folded edges of the fabric along the center lines.
Carefully lift the first fold and smooth the fabric over the sticky stabilizer.
Carefully lift the second fold and smooth the second half of the fabric over the stabilizer. If there are any wrinkles or puckers in your fabric, now is the time to adjust. Simply lift the portion that needs an adjustment and adjust placement.
When the fabric is centered and smooth, attach the hoop to your embroidery unit.
We are going to stitch out my name.
Follow your machine instructions for setting up the stitch field and testing the area. The hoop will move up/down and side-to-side to make sure that the stitches will fit inside the hoop.
If you have the option, select a perimeter basting stitch. These temporary stitches help control the fabric during the movement of the permanent embroidery stitches.
The perimeter of the design field is basted, so now the embroidery stitches can begin.
This is why it's important to do a test stitch-out. The letters are puckering just a bit, so I paused the stitching to slide a piece of stabilizer under the hooped project to see what effect that has.
Now I can finish embroidering my name.
From the back you can see which letters have the extra stabilizer. Now we will take a look at the front to see if I need this heavier stabilizer to embroidery this design on this fabric.
Ta-da! The stitching is a little flatter on letters with heavier stabilizer, so that was an experiment worth doing - I know what to do next time! I will remove the perimeter basting stitches and trim the jump threads between letters, give it a press and put it aside to perhaps use in a later project.

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What is temporary spray adhesive?

Temporary spray adhesive is a way to baste your embroidery fabric to your stabilizer. The fabric can “float” above the stabilizer without attaching the fabric between the inner and outer hoop. Many quilters use basting spray to prepare layers of fabric and batting for quilting.

When should I choose to use temporary spray adhesive for my machine embroidery?

There are several reasons to “float” fabric over the stabilizer with basting spray. The fabric you are planning to embroider may be too small for a hoop. Or a heavy fabric such as denim may not fit between the inner and outer rings of the embroidery hoop. And some fabrics, such as velvet and corduroy, can be damaged by tight hoop tension, leaving permanent marks where the nap is compressed.

What types of fabrics are good to use this method of machine embroidery?

If you are doing machine embroidery on terry cloth or towels, the fabric can be thick and difficult to hoop. By using temporary spray adhesive and floating the fabric can make the project easy. This is perfect for heavy weight fabrics.

What is floating fabric to center machine embroidery with temporary adhesive?

When you float fabric for embroidery, the stabilizer is attached to the fabric with temporary spray adhesive. This is a method of machine embroidery that is ‘hoop-less’. The fabric is placed on top of the hoop instead of in the hoop and the stabilizer is placed under the hoop.

Do I need a different hoop for thick material?

No, the size of the hoop should be related to the dimensions of your embroidery design. For thick fabrics, fabrics with nap like velvet, corduroy or terry cloth, use the floating fabric method with temporary adhesive spray with the right size hoop for the embroidery design.